Recruiters to the property industry are struggling to cope with unprecedented levels of demand for agents.
They also say there is a critical shortage of experience after the big exodus in 2008/9 when the housing market collapsed. Few of those who left – often through redundancy – appear to be returning.
Anthony Hesse said: “In my 26 years of running Property Personnel, this is the busiest we’ve ever known it.
“We’ve had a record number of vacancies registered since the start of 2014. Not only are there more vacancies than ever before, but they are taking longer than ever to fill.
“Everyone is looking for that elusive sales or lettings negotiator with one to two years’ experience, but they’re not out there looking for jobs.
“The majority of them are happy, busy and motivated in their current roles, and as importantly, earning good money. So why would they need to look for a new job?
“To combat this shortage, our clients are having to take on inexperienced staff. In 2013, 40% of our placements were trainees, which compares with a normal year of about 20%.
“With regards to the people who left the industry at the height of the recession – are they coming back? No, not really.
“Interestingly, though, those who are trying to do so are not finding it easy as our clients in general seem reluctant to employ them. I am not sure why, but perhaps this is because they were seen as being disloyal, or just not good enough to hack it when the going got tough.”
Joshua Rayner, of Rayner Personnel, said: “With the buoyant market, we currently have almost 500 live jobs for experienced people but not enough listers and senior negotiators to fill them.
“That’s down to a combination of two factors: those who left the profession in 2008 have not returned in any significant numbers, and smart estate agents are now developing career succession plans to keep their best people. This makes it difficult to tempt high-calibre individuals to look at fresh opportunities, however enticing.”
To address the shortage, Rayner’s other enterprise, Estate Agency All-Stars, is focusing on recruiting and training the next generation.
He said: “Since March 2013 we have placed 182 All-Stars, only four of whom have fallen out – an unprecedented retention rate of 98% when the industry average is around 40%.”
Meanwhile, recruitment firm AMR has admitted that it is struggling to fill the 700 vacancies on its books.
The firm said that agents are “frantically” looking to hire new staff.
Nicola Davis, of AMR Recruitment, said: “We are actively encouraging property professionals to return to the sector.
“Salaries are increasing due to demand from property companies, and on-target earnings are achievable.”
Meanwhile, on recruitment site totaljobs.com, there are 1,911 vacancies listed in estate agencies and lettings firms.
On Gumtree there are 359 jobs in property, estate agency and letting agency in London alone, including one ad that rather surprisingly specifies “smart female staff”.
Comments (12)
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I don't think there is a categoric right or wrong way to move forward with staff shortages but in the last 12 months I have had some good new employees by advertising for trainee applicants from the retail sector. Estate agency jobs really stick out on the retail job website and the applications have been good quality in general. In some ways it is easier to train someone who has already had a good customer training programme from the retail sector as they have no pre conceived ideas of estate agency and can therefore be re trained to suit our needs.
Spot on Jam01! Get youngster in and train them well across all departments but don't be in too much of a hurry to make them senior negotiators or 'Managers'. Selling and management are to different skill sets and many good sales folk end up failing in roles they aren't cut out to do.
There are two routes to the top be at sales or be good at admin, it is rare to find someone good at both!
Thanks for the encouragement Ampersat. Apprenticeships to include the administration side as well will be great for school leavers and help to build the required corporate ethos from the beginning of their 'employment'.
We are returning to the estate agency field, soon to be opening a new office in Kent. We will be looking at Apprentices as part of our policy, as these are being pushed by the government and there are some excellent young people out there looking to learn and work hard.
I wonder if Anthony Joshua and Nicola would engage with the PIE audience like Gary Smith did?
(although the story has slipped well into the archive he actually came back and replied to both mine and Peebee's question, that impressed me)
The reason I ask – in the most constructive way possible- they are doing it all wrong! Good jobs in sales should be 'Dead man's shoes'; whereby people are queuing up to replace people who move on. In Estate Agency it isn't hard to attract a good sales team that will earn good money for a firm however it is the recruitment firms who are weeding out the good applicants because of blanket criteria they apply, without proper understanding of Estate Agency, coupled with over accelerated career progression that in my opinion is causing the shortage.
If I went back to front line Agency tomorrow, I would go back as a Neg, commission only, letting someone else worry about management, targets and company politics. Give me 12 hours a day, 7 days to sell what I could, don't bother me with petty head office whinging and directives and then pay me based on results.
"one ad that rather surprisingly specifies “smart female staff”"
It's more than surprising, it's illegal!
I wonder if Anthony Joshua and Nicola would engage with the PIE audience like Gary Smith did?
(although the story has slipped well into the archive he actually came back and replied to both mine and Peebee's question, that impressed me)
The reason I ask- in the most constructive way possible- they are doing it all wrong! Good jobs in sales should be 'Dead man's shoes'; whereby people are queing up to replace people who move on. In Estate Agency it isn't hard to attract a good sales team that will earn good money for a firm however it is the recuitment firms who are weeding out the good applicants because of blanket criteria they apply, without proper understanding of Estate Agency, coupled with over accelerated career progression that in my opinion is causing the shortage.
If I went back to front line Agency tomorrow, I would go back as a Neg, commission only, letting someone else worry about management, targets and company politics. Give me 12 hours a day, 7 days to sell what I could, don't bother me with petty head office whinging and directives and then pay me based on results.