How to Attract Talent to the Accidental Career
Recently, on a flight, there were two twenty-somethings sitting behind me. One said to the other, “Listen to this text from my boss. ‘Have a great weekend with your other family.’ Ugh, now you see why I want to find another job. Those people are the farthest thing from my family.”
She is absolutely right, and I don’t even know where she works or her job. Families don’t lay us off or reorganize and eliminate our role in the family. Sure, there can be lots of other family drama to be had. But decisions aren’t made based on org charts, budget cuts, or shareholder value (unless you are in a ‘Succession’-type of family). Family decisions are made from the heart. The last thing people want is for their work-life boundaries to be blurred.
Companies need to stop trying to create the illusion that their employees have a familial feeling about their place of employment, particularly for the younger generation of workers. This creates an exaggerated sense of loyalty that can be harmful. They want recognition, positive reinforcement, and growth opportunities, and then they will form their own opinion about their familial feeling toward the organization.
I’d rather use the ‘team’ analogy. Everyone works towards the same goal, such as in team sports or any sort of group that performs together in any way. If one person doesn’t do what they are supposed to, everything might fall apart. It keeps everyone focused on a shared purpose. Or as Seth Godin says, “Tribes are what matter now. It creates siloes of interest. It’s tribes that can change our world because they want to make a difference.” It really helps when everyone is rowing in the same direction when you have a shared goal.
Attract the talent.
Younger workers are much more likely to job hop to advance their careers and improve their working conditions than the older generation of workers. They want to feel like there is an upward trajectory, feel engaged, and feel like they are making a difference in the world. They aspire to follow their dreams, but they may need to follow the opportunities. The job market is tricky right now, and it is hard for young folks to make their resumes stand out. I have watched my daughter struggle with it firsthand as a young woman just out of school with a master’s degree.
We need to do a better job as an industry of attracting younger talent. Our aging population is starting to leave gaping holes in our industry as more key players retire. The mobility industry is a welcoming industry and particularly offers women the ability to move up the ladder and excel in leadership roles. So, when you are hiring, don’t focus on the mundane tasks. Talk to the prospects about how we help corporations hire talent to get them in the right location to be able to provide the goods and services that keep the economy moving along. What we do is important. We don’t do a great job of spreading the word to young people looking for a place to land. There is no clear educational path to our industry. As most people in relocation will say, “I just fell into it.“ It is an accidental career.
Are we ever going to offer a college degree in relocation or mobility? Probably not. It’s just not an alluring enough field to attract young people, and it’s way too specific. But if they have degrees in related fields like marketing or business that can translate what they have learned into our industry, that’s even better. They have the foundation that will make them sound business people who want to grow, and that’s good enough for me.
Look here.
Based on the skill sets needed, many roles lend themselves to transitioning into relocation. I have found talent in property management, temp housing, moving companies, and destination services providers. Teachers and human resources people are amazing at transitioning into our business. Transaction coordinators, office administrators, marketing staff, and newer agents are natural feeders from within your own brokerage or a competitor. If they have chosen the above fields, something about that type of service speaks to them. And if they like those fields, they will definitely like relocation. I am less concerned about their direct experience in relocation and more concerned about their decision-making skills, customer service capabilities, and overall knowledge of how real estate generally works. You can teach them what they need to know about processes and programs. You can’t teach common sense.
Survey says…
The Gallup organization has identified 12 key elements of young employee engagement. “Our latest findings suggest that younger workers progressively feel more detached from their organizations and managers and are less likely to see a future for themselves in their current roles. And this generation of workers, especially, is looking for an employer with a purpose they can identify with.”
Here are the 12 key elements they identified:
I know what is expected of me at work.
I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
There is someone at work who encourages my development.
At work, my opinions seem to count.
The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
I have a best friend at work.
In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.
Engagement and satisfaction equal productivity and, hopefully, loyalty. If my generation was satisfied with our role, we often didn’t really think about our next move—the moves were forced upon us. The bar for our own satisfaction was pretty low. I rarely received positive feedback from a supervisor (some were great, some not so much). So I just plowed ahead. I believed no negative feedback was indirect positive feedback. They kept giving me more responsibility, so I interpreted that as a job well done.
Keep them on their toes.
When I look at my own career trajectory, I stayed at my company so long because I was constantly challenged. I started in business development for the relocation department of the brokerage. Then, I took over the relocation department for Southern California, and then I expanded the territory to oversee multiple states. Then the company asked me to help create and oversee the Concierge program, then the license holding company, and then the internet leads call center. Then, I expanded all of the above services by managing multiple states for multiple entities. If you have people who have shown they can competently manage a business line, then keep them challenged by expanding their responsibilities, even if it takes them away from their core business lines.
The key to attracting and holding onto talent is to know that no matter how great we make their work ‘family,’ they will move on to another opportunity if they believe it will move their career forward. Accept the value of that employee in the present. If we get two years from them, consider it a success. If we don’t have a growth plan for them, anticipate turnover. The good news is that people who fall into relocation often fall in love with it, so even though they move on, they stay in a related industry field.
Plan for the unexpected.
We must always have a succession plan in case a valued employee leaves. Think about how you will proceed if there is a surprise exit. Mentoring those in other companies and other industry roles may give you the next superstar to come into your company. I see many broker-owners left hanging when their one-person Relocation Department leader leaves. A contingency plan should always be in place, even temporarily, until the replacement can be trained and hired.
Don’t let the secrets leave with the Director. Ensure that someone in the company knows what is happening, how to work the software, and how to find key documents so you have access to a shared drive for marketing materials, master agreements, emails, etc. I’m all for trusting the leader, but if the leader leaves, so might the business. That is why every broker-owner or someone in leadership should stay engaged with their department’s activity so that if the face of the department leaves, everything doesn’t collapse.
So invest in them, but don’t expect them to hang on when they feel they have hit a dead end. Be flexible and listen to their preferred method of working and what motivates them. To them, it is all a stepping stone in their career. While it’s hard and inconvenient for us, celebrate their success as they move on. They will take what they have learned and move on to greener pastures. Hopefully, they will remember their time with us fondly and continue to champion us and use what they learned from us wherever they end up.
“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” - Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Brands
