Recruiting Real Estate Agents When You're Already Too Busy

Recruiting real estate agents takes time, and unfortunately, most agents don’t realize the need to hire additional help for their real estate teams until they are overwhelmed with business and busier than ever. This can cause agents to miss out on top talent by hiring the first candidates they interview and cost themselves significant time and money later. Alternatively, many agents are not motivated to hire additional help when business is lighter. They lack the confidence to hire in advance of the need and want to make sure the commissions are rolling in before bringing on a new mouth to feed. We refer to this paradox as the real estate roller coaster: When agents are busy there’s no time to hire and when business is slow there’s no need.

Remember that finding top talent takes time. Time to find the right candidate and to ensure that he or she is talented through the interview process. Before we look at some methods for recruiting real estate agents when business is hectic, watch our agent panel explain their processes for systematically recruiting top talent in this quick video.

VIDEO: Recruiting Real Estate Agents When You’re Already Busy

Tips for Recruiting Real Estate Agents & Administrative Staff

1. TREAT RECRUITING LIKE LEAD GENERATION – Set standards for how many contacts you need to make per day to identify talented candidates. Don’t just tell yourself you’ll get to it when you have spare time. Reach out to all of your preferred vendor affiliates and members of your Center of Influence (COI) with the following script:

“Hi (contact name), this is John Smith with ABC Realty. I’m calling because I could use your help. I’ve been getting increasingly busy and I’m now looking to add a new member to my team to increase the level of customer service that I provide to my clients. I’m looking for someone to (provide brief job description). Do you know anyone who fits this description that I should talk to? Is there anyone else that I should contact that might be a good source of identifying other candidates? Would you mind keeping a look out in the future for me?”

Not only will this activity drum up a lot of job candidates, but it will also help you stay in touch with the people that are most likely to refer you future business. Remember to continue to make contacts and fill your pipeline with a large number of candidates. The larger the applicant pool the more likely you’ll make a talented hire.

2. FILTER OUT UNQUALIFIED APPLICANTS BEFORE MEETING IN PERSON – Your time is limited, so it’s important to only interview qualified candidates. So have them send you a resume and complete a behavioral assessment like the D.I.S.C. before meeting in person. It’s also a good idea to scroll through their Facebook profile, timeline and photos to learn more about whether they are a good fit for the position and your team’s culture ahead of time. Finally, consider conducting a quick 10 to 20 question screening interview over the phone to further refine your applicant pool.

3. LEVERAGE INTERVIEWS TO OTHERS – Although it may be important that you interview the person that you’ll ultimately hire, there is often significant benefit in obtaining the objective opinions of others. Having other team members conduct the interviews can help weed out your candidate pool while also providing them with a voice in the team’s leadership. Whether they meet candidates on their own or with you as a group, they will also be more likely to embrace a new team member if they have a say in the hiring process.

Having your broker, manager or another experienced agent conduct or attend interviews will also provide an objective view from a different perspective. It is often a good idea to ask a talented and successful member of another team with the same job description to interview top candidates as well.