Why are recruiters better than realtors?

Do real estate agents really have their clients’ best interests in mind? That’s the question best-selling authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, of “Freakonomics,” ask in the film version of their book, above, and the answer, via Curbed, is probably not. Agents’ own financial best interests lie in selling as many homes as possible rather than in selling each at the best possible price, Levitt and Dubner say. There’s further evidence of that in data that shows that agents leave their own homes on the market for an average of 10 days longer than they do when it comes to the homes of their clients. Watch the clip for more explanation.

 www.freakonomics.com/2007/06/08/how-much-is-a-realtor-worth

 At some point last year I finally got the chance to read Freakonomics. It was such a great book. The book was very insightful and has some really interesting chapters and one of my favorites was the one about real estate agents. The introduction of this week’s blog and the short video clip will give you the cliff note version of the chapter. I am bringing this to your attention today because I honestly feel that the “realtor” and the real estate industry need a MAJOR MAKEOVER. I would love to be the person to do it or help change it because there are so many useless real estate agents that are out there giving others and the industry a BAD REPUTATION. I have not met anyone in that industry who does anything different other than post your house with some silly pictures on the MLS and then hope and pray to the real estate gods.  Maybe I am being a little harsh…….but someone do something different and get some integrity!

 This little rant was caused by a conversation one of my recruiters had with a Controller/CPA candidate this week. It worked out ideally because this candidates wife is actually a realtor. This particular CPA was not interested in working with a recruiter despite having sent us his resume. So right from the start my recruiter was a little confused. He asked  “why did  you send us your resume if  you do not want to work with a recruiter?” The CPA went on to explain that he did not know we were a recruiting firm and blah blah blah. He was very polite and when our recruiter asked why he did not want to work with a recruiter the CPA said he had not had a good experience in the past when he was looking for his last job about nine years ago. This was perfect!! This CPA hadn’t realized that in the past nine years our industry had changed so much that our recruiter had the chance to explain to him why he should work with us and how he should be selective with the recruiting firm he chooses to use and represent him. It was an awesome opportunity to tell him more about Search Solution Group.

 Here are the highlights of that conversation as they were relayed to me:

1. Look to see where you are sending your resume

2. Research the Firm on the Web

3. Use LinkedIn to look up the Recruiter who you are speaking with. A good well networked Recruiter will have tons of connections

4. Make sure your Recruiter has not worked with a bunch of Recruiting Firms in the past and has some credible job history

5. Our Recruiter was able to explain our process and walk him thru the CONFIDENTIAL manner in which we handle all resumes that are sent to us.

6. He walked the CPA thru the job opening we have for him and explained why he thought he was a good fit. He assured the CPA he wasn’t just going to file his resume and do nothing with it.

7. He gave the CPA a few references

After about 20 minutes and some good back and forth, our Recruiter was able to win over the CPA. I think we helped restore some confidence in our Industry and our process and our people. It was a really good conversation for everyone. However the better conversation happened the next day when we called the CPA back to tell him that he has an Interview with our client on April 12th. Keep your fingers crossed!!

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS…

Here we go again. I promise I am not making this up, this is just another day in the life here at Search Solution Group.  I would love to post the profile picture of this candidate I’m about to tell you about but for privacy reasons just imagine a man dressed up as a scary clown.  Our most experienced recruiter was working on an engineer position with a HUGE Fortune 200 company and found a solid candidate. He was able to have a conversation, had a good resume and enough experience to be dangerous. Things were going well, the first interview was solid, the second went even better, then the NIGHTMARE BEGAN. Out of nowhere he starts to tell us about his new girlfriend and online business, let’s just say it was a little to personal.  Whatever happened on the phone that day raised every RED FLAG to my recruiter.  As a good recruiter does she did a simple internet search, and  she found his photo on a popular social media site ( this was the crazy painted clown/ WWF wrestler  face I was talking about at the beginning of this post).  As it turns out he ended up being more interested in his own business, so I wish him success, but I think there is a valuable lesson that needs to be shared with my friends.

Please Please Please WAKE UP  and realize that you are not the only person who can see your Facebook page or find a video of you on YouTube. We all have friends who post the occasionally inappropriate comment or picture from a Saturday night. However this is his profile picture that is defining him, maybe not defining him forever, but at the moment when you are searching for a new job and every employer in AMERICA has access to the WORLD WIDE WEB.  You would think a candidate would be a little smarter. I promise you that we are not the only people looking you up or googling your name when we start the interview process.

I figured out that the candidates we are working with have a much better chance of getting a job offer from our client when we take the time to prep them for the interview. The things to say and more importantly not to say are so important, but I was shocked when this picture was sent to me. I laughed with one of my favorite hiring managers,  about the crazy things she and I see and hear during the interview process but this one takes the cake.

I am not trying to make fun of this situation(don’t be surprised), but I am truly trying to spread the word and share some knowledge. PLEASE be aware that your public internet profile is exactly that, PUBLIC. We can all see it with minimal effort. If you have to paint your face or you enjoy dressing up like Lady Gaga on weekends that aren’t in October at least hide your profile or wait till you at least land the job.