Hire Green, Then Help Them

Hire Green, Then Help Them Grow

There has never been such a lack of candidates as there is today. Simple as that. Will you take a chance on someone new?

By NIKKI SEKUNDA, CAS, The Liberty Group

We’ve heard it from many multifamily executives: They fell into this industry because someone they met on a random day offered them a job to manage a community on the spot. A small base salary and a free apartment is how many of our executive leaders today got into our industry. It wasn’t a highly decorated resume with tons of qualifications or a degree. Was it personality? Drive? Maybe it was fate that brought them into multifamily.

I fell into this industry because my mother has worked in multifamily for more than 20 years. She came to this country with nothing and started off as a leasing consultant. I’ve seen it all through my mom’s struggles and wins in the industry and how wild it can be. I told myself when I was younger “I will NEVER work in multifamily.” Though, I couldn’t help but look up to my mom and the leaders around her, like Suan Tinsley.

And just like that, straight out of high school, I found myself onsite, leasing away and realizing the potential multifamily offered me.

Who’s Giving Green A Chance Today?

Being part of the Houston Apartment Association’s Careers Committee has sparked a new passion in me. I find myself thinking “How can we go back to the days when someone was willing to take a chance on our leaders of today?” How can we hire green again?

I read an article that stated, “In a recent survey conducted by multifamily software provider AppFolio and the National Apartment Association, 74% of property professionals said staffing and recruitment was their top challenge today. Hiring new talent was the toughest task within that category, according to the survey results, with training and retaining current talent a close second and third.”

With our industry expanding this must be an area of focus, for those who believe that it’s not the product that sells, but the people. Getting ahead of the curve is how we solve these issues. According to ApartmentData.com, 81 communities with 21,777 units recently opened, 48 communities with 12,618 units are currently under construction and 108 communities with 32,285 units are proposed. Our industry is thriving, so targeting green talent is more important than ever!

I’ve heard it from executives more times than I can count, “We can’t find anyone.” Our focus needs to shift. It’s not just hiring college graduates. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 67.2% of high school students don’t go to college. Targeting this huge number could solve our industry’s labor shortage.

There are tons of benefits to hiring green employees. Inexperienced employees can be more eager to learn, work harder to prove themselves and can be easily trained on your systems and processes without the potential bad habits an experienced person can bring with them. Lack of experience can also bring fresh perspectives onsite. Out of the box thinking and innovation is key to keeping our industry fresh and forward thinking.

Are You Maintaining Your Professionals?

There is never enough time in the day for our onsite teams. The responsibility of running hundreds of units with staff – collecting rent, pushing rent, turning units, completing work orders, ordering parts, working with vendors – the list goes on and on. Yet one of our biggest challenges is PEOPLE. We need people to collect rent, run tickets, turn units and push rent. Most importantly, what’s setting communities apart from one another isn’t amenities, it’s customer service. We don’t have the luxury of always finding the right person with the right experience. More and more companies are now hiring trainers, but not hiring green talent. So why isn’t hiring green a priority?

Incentivizing onsite employees to hire green is a great opportunity. Creating mentorship roles for leasing and maintenance professionals and compensating them for helping train these new employees promotes comradery and loyalty. Tenure for candidates is getting shorter and shorter onsite and we can combat this issue. Proper training and investing in your employees can go a long way.

Maintenance is a huge struggle for our industry as well. I have asked industry professionals their personal opinions and nine out of 10 management employees, from different companies and levels, said that maintenance has the highest turnover. Maintenance is such a huge key to a community’s success, yet it has the highest turnover in our industry. Establishing good maintenance programs will entice the younger generation into joining our industry. Investing in their education, so that they can become a Certified Maintenance Technician or HVAC certified, giving them opportunity for growth and fair compensation are all huge for the next up and comers of our industry. Most importantly, a well balanced on call schedule. You’d be surprised how many maintenance professionals say that the on-call schedule is their main motivation to make a change in employment, followed by compensation and lack of appreciation.

More and more professionals I speak to are exiting the industry. Not just maintenance, but property managers as well. Lack of support, compensation and training, and exhaustion, are among the biggest complaints I hear. Having a good training program to promote from within and hiring green behind them is the easiest way to grow our industry. Retention is important too, but there must be employees to retain! In fact, 87% of millennials rate career growth and development opportunities as one of the most important parts of their jobs.

Asking our employees what they want and promoting them is a great retention tool. Why aren’t onsite employees being promoted into corporate roles as well? I’ve had so many conversations with onsite employees about their goals to get into a corporate role. Why not promote them? They have a great understanding of onsite management and how things work. They understand your company and have loyalty to you when they are promoted.

Take the Challenge

I challenge our leaders of today to consider the entry level candidate and help them grow. Not just the degreed interns, but MORE degreed interns and MORE high school graduates. Our industry lacks sufficient candidates in finance, construction, leasing, maintenance and development. I also challenge our supplier partners to hire green. Now more than ever suppliers are looking for eager sales representatives, installers, plumbers, painters, roofers – the list goes on.

Most people I speak with outside of our industry don’t realize the potential multifamily has. Hire that eager server at your favorite restaurant for leasing, talk to that HEB parking lot attendant for maintenance. There are tons of opportunities in our daily lives to touch others and help them rise in our fast-paced industry. Let’s remember how someone took a chance on us.

With the amount of growth Houston is experiencing, we cannot afford not to challenge each other to hire employees without experience. One of my favorite quotes says it all: “You don't hire for skills; you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.” – Simon Sinek.

Nikki Sekunda, CAS, is senior executive search recruiter for The Liberty Group. Nikki is an active HAA volunteer and is a member of the HAA Product Service Council and Careers Committee. She can be contacted at 832-243-8888 or nikkis@thelibertygroup.com.