Because, as you know, they don’t grow on trees!
When you’re hiring a new real estate assistant, there are a lot of qualities you should be looking for to find the right one. Some of your reaction to a candidate ends up being just a bit of ‘X Factor’, in that you’re not quite sure that they have the qualities but you have a good feeling about them.
A lot of the qualities that will help you spot the perfect assistant, however, are measurable, whether in an interview or a paid assessment day. (Read more about the paid assessment here)
Here are a few to look for that we have found to be true, time and time again:
The candidate is action oriented
What does that mean? That they take action and sometimes chances and don’t just sit around waiting for things to happen. If they don’t have something to do, they find something. If the filing cabinet is a disaster, they deal with it. A person who is proactive in her behaviour instead of passively waiting for instructions is a great addition.
A complementary skill to being action oriented is being independent. It goes without saying that someone who can get the job done without being micromanaged is valuable. Being hardworking isn’t about hours spent sitting in their chair at the office. It’s about achieving results and getting things done.
The candidate is intelligent
Unless you enjoy micromanaging your staff to avoid mistakes, find candidates who are just plain smart. It’s the best way to ensure that things will be done as accurately as possible. Everyone makes mistakes. Intelligent people learn from them and don’t repeat them.
A function of intelligence is being detail oriented. Someone who is detail oriented will take greater pride in their work than someone who isn’t, and that’s a skill you want on your realty team.
The candidate is ambitious
This quality might seem counterintuitive at first: hiring someone who is ambitious means that she might leave if you don’t provide them an outlet for their ambition. If there is little in the way of promotion opportunities due to the size of your real estate office, for example. But the reality is that they will only improve your bottom line if they’re interested in improving their own, so ambition is a key quality to look for.
One of the most obvious predictors of future success is past success, so your candidate’s performance in previous roles is important to assess.
The candidate has a positive personality
This is where an assessment on site is a great idea because it’s hard to gauge how they fit in with the rest of the team and with clients otherwise. Personality, however, makes all the difference in terms of productivity. A person with a positive personality will always achieve more than a negative one.
In addition, people with positive personalities are usually confident to start with, so all you have to do to encourage that is give them positive feedback, reinforcing the things that they do well. Confident people who are positively reinforced will take on challenges outside their usual comfort zone, which is always good as this contributes to growth—yours and theirs!
The candidate is honest and humble
Honesty, authenticity and the ability to be humble are essential to success. Whether your future candidate will be leading others or just doing her own work, trust and authenticity are very relevant factors, particularly in a small office environment.
While a positive personality is essential, as we said earlier, it’s also important that your candidate is humble: that they let their work speak for itself rather than being blow hards, spouting off on their ‘successes’. Your job is to recognize that good work on a regular basis, to ensure it continues.
If you’re not sure whether you can spot these qualities yourself, engaging an experienced real estate recruiter is probably the best way to go. We know what we’re looking for in a real estate assistant candidate and can spot talent a mile away!
