How Do Brokers Hire Top Agents? Here Are Key Hiring Tips for Brokerages of All Sizes

When it comes to running a successful business, we can talk all day about your bottom line, financials, tech… the list goes on. One thing that we can’t look over is your agents — the people who put in the work everyday to keep your business running. You, as the broker, need to have your hiring expertise on lock. 

There is so much time and effort put into recruiting and developing recruiting strategies, but what about the actual hiring process? How do you know you’ve chosen the right agent to hire? Is your interview process effective in finding the right fit? What’s your plan when it comes to hiring? 

Now that we’ve got you thinking, it’s probably time to take a deep look at your hiring process. Our team answers your question, how do brokers hire top agents? Keep reading for key hiring tips that any broker can follow to ensure they hire the right people. 

Put a specific hiring plan in place 

Most brokerages don’t have a massive budget to work with

Let’s start out with the statistics — always fun, aren’t they? According to NAR, 81% of real estate firms had just a single office. In general, that office typically has two full-time real estate licensees. So, what does this tell us? The majority of real estate brokerages in the U.S. are small. They’re working with smaller budgets attempting to compete with that other 20%... brokerages of large sizes with, naturally, much larger budgets. 

Budgets impact everything — everything from your office to your agents’ jobs, let alone their commission split. So, here’s the takeaway. 

You must have an incredibly specific plan in place for filling positions at your brokerage. 

Obviously, this includes the number of positions that you can hire for, or agents you can support. However, it extends to the opening of a position in the first place. 

• When you recognize a need for a new position, thoroughly analyze your brokerage’s needs. Instead of hiring 3 new administrative team members, which a small brokerage may struggle to have the budget for, determine the specific tasks and goals you need to accomplish first.
• Once the needs are identified, and a job description has been created, recruit with those specifics in mind. Bringing someone in with a targeted skill set reduces the learning curve as well as the time and money spent to train a new team member. 
• By identifying your business needs, you effectively tackle weaknesses and create a hiring process that will streamline business processes. Without a large budget to hire new employees, targeting those needs gives you a chance to compete with that other 20%.
  

The hiring process is a slow one

We’ve all been through a transition where the new hire just isn’t the right fit. Whether that hire impacted your team’s morale, processes or even your sales, it shows how crucial it is to hire the right person. That hiring process must be slow and steady — after all, it does win the race. 

One big area to consider is how receptive your business is to potential agents. Consider: 

• Do you consistently accept resumes? 
• Are you willing to speak to recruits on your own time? Or do you heavily limit that to when a job opening is available? 
• Do you have a reputation that is seen as open and receptive to top agents looking for a transition? 
  

If you answered no to the majority of these questions, your hiring process is not extended quite long enough. The right fit may not come at the exact moment you post a new job listing. That right fit may have come in the door with a resume six months ago! This is crucial for small brokerages that need an incredibly specific hiring plan. By consistently recruiting, your candidate pool is much larger when you need a specific type of candidate. 

The Q&A process is a tell-tale sign of an agent’s fit

We highly encourage you to have a few rounds of interviews, and here’s why — 

1) A longer hiring and interview process gives you more opportunities to test out personalities and communication styles. Real estate agents are on location and out of the office most of the time. You will be operating via phone calls, emails, text messages, etc. It’s not going to be in-person the majority of the time. So, it's a great chance to consider whether this candidate has a communication style that works for your brokerage. Or, do they struggle to coordinate a second interview with you? Did you receive another email needing to reschedule? These may be warning signs. 

2) You can have multiple other team members and other agents join you in the interview process. We guarantee that they will bring questions that you haven’t even considered. Plus, this gives you the opportunity to see whether a potential candidate is in stride with your current team. Does this look like a good fit for you and the company as a whole? 

3) The candidate has the chance to feel your brokerage out, and determine whether it’s something they believe is a good fit. A brokerage’s success depends on its team members, and it will be less successful if those team members don’t enjoy their work or don’t enjoy working alongside the team. Pay attention to the questions they ask during an interview — or the questions not asked.

One last thing we want you to keep in mind is the impact the hiring process has on your current team. We included some key hiring tips that involve your team members, and that’s important for the process. Giving your team members a say in hiring decisions and the process as a whole shows how much you actually care about their work environment. Your team will work hard knowing that you have their back, take their thoughts and considerations into account and want them involved in major company decisions. 

Zipi is the Real Estate Operating System (OS) that aims to make real estate simple from agents and deals to commissions and billings. Request a demo to get in contact with one of our expert team members.