Looking beyond the CV

We are in the process of hiring staff at the moment and, one of the positions is, arguably, and, in my humble opinion, one of the most pivotal roles in the Agency. It’s the Viewings role. So often underestimated but so important – why? Because it’s the first point of contact and, as such, the face of KPA; this person will (after lots of training) be charged with choosing tenants for our properties and for our landlords’ properties (and it’s well known how important we think this process is) and they will be liaising with the team, the tenants and making value judgements along every step of the way.

Now, there are some things we can teach and some things we can’t and lots of the attributes required for the viewing’s role are things you cannot teach, so it’s crucial that we are able to really get a sense of the person in these interviews. Common sense and the ability to read people are right at the top of the wish list on this one and it’s hard to see this on a CV. We opt for a two staged interview process, and we psychometrically profile the candidates too. This may well sound very 1960s – but it is so that we can get a sense of whether they are a process driven person, a sales driven person or a people’s person and how this mix looks. 20 This isn’t just so that we choose the right candidate, but because we want them to be happy, content, working in their excellence and to stay. There is nothing more disheartening, than putting lots of training effort in, only for someone to leave in 6 months’ time. We are not after a quick fix, we are after a solid team member, who is going to be with us for many years to come.

Recruiting in this current market sounds easy, as there are some fabulous candidates out there and we have definitely seen a rise in the number of applications, since our last hire but when you are looking for things like enthusiasm, personality, work ethic and people skills as job requirements it’s hard to see where these fit on a CV – a CV won’t tell you whether someone is a natural communicator! So, you need to do the legwork! Everyone loves a little quick fix these days don’t they – but this is one of those times where you need to get involved and, I’ve said it so many times, and I’ll say it again, people will tell you so much about themselves, if you will only listen!

HERE ARE MY TOP 5 TIPS FOR LOOKING BEYOND THE CV, AND THIS APPLIES TO ANY POSITION:

1. Adaptable and transferrable skills. With the right amount of training and time, even without any experience, a great candidate can turn out to be a really valuable member of the team. 2. Think about industries (like hospitality) that have been decimated by the pandemic. Candidates may have been out of work for a while. See beyond this. They may give you 110% effort, be super grateful for the opportunity and worth their weight in gold. 3. Think about the things you can’t gauge from a CV – energy, enthusiasm, work ethic, common sense, people skills and, whether they will be working in their excellence and happy in the position, which means they will stay, and you won’t be caught in that cycle of re-hiring and training every 6 months, which is soul destroying, especially when you are busy! 4. The candidate does not have to have worked in your business sector before, for you to be able to gently mould them into your business practices and way of thinking and doing things. Someone from your business sector may have picked up bad working habits and “industry standard” practices that you actively dislike (I’m trying to be diplomatic here, can you tell!) It’s tempting, when time is scarce, to choose someone who can “hit the ground running” but, from experience, I can say that this is not always the best option. 5. Someone from a different business background can bring new ideas, new ways of thinking and great diversity to your team and, may even be able to think of things that you have never considered! A new team member, fresh to the role, with experience from other industries, who feels excited about the position and empowered to speak their minds because they know that they will be heard, is a wonderful thing. Watching the team grow with the business is one of the most rewarding things and, undoubtedly my favourite part of growing a business!

So, wish us luck. These next few weeks are going to be busy, as we are interviewing for several new members of staff. The viewings’ role is one where the successful candidate will need to fill big shoes, as our last team member was absolutely fantastic! She left us to go travelling around Europe, working on the way (which obviously didn’t lend itself well to viewings). We were so excited for her that we couldn’t even be mad that she left us!

She was much loved by tenants, landlords and the rest of the team alike. We are hoping for the same this time around and will definitely be looking beyond the CV for these attributes!