Why it pays to plan in advance.

October 20, 2011 at 2:27 PM

‘I invest in people, not ideas” Arthur Rock. Venture capital legend

If you are reading this you are probably the leader within a successful property organisation and would acknowledge that a critical factor in your growth will be the attraction and retention of top quality talent.

Let’s define top talent. I am not taking about the people who are out there in the market , touting their CV around and attending interviews with your competitors. I am talking about the people who are so good at their jobs they barely have time to trawl the trade press. People who are growing and developing their own teams, hitting targets and feeling motivated and challenged in their roles. The key to pulling off a talent-driven recruiting strategy is to get these top people into your system before they enter the job-hunting market. Over the next few blogs I want to consider some of the strategies that we see working and not working to attract these people.

Do your research in advance

Imagine if twelve months before you were due to open a new office, you commissioned research into your competitors and their teams in the region. Your research would cover a broad overview of the local market, it would look at who was ready to move, problems and plans that your competitors have, even average fee earning targets or sales made by key staff. Then imagine using this information to start a gentle PR campaign with the people in the market you may want to approach. You may bump into them at relevant networking events or invite them to linkedin. By the time you are ready to open the office and take on the competition you are well positioned to act. A senior player in the market may be on a six month notice period. It usually takes approximately three months to track and attract the right person so forward planning on key appointments should be made in line with but well ahead of the business plan. When you are planning to make a key recruit, if you are planning to open a new office or a new division it pays to think well ahead and be systematic.

« prev