Tips on how to prepare for a real estate job interview

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Preparing for a job interview can be a daunting task, especially if you are interviewing for a position in the highly competitive real estate industry. However, with the right preparation and mindset, you can ace your interview and land the job of your dreams. In this blog post, we will provide you with some tips on how to prepare for a real estate job interview.

  1. Research the company and the role: Before your interview, it is important to research the company and the role you are applying for. Go through their website and social media pages to learn about their mission, values, and culture. This will help you understand what the company is looking for in a candidate and tailor your responses to align with their goals.
  2. Review the job description: Make sure to read the job description thoroughly and identify the key skills and qualifications required for the role. This will help you anticipate the questions you may be asked during the interview and prepare your responses accordingly.
  3. Practice your responses: It is essential to practice your responses to common interview questions, such as “Tell me about yourself” and “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” You can also research common real estate interview questions and practice your responses with a friend or family member.
  4. Prepare examples: To showcase your skills and experience, it is important to have specific examples ready to share during the interview. Think of times when you demonstrated your skills, such as closing a difficult deal, working with a difficult client, or managing a challenging project.
  5. Dress appropriately: Dressing appropriately is important for making a good impression on your interviewer. It is recommended to dress in business attire, such as a suit or a dress with closed-toe shoes.
  6. Bring a copy of your resume: It is always a good idea to bring a copy of your resume to the interview, even if you have already submitted it online. This will help your interviewer reference your qualifications and experience during the interview.
  7. Be on time: Punctuality is important for making a good impression on your interviewer. Make sure to arrive at least 10-15 minutes early for your interview to allow for unexpected delays.
  8. Be confident and positive: During the interview, it is important to be confident, positive, and enthusiastic about the role and the company. Smile, maintain eye contact, and listen attentively to your interviewer’s questions.
  9. Follow up: After the interview, it is important to follow up with a thank-you email or note. This will show your interviewer that you appreciate their time and are still interested in the position.

In conclusion, preparing for a real estate job interview takes time and effort, but it is worth it in the end. By researching the company and role, practicing your responses, preparing examples, dressing appropriately, being punctual, and following up, you can increase your chances of landing the job of your dreams.

Talent and Driving Talent at Grassroots

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How involved are your employees in recruiting talent? Often the best people know the best people, and a vouch from a current employee often makes the employee and their referral accountable. This kind of system — called grassroots acquisitions — is integral to getting the best performers in a field.

But, often, HR departments won’t use referrals as their first choice, which can be detrimental to obtaining top performers and a recruiting budget.

A referral is free, whereas advertising and headhunting can cost tens of thousands.

You want the former to drive your talent acquisition during these economically challenging times. But implementation is critical.

Here’s how you can implement a winning grassroots talent acquisition program.

Develop a Strategy With the HR Team

The process begins by creating a framework for hiring. Identify the gaps in your current structure and then determine when you want to add these roles to your company — preferably segmenting the hiring calendar into quarters, especially for management-level positions.

The strategy session should also include a structure for sudden hires if employees resign with short notice.

Create Incentives for Successful Referrals

While strategizing, determine which incentives you can offer, given the budget.

Suppose your budget is limited; offer more time off, especially during quiet periods. If you have some budget, consider offering cash bonuses, the equivalent of a percentage of the annual salary provided for the role.

Consider implementing prize givings, like weekend getaways, tickets to sporting events, spa treatments, and so on, to honour frequent referrers.

Note: Team leaders and managers should naturally be exempt from programs relating to their teams.

Inform Your Employees of the Goals and Rewards

The key to a grassroots hiring strategy is informing employees of the ideal candidate you’re looking to acquire, more than the experience and expertise; describe the individual’s characteristics and ethos.

This gives your workforce accountability about who they recommend, as they’re likely to stress that their recommendations meet these characteristics.

Next, inform them of what they obtain if their recommendation is hired. The reward is likely to make them more invested in finding an ideal candidate than a friend or relative looking for a job.

Sending reminders about closing dates and rewards and sharing the final selection will keep the grassroots program alive.

Grassroots hires encourage loyalty and retention and can often be the most effective way to acquire high performers.

When implementing this program, remember the old idiom: birds of a feather flock together.

International Women’s Day – As a female business owner and entrepreneur

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As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it’s important to acknowledge the challenges that women still face in the business world. Despite progress towards gender equality, only one in three entrepreneurs in the UK are female. Additionally, research shows that female-led businesses are, on average, around 25% smaller than those led by men.

However, it’s also important to recognise the potential for positive change. Research conducted by McKinsey & Co has found that companies with greater diversity in their executive teams are more likely to outperform their peers on profitability and create superior value. This highlights the importance of ensuring that women have equal opportunities and representation in leadership positions.

As a female business owner and entrepreneur, I know first-hand the dedication and challenging work required to sustain a business. I’m sharing some of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt (sometimes I’ve had to learn the hard way) that have really helped me. I hope they help any female business owners, entrepreneurs or those aspiring to be too.

• Believe in yourself: Work on your mindset and your confidence in your abilities and believe that you can achieve your dreams. Don’t let self-doubt hold you back.

• Seek out mentors: Find mentors who can offer guidance and support as you navigate the business world. Look for women who have experience in your industry and can offer advice and help you make connections.

• Build a strong network: Attend events, join groups and organisations, and connect with other women in your industry.

• Embrace failure: Failure is part of the journey to success. Don’t be afraid to take risks and learn from your mistakes.

• Prioritise self-care: Running a business can be stressful and demanding. It’s important to prioritise self-care to avoid burnout and maintain your physical and mental health.

• Advocate for yourself: Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself and ask for what you deserve. Whether it’s negotiating a contract or asking for funding, advocating for yourself is essential to achieving your dreams and goals.

On this International Women’s Day, let us celebrate the achievements of women, but also continue to work towards a more equitable and inclusive future for all.

Lema Redjep | Founder / Head of Wellbeing / Internal Coach

 

Hiring in a Recession: 5 Tips to do it Successfully

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We can all agree that times are tough. The last few years have had a massive knock on effect on the economy and businesses. The word ‘recession’ is terrifying and creates a lot of doubt for companies.
What will the future hold for the business?

Should we be hiring new staff when we don’t know what is around the corner?

During these times, many businesses choose to gain control of their budgets by putting recruitment on hold. Yet doing this delays growth, causes undue strain to the current employees and resources and could limit the ability to be flexible, which is essential to surviving a recession.
The better choice, is to implement a recession-proof hiring strategy, that keeps the long-term vision front and centre.

Define your hiring needs
Before you start looking for candidates, you should define the specific roles and skills that you need for your business. This will help you to avoid wasting time and resources on irrelevant applications.

Use multiple recruitment channels
Don’t limit your search to just one recruitment channel. Consider using job boards, social media, employee referrals, and recruitment agencies to find the best candidates.

Focus on candidates with transferable skills
In a recession, many people may be looking to change industries or job roles. Look for candidates who have transferable skills that can be applied to your business.

Look for potential, not just experience
In a recession, many talented candidates may be out of work due to circumstances beyond their control. Consider hiring candidates based on their potential, not just their experience.

Consider offering temporary or part-time work
In a recession, some candidates may be more open to temporary or part-time work. This can be a great way to get to know a candidate before making a permanent hiring decision.

Be transparent about your company’s situation
Let candidates know that your company is operating in a difficult economic environment. Be transparent about your financial situation and your plans for the future. This will help you to build trust with candidates and ensure that they are committed to your business.

Prioritise diversity and inclusion
Don’t let a recession lead to a lack of diversity in your workforce. Prioritise diversity and inclusion in your hiring process to ensure that you are building a team that represents a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.

Overall, hiring in a recession requires a flexible and open-minded approach. By focusing on the needs of your business and being open to new candidates, you can find talented employees who can help your business grow and succeed.

Investing in People

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As a business owner, you’ll often be confronted with where to invest for the most significant impact on your bottom line. Often your attention will be on enhancing or expanding the essence of your business.
While business owners regularly consider scaling their workforce in anticipation of growth, they may overlook investing in their current workforce.
As long as you’ve got engaged employees, expanding your workforce may not actually be necessary. High performers can do the work of two, three, and sometimes even four employees.

Why You Should Invest in People
Sometimes the aspects lacking in your business have less to do with processes and more to do with those performing the tasks.

Increase Productivity
Disengaged employees cost British businesses £150 billion annually, and small businesses will experience the severity of that most profoundly

Enhance Your Retention Rates
British businesses lose approximately £5 billion a year in unplanned churn. Investing in employees is the best way to avoid being part of this statistic.

Improve Profit and Performance
Your profit is, of course, linked to how well your team performs. Creative thinking, personal problem-solving and accountability can reduce wasteful expenditure.

How to Invest in People
There are several ways to invest in your workforce and you can use any combination of these methods based on your goals and budget.

Provide Mental Health Resources
Often employees’ performance takes a significant knock when they’re feeling stressed, burnt out, or dealing with other mental health issues.

Prioritize Professional Development
When employees have the opportunity to grow within their organization, they are incentivised to be more engaged and perform better. Also, consider offering “senior” roles within the company to offer vertical growth.

Respect Life Outside the Office
One thing business owners may not realize is how often they infringe on their employees’ lives beyond the office. Unlike C-suite executives and upper management, lower-level employees often don’t expect their lives to be overtaken by their jobs.
Use overtime sparingly, allow employees to come in later during emergencies, and avoid punishing during more challenging times.

Offer Bonuses and Rewards
Bonuses are an excellent way to reward good work and loyalty. Even if it’s not a four or five-figure bonus, the additional cash is the kind of thank you most employees will appreciate.

Encourage Feedback
Workers can quickly disengage when they feel ignored. Make them feel valued by encouraging feedback and implementing their ideas.

Often those at the helm may ask if they should invest in people first. In most circumstances, the simple answer is yes. Once you have these processes in place, recycling them ensures you’re constantly investing in people and improving your business

Proptech’s Impact on the Real Estate Sector

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Until 2020, managing real estate had remained unchanged for decades, despite the technological advancements engulfing every other aspect of personal and professional lives.
Then the global pandemic hit, and the adoption of proptech was accelerated, predominantly due to necessity given the need for intelligent systems to replace older ones to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Since then, proptech has become an industry staple.

What Changes Can You Expect Proptech to Make in the Real Estate Sector
The real estate sector will be impacted by prop-tech in four critical segments: client relations, strategy development, recruitment, and employee wellbeing.

For Client Relations: Virtual Tours and Renderings Will Be Enhanced by VR and AR
Virtual and augmented reality will change how clients interact with listings. For example, virtual reality will allow clients to immerse themselves in virtual tours to ascertain whether the space is right for them without needing to physically tour the property. This gives rise to sight-unseen purchases and improves resilience.
Augmented reality will change the way developers sell new builds and architects pitch to clients as it will enable clients to interact with a rendering as if they were taking a physical tour.

For Strategy Creation: Forecasts Will be Made on Big Data
The real estate sector will benefit from big data, telling developers, agents, and architects what the next trends will be with precision. Big data is the gathering and analysing of millions — in some cases billions — of data points and sets to create patterns from which to forecast.

For Recruitment: Skills Will Be Acquired Based on Data Analysis
Rather than determine the right fit based on a gut feeling, the real estate sector’s survival will be based on acquiring employees and agents with the right skills.
Data analysis tools will help recruiters ascertain the personality types and skillets best suited to a specific role and team, reducing churn and increasing employee job satisfaction.

For Employees: Wellbeing Will Be Improved Through AI and Machine Learning
Employees in the real estate sector will be assisted through autonomous applications that operate on AI and machine learning, enabling them to focus on the essential components of their jobs. This will reduce burnout and create more productive agencies.