Side agent partner Brett Jennings of Real Estate Experts has more than tripled his team size to 26 members in just under two years.
If you’re growing your team, you know the importance of conveying intangible factors like culture and value proposition when persuading top talent to come on board. Ensuring that these factors shine during the candidate experience is part and parcel for Aisha Chiappetta, Director of Partnership Expansion at Side, and her team—which recruits and matches talented agents with specific Side agent partners.
Here, she and Caity White, a senior recruiter on her team, share their best practices for recruiting talent in a competitive market:
Start with the Golden Circle
“Effective recruiting means going from the inside out,” says Aisha. And when you’re looking at the Golden Circle, that means starting with the why, before going to the how and the what. This also sets you up for a stronger foundation.
“When you lead with the why, and understand why someone would leave or stay, you develop a relationship where it’s not all about business.”
– Aisha Chiappetta, Director of Partnership Expansion at Side
Getting to the reason why someone should make a move and join a team establishes an emotional understanding, and also helps to better customize how you “bring the how and the what to life.”
Get your recruiting ducks in a row
“Many fundamentals have to be in place before you can even go to market and bring in people,” add Caity. “Those that have systems in place are killing it in recruitment.”
Setting up a system doesn’t need to be complex. It could simply mean outlining the recruiting process—from initial phone call or Zoom, recruiting deck presentation, completion of a DiSC profile test, meeting with a business owner, to speaking with other team members. Of course, adhering to the process once it’s agreed upon is essential. Other fundamentals to cover include setting recruiting goals and optimizing career pages.
In addition, business owners should be able to fundamentally articulate and package a compelling story on their “reason for being” and culture. When recruiting on behalf of Side agent partners, Caity consistently finds that those who are able to do so are ahead of the pack when it comes to attracting talent.
Build short- and long-term engagement strategies
“Recruitment is not one and done, or one size fits all,” says Aisha. “It’s all about timing, so it’s imperative to address both short and long-term engagement. Approach prospective candidates as if they were clients, and think about their experience at each touch point in the candidate journey. With so much information available on social media, it’s easy for hiring managers to identify individual candidate touch points—such as birthdays and other memorable occasions—and start building a sense of community.
“Approach prospective candidates as if they were clients, and think about their experience at each touch point in the candidate journey.”
– Aisha Chiappetta, Director of Partnership Expansion at Side
A short-term engagement might include monthly check-ins, invitations to different recruiting events, and sharing relevant content over a period of six months. Over the long-term, you might engage with a passive candidate every 30 to 60 days in the same manner.
Caity describes an email campaign she developed for passive candidates. “I had two business owners who wanted to attract people they respected in the industry, or had admired from afar. Through a simple email, we told candidates sincerely how we were impressed with their production, and requested a 15-minute call.” This authentic outreach garnered a lot of response. “Even those who weren’t ready to make a move were honored and intrigued by the recognition,” says Caity.
Finally, Aisha shares the check box you should always tick before making an offer.
“Envision you have three other people on your calendar that are just as qualified. If you can still make that hiring decision knowing that, then do it,” she advises. Time and time again, she has witnessed the exponential cost of hiring the wrong person—which ranges from onboarding and development costs to negative brand impact.
“The biggest mistake is a mis-hire, but when a leader isn’t thinking about recruiting holistically, and has an urgent demand, a desperate decision is often made. If you sense that hesitation in your gut, you must ask ‘what’s the cause for your pause?’”
“If you sense that hesitation in your gut, you must ask ‘what’s the cause for your pause?”
– Aisha Chiappetta, Director of Partnership Expansion at Side
Your brand’s candidate experience is one of your biggest differentiators. And while there’s no “one-size-fits-all” recruitment strategy, starting with the why; setting up and sticking to a process; and using short- and long-term engagement strategies, can uplevel your recruiting strategy. A huge thanks to Aisha and Caity for sharing their on-the-ground insights and learnings!
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