In a competitive job market, like that of the apartment industry in Houston and Austin, hiring managers often go into the hiring process expecting it to be a breeze—only to run into challenge after challenge. All too frequently they are making some of these common mistakes that, once fixed, could them save bundles of time, money, and energy in the hiring process.
1.) Deciding Too Quickly
Finding the right person for your property is worth taking time for. If you rush the decision making process you are more likely to try and make the wrong candidate fit with an apartment job, exaggerating their qualifications or overlooking their flaws.
2.) Overlooking Past Work Patterns
Has a candidate hopped around to different properties? Has their career path shown upward growth? Past behavior is a good indicator of future performance; and as such you should not overlook work patterns on a candidate’s resume.
3.) Not Hiring with the Property’s Culture
A candidate you choose to hire should not only have the right skills set, but should blend well with your property’s culture. Competition among properties is too steep to choose a candidate who doesn’t gel with your property’s current employees and tenants.
4.) Hiring Yourself
Your property should be composed of an efficient team, which means having employees that balance one another out. If you repeatedly hire candidates who remind you of yourself or have the same qualifications as you then you will not have the diversity needed to grow your property successfully.
5.) Not Looking Beyond the Resume
A candidate may look ideal for an apartment job on paper, but if they don’t have the right personality when you meet in-person then they probably aren’t right for the job. Beyond a convincing resume, the person you choose to hire must also have the right communication and people-skills to excel at your multifamily property.
6.) Talking too Much in the Interview
The point of holding an interview is to see if a candidate is the best fit for a position—not just to tell them about the job. This means that the candidate should talk enough to get to know them beyond simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers.
7.) Not Following through with Training
One of the most serious mistakes a hiring manager can make is to leave a new hire to fend for themselves once on the job without clear communication of expectations or training. Very few people can thrive at a new job with no training, instruction, or support.
The cost of making a bad hire is high. Choosing the wrong person now could set you up for starting over looking for a new candidate in a few months when it doesn’t work out with your new hire. Avoid the cost and stress of making these common mistakes in your hiring process and instead start on the path to finding a new team member who will benefit your property.
