Whack: Selection: That a�?Give Everyone a Chancea�� song is so played out.

A�Thinking of your potential recruits as a�?candidatesa�� is a huge sea change for brokers. It helps us use a selection process to actually screen candidates, not just sell them on us. (Think of the problems your agents have with buyers and sellers when they sell their clients beforea��or instead ofa��screening them: over-priced listings, no loyalty, no motivations for buyers to buy). We are about the only industry left that doesna��t use a planned interview process. No, we just sell, sell, sella��and end up hiring many agents who do not fit our culture, do not go to work, and do not respect us as a business. This may have worked short-term in the on fire market, but it just doesna��t work when we need real workers.A�A�

What the Business World is Doing to Sharpen its Recruiting Practices

I just heard of a new web-based program that asks questions of an interviewee, records the answers, and provides those answers to the company interviewing to take the place of the first interview. This saves the company time and personnel resources. Leta��s apply that to real estate for a minute. What would you learn about that candidate if you werena��t in front of the candidate? If you couldna��t take part in the conversation? If you could listen carefully to the candidatea��s answers? What would change in your selection process if you could play over and over again those answers, pretending you were a client? I believe brokers would initially hire lessa��but better. (Irony: Hiring better actually propels the hiring process into a realm where you do hire fastera��but better!)A�

Recommendations:

Get and use a planned interview process.

Spend at least A? of the time you have with a candidate asking questions and listening.

Ask the right questions (questions about their pasts). Practice those questions and keep a list of them in front of you.

Use the hiring ratios great companies use: Hire only one out of five candidates at minimum and one out of ten to create a quality company. Do these ratios this frighten brokers? Sure. It means we must become skilled recruiters. Businesses hiring service people use hiring ratios of one to twenty. Ask yourself: Would you hire a secretary with the interview-to-hire ratios you hire agents? Do your agents have as great an impact on the perception of your company from the public as do your staff?

Create a a�?mutual expectationsa�� dialogue to assure that agent sees the value in your training, coaching, and start-up plan. a�?You never have another chance to make a first impressiona�? is the truism here.

A�How Tough are You?

Exercise to see how tough you really are: Write down the three most important actions you want that agent to take after you hire the agent. Now, evaluate those actions. Are they actions a successful agent would take, or are they squishy, lovely, stay-out-of-the-fray actions, like a�?attend meetingsa��? Youa��re either managing to the low producer or managing to the upward-bound producer. Which do your mutual expectations say you are managing to?

A�Leadership by the Month

Do you want to step into a better leadership style? Be more effective? Recruit more and better? I’ve created a very special, unique program for managers and owners: Once a month I share a specific leadershp strategy to recruit, choose, train, coach, and retain winners. These are proven strategies to get you out of a rut, take you past crisis management, and energize and inspire your team. See more at 365 Leadership. This new series closes for enrollment March 15. Find out more here.