Executive Recruiters

The Role of Executive Recruiters in Real Estate for 2022

Real estate companies have recruitment in mind for 2022, and the ones that don’t really should.

Despite an understandable slowdown amid the chaos and turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic; Most industries expect hiring executive recruitment to resume, as early as January 2022.

We expect executive recruitment in 2022 to be marked by these trends, as below: 

Executive Recruiters

The first and most important, networking goes digital. 

With no reliable vaccine for SARS CoV-2 (the new coronavirus) expected well into 2022; Real estate executive recruitment will join telemedicine and, digital services in a retreat from face-to-face in favor of tech that relocates digital recruitment to the Cloud.

  • Automation. Automated recruitment solutions will help firms cope with the influx of job-seekers who will flood the talent market with noise, as the global economy recovers.
  • Remote Recruitment. Remote and Cloud-based executive recruitment makes remote teams more viable—not just at the support level, but at the executive level. We expect real estate firms, historically highly localized, to recruit from a global talent pool.
  • Focus on Culture. While the strategy will remain important, it will take a back seat to culture as companies seek to shore up their human resources and, align their executive teams with their mission.

We sit on the verge of a recruitment boom. What role can executive recruiters firms play, in helping the real estate firms that retain them find success in 2022?

Global talent acquisition

Why Is So Important?

Many companies adapted to the COVID pandemic by adopting lean organizational strategies. Others had exacting organizational strategies, to begin with. Finding the right candidate to install in an intersectional organization chart is no easy feat. Talent is the biggest investment ever-expanding real estate company makes, not real assets. The cost of employee turnover is 6-9 months’ salary. The “cost of a bad hire” is closer to 2.5x the entire salary.

The salaries of real estate employees at the executive level make this a very expensive mistake indeed. It costs real money to get it wrong—capital that firms can little afford to spare as they rebuild and re-establish their positions in a post-COVID world.

Additionally, the pandemic has accelerated the priority of succession planning within real estate firms, the design of systems meant to outlast any single stakeholder. Today’s executive recruits will need to design the strategies and promote the cultures that will outlast them, preparing successors to hand off deals and transactions in progress as well as prepare their firms to scale.

Acquisition of assets is the bread and butter of the real estate industry, but the acquisition of talent comes first. It’s what makes all the other acquisitions possible.

Executive search consultants

Why do Real Estate Executive Recruiters Recommend Better Candidates?

With the push toward digital and automated solutions, executive recruiters may seem superfluous, but they are actually more helpful than ever. Tech solutions help make the talent search manageable at a global level, but the human element of executive recruitment is still critical at the last mile of the recruitment process.

Better candidates for these main reasons, among others:

  1. Top Executives Require Courtship. The best real estate executive candidates don’t consult the want ads. Candidates who come to you out of the blue will probably be underqualified, far below the caliber you are capable of recruiting. The best candidates are unlikely to come to you. Even if they are contemplating a career move, they will most likely reach out to a trusted network of recruiters. Your best candidate may not even be contemplating a career move, but might consider one with the right offer.
  2. There’s No Substitute for a Network. Well-connected – either know the key players, or they know who knows and how to find out. Time spent networking in the real estate space arms a good executive recruiter to cut through the noise, directly to the small stable of candidates capable of being game-changers for a real estate firm.
  3. Time is Of the Essence. The cost of turnover only increases the longer the recruitment process drags on. Executive recruiters can not only recommend better executive candidates but, can also place them quickly. 
Private equity recruitment
The Importance of Culture in Real Estate Executive Recruitment

Often overlooked in executive recruitment is the role that culture plays in the success of a real estate acquisition firm, particularly in 2022. With the high-growth assets in the transition to specialized areas, the strategies of today may not work tomorrow.

The upshot is that strategy won’t save real estate firms—culture will. A culture of cooperation, trust, and integrated skill sets will enable agile firms to adapt to a market in flux. One of the key value propositions to be gained from a retained executive search firm is a focus on culture, something that tech automation tools can’t account for. Different executive candidates fit better in different cultures. Finding the right executive for the culture is more important than finding the right executive for the strategy. Strategies change. Cultures sustain companies.

Is It Better to Apply Directly, or Through a Recruiter?

From the perspective of an executive candidate, it is much better to apply for a position through an executive recruiter. Savvy candidates know that their negotiating position is not better by skipping the recruiter. Yes, the executive recruiter works for the recruiting company; Which is why the recruiter’s fee comes from that company, not the recruit. It’s no money out of the candidate’s pocket.

However, the executive recruiter acts as an essential go-between, because (s)he has a direct relationship with the hiring division and knows the company’s budget. The recruiter, presumably, has at least made some effort to make sure that that budget aligns with the recruit’s salary expectations. Because top talent knows this, it makes as much sense for companies to rely on retained recruiters as it does for the candidate.

While executive recruitment will benefit from tech trends, defining the post-COVID world; They still have an important role to play, as recruitment resumes.

Executive recruiters can:
  1. Serve as the intermediary function preferred by top executive recruits.
  2. Speed up the costly recruitment process.
  3. Reduce the likelihood of “bad hire” losses.
  4. Match recruits to organizational plans and company culture.
  5. Recruit globally.

Even as they dust off their recruiting policies, real estate firms who understand the importance of talent acquisition; Should be dusting, off their executive recruiter relationships as well. Interesting articles, considering the real Real estate trends.