Search Results for: hiring
Expanding Talent Pipelines: Skills Trump Credentials
Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash
In today’s rapidly evolving job market, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for multifamily organizations to find the right talent to fill critical roles. But what if there was a way to expand the talent pipeline by assessing candidates solely on the skills needed to perform in the role rather than their credentials and prior experience? It’s time for multifamily organizations to shift their mindset and embrace a new way of hiring that focuses on skills.
Credentials have long been the standard by which candidates are evaluated, but they can be a misleading indicator of their potential to perform well in a given role. Just because someone has a degree or extensive work experience doesn’t necessarily mean they have the skills to excel in a particular job. Candidates without traditional credentials may possess the skills and knowledge needed to succeed but may be overlooked in the hiring process due to the emphasis placed on degrees and experience.
This is where skills-based hiring comes in. By focusing on the skills needed for a specific role, organizations can expand their talent pipelines to include a wider range of candidates who may not have the traditional credentials but possess the necessary skills.
But how can organizations assess skills effectively? One way is through skills-based assessments that evaluate a candidate’s ability to perform specific tasks related to the job. This can include anything from writing prompts to simulations that mirror real-world scenarios. These assessments accurately represent a candidate’s skills and potential to perform well in the role.
Another approach is implementing training programs that teach the skills needed for the jobs of the future (now). This allows organizations to hire candidates who may not have all the necessary skills upfront but have the potential to learn and grow in the role. This approach expands the talent pipeline and promotes employee development and retention.
Organizations can no longer rely solely on credentials and prior experience to evaluate candidates. By shifting to a skills-based hiring approach, organizations can expand their talent pipelines, promote diversity and inclusion, and improve the accuracy of candidate assessments. It’s time to embrace a new way of hiring and start prioritizing skills over credentials.
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Comprehensive Team Member Onboarding Plan
Photo by Tim King on Unsplash
Onboarding new team members is a crucial part of the hiring process, as it sets the tone for their experience at the company and helps them integrate into the team. A comprehensive plan can ensure new hires understand their role, responsibilities, and the company’s culture, policies, and procedures. Allow me to share a framework:
Step 1: The first step in structuring an effective plan is to define the goals and objectives. The plan should have a clear purpose and align with the company’s overall goals and values. Some common objectives of an onboarding plan include introducing new team members to the company’s culture and values, familiarizing them with their job responsibilities, and helping them build relationships with their colleagues.
Step 2: Next, create a timeline. This will help ensure that all necessary steps are taken and that new hires clearly understand what to expect during their first few weeks on the job. The timeline should include key milestones, such as the first day of work, training sessions, and supervisor check-ins.
Step 3: Identifying the key players in the onboarding process is important. This includes HR team members, managers, and colleagues working closely with the new hire. Each individual should have a clearly defined role in the onboarding process.
Step 4: Training and orientation are two of the most important aspects of the onboarding process. New hires must know the company’s policies, procedures, and best practices. This can include training sessions, mentorship programs, and job shadowing opportunities.
Step 5: It’s important to communicate the company’s culture and values to new hires. This can include providing a handbook outlining the company’s mission, vision, and values. It can also include introducing them to key team members and sharing stories about the company’s history and culture.
Step 6: Onboarding is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing process that requires ongoing support and feedback. Managers and colleagues should provide new hires with regular check-ins and feedback to ensure they adjust to their new roles and the company culture.
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Multifamily Talent Shortage
Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash
Currently, it’s a significant challenge to find qualified candidates to fill open positions in the multifamily industry.
The demand for talent is high, while the supply is low, which has created a talent shortage. Recent reports suggest that 38% of hiring managers are experiencing difficulty finding suitable candidates for their positions. And it’s not just the traditionally high turnover positions like leasing consultants and maintenance technicians. It’s every position at every level.
The shortage has obvious and serious consequences, including slower resident service, further increased turnover, losing ground to competitors, and reduced productivity due to the time and energy required for onboarding, training, and cultural immersion.
Despite this seemingly ongoing trend, my encouragement is to avoid knee-jerk reactions, such as racing to the top in terms of compensation. Or highering the first person who passes the mirror test. It’s critical to take a proactive approach to address the issue.
This means looking inward and spending time in the trenches to understand better what is going on in the organization. Asking questions, such as how to improve happiness, strengthen relationships, eliminate obstacles, and encourage the use of passions, can help to identify and address potential areas for improvement. It’s individual deep work with all team members. People need to feel heard, and they need to know that you see them.
In short, ensure you have an attractive work culture before making other drastic moves to attract and retain talent.
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Hire Slow – Fire Fast: A Story About a Regional Manager
Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash
Once upon a time, a prosperous regional property manager believed in the power of speed. She had always been successful in making quick decisions, whether it was hiring new employees or jumping on new opportunities to make her portfolio shine.
One day, the regional manager needed a new property manager for her growing team. Without much thought, she hired the first person who seemed competent enough for the job. However, it soon became clear that the new manager wasn’t a good fit for the company culture and didn’t share the same values. This led to tension and conflict within the team, ultimately impacting the company’s bottom line.
Despite the problems with the new manager, the regional hesitated to let her go. She didn’t want to admit that she had made a mistake and felt that giving the manager more time would solve the problem. However, the team’s morale continued to suffer, and the company’s productivity and revenue declined.
After several months, the regional realized her mistake. She had been so focused on speed that she had overlooked the importance of taking the time to make the right decisions. From that day forward, she committed to hiring more deliberately, taking the time to vet candidates thoroughly and ensure they fit the company culture well.
She also learned the importance of acting quickly when addressing performance issues. She knew that keeping an underperforming employee on the team for too long would hurt the company in the long run. She addressed performance issues early on by having honest conversations, providing clear feedback, and maintaining a positive and productive work environment.
Ultimately, the regional found a balance between speed and deliberation. She learned that sometimes it’s worth taking a little extra time to make the right decision and that addressing performance issues early can save time, money, and morale in the long run. Her team members and portfolio thrived, and she became known as a wise and successful leader who valued both speed and quality.
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Talent Wars & Battle Plans
The war for talent is more than a headline. It’s a conversation found in board rooms, daily huddles, and on just about every social media platform as hiring managers lament the challenges in sourcing and retaining new team members. Many factors contribute to the challenging job market. Unemployment claims are at the lowest point in decades, baby boomers are aging out of the market, and in a movement dubbed “The Great Resignation” hundreds of thousands voluntarily left jobs this year. Meanwhile, the rise in gig work gave many workers freedoms rarely offered in traditional job roles. Many job openings are the result of existing team members who left for greener pastures such as more money, better benefits, improved quality of life, or from unhappiness in their role or the overall organization.
Inc., Forbes, Fortune, and dozens of other publications have published articles on this topic, some even positing that the war for talent will continue through 2031. While some may disagree with a point or conclusion in one of these articles, it seems clear that employers must revisit and rethink how to attract, retain, and motivate new team members.
Competitive Set
Every multifamily operator understands the fundamentals of supply and demand in terms of apartments, market comparables, rent rates, resident satisfaction and retention, amenities, and other desirable factors. No operator worth their salt would attempt to lease up a property without knowing their competitive market and understanding what sets them apart from all the other options a renter has – because success is measured by the consumer, the one with the ability to choose.
The war for talent is in many ways similar to a lease-up – albeit one where five other new construction properties came on the market at the exact same time with similar cutting-edge amenities and sky-high rents. The job market competitors are a little harder to define – you could lose a candidate to a company in another time zone not just down the street. In any case, it’s time to pull out all the stops, define your competitive edge, and reimagine your marketing strategy.
Culture as a Differentiator
If your pay rates are competitive with the market, benefits are top-notch, and your practice of work-life balance is more than just a worn-out phrase, then you may be closer to a level playing field, but that doesn’t close the deal. Ultimately, culture is the differentiator. If this is war, then now is the time to make radical changes in your battle plan and lead the charge with an authentic culture that places importance on the things that matter to employees.
As leaders, if you haven’t done the work of doing a deep evaluation of your company’s culture then get to it. I encourage you to examine your mission statements and core values and honestly analyze your culture. Where is organizational behavior aligned with your promised culture and what needs to be recalibrated? Culture is your organization’s DNA and should form your operational common language. Does everyone in your company understand its core values? Where are the pain points – the places where corporate and leadership actions diverge from your stated values? Those disconnects become the fertile soil of disillusionment for current employees and can lead to dissatisfaction and turnover.
Shot Gun Hiring
The rush to hire as quickly as possible can lead to a potential culture killer. As companies become desperate to fill empty seats, both to get the necessary work done and to relieve the pressure on existing overburdened staff, it is possible, even probable, that alignment with cultural values will be downgraded on the list of hiring criteria. This type of shotgun hiring is a short-term solution that requires a strategy to encourage cultural cohesion. Consider employees’ introduction to the company and support their internal job path with education, peer-to-peer connections, and frequent touchpoints to provide feedback and encouragement – something even more important when new hires work remotely and miss out on the experience of informal connectivity. In the end, the goal is to transition all new hires into engaged team members and fans of the organization while keeping the core values of your company intact.
Has your company developed a winning battle plan for the war on talent? Share your thoughts with us here or on our social media pages.
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