Are the days of recruiting experienced commercial property managers gone?

We are all feeling the effects of the "great resignation" coupled with the fact that finding experienced commercial property managers was always a difficult task. So have we come to a point in time where a focus now needs to be placed on recruiting new people to the industry who have the right attitude and work ethic to get in and commence their career in commercial property management?

You only have to see the job advertisements on Seek with companies desperately trying to find an experienced commercial property manager and, from the feedback within our own network here at Ray White Commercial, these advertisements are often not even receiving a single application.  

The great resignation has played a huge role in extracting candidates from our industry, however, on the flip side, employers are now identifying the fact that recruitment of experienced commercial PM's is hard and a real focus has been placed on retention of existing staff - so people just aren’t moving around or willing to see if the grass is greener. 

So what does that mean for us as an industry in order to continue our positive growth trajectory? I believe that now more than ever that we need to be restructuring our existing teams in order to bring on new inexperienced talent and develop them into our experienced commercial property managers of the future. 

A focus needs to be placed on recruitment of those eager to try something new, and supported by a well planned onboarding process to ensure they are nurtured and educated to set themselves up for success in the wonderful world of commercial property management. 

I believe that it’s incredibly important to create teams within the commercial PM space, and that the days of single portfolio managers are gone. In order to grow as a business and onboard inexperienced staff, they need to ensure the structure supports the training and development of these inexperienced candidates, but to also provide career progression and, on top of that, leadership opportunities for those experienced commercial managers. 

Ray White Commercial has identified the opportunity to onboard these types of candidates by having just completed a 10 week training series where over 40 attendees from across the Ray White group participated in weekly training sessions that covered the fundamentals of commercial property management. These sessions covered topics from onboarding landlords and tenants, to arrears, maintenance, compliance and vacating tenants and much more. The feedback was overwhelming as attendees have just fast tracked their knowledge and can head back into their office to implement what they have learnt. 

Now is the time to re-think the structure of your commercial property management team, and have a plan in place on recruitment of your next candidate - experienced or inexperienced?

To advertise or view current Real Estate Industry jobs visit the Industry's job site Recon Jobs here:

By Leteicha Wilson
Ray White Commercial property management business development executive