Human capital is an essential element of any business. As a real estate franchise, the agents and office staff that you choose to invite to work in your company could have a significant impact on your success at every level, whether it be selling houses or making sure that an advertisement makes a local publication's deadline.
A lot of effort can go into ensuring that the person you hire is the right person for the job. You will often find that hiring the wrong person has considerable ramifications; high staff turnover for incorrectly filled roles sometimes results in unnecessarily high training costs, staff unrest or even client confusion. It is usually best to make sure you get it right the first time.
When interviewing for a job opening, the best place to start is usually to put together a description of what the job entails, the roles and responsibilities, the salary package, and the qualifications required of the position. This will help to save you time when filtering potential candidates, and you will have a much better feeling for the type of person you're looking for.
The job description should be explained to the candidate clearly so that he or she has a clear understanding and expectation of what their potential role will involve. You could be forced to start the whole process again if a new employee leaves soon after starting because the job was different to what they had thought.
Make sure that the people you hire possess the qualifications for the job openings that you have. There is obviously room for training and further learning in any role, however, a cohesive work unit is often hard to achieve if the people employed in certain roles are not able to fulfill them. If you do decide to hire somebody who doesn't have adequate experience for the position, make sure there is somebody more senior who will be able to provide them with the appropriate training.
You could very well come across people in the hiring process who look the part, sound the part, and who have the personality and work characteristics that you feel would suit your franchise perfectly, however, are not qualified for the position. These cases can be tricky and the candidate hard to pass up. Your golden rule should always remain that a new employee is not usually hired unless they possess the appropriate experience, qualifications and training required of a specific position.
Remember that your employees manage all levels of your business, from paying salaries to dealing with customer complaints and crises. Every role has the potential to impact upon the success of your franchise, therefore you need to try to make sure that the appropriate people are roles suited to their skills. Hiring is important to get right, and your real estate agency should see the benefits when this results.