Property recruitment agencies are in abundance but how do you find the right fit?
Hiring employees is one of the biggest challenges for businesses, but hiring the right employees is an altogether different ball game. You want to secure the right hire first time, otherwise the cost implications of rehiring is high, not to mention the opportunity cost of time lost to the business.
Good candidates have a wealth of opportunities in the real estate sector and they’re not prepared to settle. From offering a competitive salary, to providing a good work-life balance, employers are constantly battling to keep hold of the best talent.
Taking these challenges into account, the best solution is to partner with a specialist recruitment agency who can manage the entire recruitment process on your behalf. This means you can focus on the day job without the burden of hiring (or rehiring).
If you’re still sceptical about outsourcing your recruitment then keep reading as we’re discussing the benefits below!
We’ll also be outlining the key considerations when searching for property recruitment agencies to make sure you find your ultimate fit.
Benefits of Working With a Property Recruitment Agency
As we’ve mentioned in the intro, businesses are facing a whole range of challenges when it comes to recruitment. It’s no longer enough to provide a competitive salary as candidates are expecting so much more. You need to position your business as the employer of choice.
According to our salary survey, pay ranks as the third most valued benefit to employees with work life balance coming out top for the third year running. This means employers need to consider the whole proposition when trying to attract new staff.
Navigating these challenges alone can be tricky. For a start, how well do you know your competitors’ offerings? Partnering with a reputable recruitment agency takes some of this pressure off you.
See the full list of benefits below.
Dedicated expertise
A specialist recruitment agency in the property and real-estate sector will have dedicated expertise within the industry. Macdonald & Company acts for clients making over £7m of offers every month; we know what’s going on in the market.
A Specialist agency will be fully immersed in the sector and is constantly keeping up to date with the latest developments.
They’ll be able to use these insights to drive a more effective hiring strategy and ensure they source the very best talent on your behalf.
Aside from this, they’ll also understand the changing needs of employees and can deliver insights into factors that influence decision making. Are ethical values, salary expectations, or leadership style becoming increasingly important? Macdonald & Company has been tracking these trends in our industry leading salary and rewards survey for over 20 years.
If a role is particularly difficult to recruit for, a good property recruitment agency should devise alternative solutions. This might be something outside of the box that you hadn’t ever considered, as it’s their job to be creative and strategic to fill the position.
Reduced time and costs
When recruiting for a new job role, a huge amount of your time is taken up sourcing the right candidate.
From researching the market, to creating job descriptions, to promoting job adverts there’s a whole load of work required before you’ve even started sifting through CVs and applications.
Once you have sorted through a pile of applications (many of which will be irrelevant) you now have the task of inviting each of them to an interview. The vetting process can be extremely time consuming as you try to decipher which candidates truly fit the criteria; not to mention guessing cultural fit from a piece of paper.
You also need to deal with issues related to the interviewing process such as people not responding to interview invites or taking ages to submit supporting documents.
All of this time away from your usual job is a cost to the business.
When you partner with a recruitment agency, they source and screen all of the candidates on your behalf meaning the people you interview (and dedicate your time to) are relevant to the job criteria.
The most extensive network
As a dedicated property recruitment agency, Macdonald & Company speaks to tens of thousands of employers and candidates every single month.
We also attend exhibitions, events, and networking opportunities to build their position in the industry and connect with others in the field.
This means we are in contact with the right people to fill your vacancies. If your business suddenly has an open position then we will already have someone in mind.
By being active and utilising our professional relationships we are able to put you in touch and connect you to the right people fast. This is a particular advantage when you’re recruiting for a role with a niche skill set which might be difficult to fill.
Furthermore, by attending events and continuously expanding our network, we are staying one step ahead.
Key Considerations When Searching for Property Recruitment Agencies
When searching for a property recruitment agency, there are several things to take into consideration.
You’re trusting this business with your time and money so you want to make sure that they understand your unique challenges.
You want your chosen agency to dig deep into your business so that they can craft an effective hiring strategy.
With that said, keep the following points in mind when carrying out your search.
Understand the process
It’s essential that you understand how your chosen recruitment agency works with their clients. Most will say the right things but are you confident it will be a collaborative relationship?
You’ll want to be regularly updated about the level of interest in the job post and if/ when interviews are taking place.
You’ll also want to know if a particular role is proving challenging to fill as you might decide to tweak the job description to attract better candidates. Having this insight is valuable and allows you to make changes where necessary.
A good starting point is to speak to the agency and ask about their processes. Do they have regular meetings and are these in person or online? Do they check in weekly via email or do they prefer to call? Knowing this from the outset gives you a good idea of what to expect.
Are they also providing honest advice as a trusted partner?
Check out their previous clients
Looking at who the agency has previously worked with gives you a good idea of how they compare to other agencies.
Whilst having high-profile, well-known clients isn’t always a guarantee of good service, it is a solid indicator of how much they are trusted in the field.
At Macdonald & Company, we work with only the best in the industry and that’s proven through our extensive portfolio.
Below are just some of the clients we work with, from the investment & funds sector, through development to the real estate services that support the industry.
- CBRE
- Battersea Power Station
- AEW
- Barings
- The Crown Estate
- Angelo Gordon
- CapitaLand
We’re committed to understanding every client, including what makes them tick, what keeps them awake at night, and the challenges they face on a daily basis.
That’s why we’re chosen as the trusted partner by companies across the globe. We stay close to our clients, and treat their business as if it were our own.
Research their level of experience
Understanding how long a property recruitment agency has been in business allows you to understand their level of experience.
Whilst being a start-up doesn’t necessarily mean a company is not experienced, they’ll have more lessons to learn and less data at their disposal.
An established company on the other hand, with years of experience, will be ready to hit the ground running and will already have extensive knowledge of the real-estate sector.
As a pioneer more than 30 years ago, Macdonald & Company, has the most specialist experience in the real estate and property sector.
Explain your hiring needs
Before engaging in a partnership, you want to be confident that your chosen agency can fulfill your hiring needs.
It’s unwise to choose an agency who has no experience in your field or one who is used to recruiting more junior members of staff (if you’re targeting management level).
For the relationship to be successful, your chosen agency needs to understand what you require from them so you can decide if this is the right fit. Otherwise you could spend a lot of time and money on the wrong recruitment agency, only to be disappointed by the results.
Key questions to consider are:
- Are you only filling one role or several?
- Are you recruiting for junior level or management positions?
- Are you recruiting for a temporary or permanent job?
- What kind of skills and experience does your new hire need to have?
- Is the salary set or is it negotiable for the right candidate?
These types of questions help your chosen recruiter understand what you’re looking for, and ultimately, if they’re the right company for the task.
You should also provide key information about your company such as your values, mission, culture, and working environment to help build up a better picture of your business.
Find out what markets they work in
It’s useful to know if your chosen agency recruits in your location.
Whilst this isn’t always essential if you’re hiring for a remote role, knowing what countries the agency works in is still helpful.
That’s because there can be differences in the hiring process between different countries, and in terms of hiring employees, there are cultural factors to consider.
If you partner with a global agency with a presence in multiple countries, they will understand these requirements much better, and they’ll know how to cater for them.
They’ll have prior experience working in these markets so they’ll understand the specific criteria in more depth. This enhances the likelihood of you successfully placing the right candidate, irrespective of where they are located.
At Macdonald & Company, we recruit for the real estate sector on a global scale with offices in Europe, Asia, Middle East, USA, and Africa. Through our dedicated partnerships, we specifically understand the unique criteria and requirements in each location, and work closely with employers to source the very best candidates.
Property Recruitment Agencies: How to Find Your Ultimate Fit
In a competitive market with employees battling to source the right talent, partnering with the right recruitment agency can greatly enhance your chances of success.
In a world where employees have more leverage than ever before, companies need to rethink their hiring strategy to attract and retain the best talent. Salary is no longer the only driving force, as the needs of the candidate are constantly evolving in line with wider societal change.
Organisations need to understand these changes and how to position their offering to attract the right candidates. This takes a huge amount of time, research, and analysis, which is crucial time spent away from the business.
Instead of trying to do this internally, a property recruitment agency can manage this entirely on your behalf. At Macdonald & Company we’ve worked with thousands of clients across the globe since 1994, and we possess unparalleled knowledge of the real estate market from the perspective of both the employer and employee.
To find out more about how we can help, get in touch.
