It’s true that hiring top talent for any type of business is hard. Keep in mind that finding strong people for a realty company that doesn’t have a proven track record is even more difficult.

Here are 5 tips to help you navigate the process.

Always be Transparent

Whether your company is a brick and mortar or an ecommerce analytics tools specialist, never make promises you know you can’t keep. Be upfront when it comes to presenting where your company currently sits and discussing future plans or projected growth estimates.

It’s vital that you work from a mindset of honesty and transparency during your recruitment process. Potential employees are looking for a management team that works this way. Setting up your company culture as one based on this will give you an edge in the marketplace.

Offer Equity and/or Performance-Based Pay

It’s rare that a realty company is able to compete with large and established companies when it comes to reputation, salary, and security. You need to think outside the box whether your current hiring process involves IT staffing or customer service people.

Try offering equity in the company or build out a way to provide additional pay based on performance metrics. Since headhunters are targeting your most talented potential employees, you need to provide something of value beyond an explanation of how great your concept looks or the type of financial backing you’ve secured.

Keep in mind that offering equity isn’t a strategy that instantly solves your problem. You might be unwilling to give up too much of your shareholder stake and your prospects might not see much value in getting equity in a firm they’re not entirely convinced will make it long-term.

Provide Flexibility

Top talent isn’t looking to be chained to their desks with ridiculous demands placed on them. Promote a quality work-life balance. Provide flexible working hours and remote work when it makes sense. Let your employees feel free to speak up and offer their individual input in order to make things run better.

Your best people will value their own space in being innovative and allowing their individuality to shine through. Throughout the hiring process, help your interviewees see clearly that you won’t box them into a “group think” environment where they’ll feel stifled.

Staying flexible is one of the best paths to getting new employees on board with your vision. When they see they’ll be free to stay true to their individual needs within the framework of your company structure, they’ll take your offer far more seriously.

Offer Benefits & Other Perks

You can turn a lukewarm response to your offer into a yes response by offering employee benefits and perks. Here are some areas to consider:

- Pension plan

- Dental insurance

- Health insurance

- Maternity & paternity leave

- Vacation & paid time off

- 401(k) plan

- Retirement plan

- Sick days

- Paid holidays

- Vision insurance

Don’t mistake perks such as the ability to bring your pet to work or putting pool tables in the break room as highly effective ones. The above list will go much farther in attracting the type of talent you need to ensure the long-term success of your company.

Consider Hiring Your Fans

These are sometimes the best hires for a realty company because they will often work harder than someone who has never heard of you before. They’ll take ownership of their role quickly.

Fans are an excellent source of word-of-mouth advertising for you. They will tell their contacts how great it is working for you if you make it fun for them to work inside your organization. In turn, their contacts will want to find out how they can work for you.