Press Releases

Welcome our new hires to Hire Priority!

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Hire Priority

Welcome (2)

Khanh Tran, Staffing Consultant

Hire Priority is pleased to welcome Khanh Tran, the newest member of the Hire Priority family! Khanh is the new staffing specialist for Hire Priority’s Austin location.

Khanh has over seven, successful years of customer service and property management. Khanh believes in memorable customer service experiences. He prides himself on his honesty, dedication to service, and will do everything he can to alleviate the normal stressors involved in finding the right candidate. Knowing that without great clients there is no business, Khanh will do everything within his power to create happy clients for life.

Khanh enjoys trying new restaurants, fishing, and exploring the outdoors with his dog “Lila.”

Christy Martinez, Regional Account Manager 

Hire Priority is excited to announce the newest member of our team, Christy Martinez. Prior to joining Hire Priority as the new Regional Account Manager, she gained extensive experience as a community manager with Martin Fein Interests, AMLI Residential, Luma Corp, Camden Property Trust and Greystar.

Notable is her most recent accomplishment, Lakeshore Pearl where she completed a lease-up of 230 units in 4 months and 2 weeks. This also earned the team the “lease-up property of the year” award from the Austin Apartment Association. Christy’s greatest strengths are her creativity, drive and leadership. She thrives on challenges, particularly those that expand the company’s reach.

In 2013, Christy was recognized, and awarded the “Greystar Pillar Award for Profitability.” Other honors include: “Community Manager of the Year” in  2004, “Top Performer Award” in 2011,  “Pillar Award-Community” in 2013, and “Rising Star” recognition.

Christy has an active role in the Austin Apartment Association and currently participates in the “Community Outreach” and “Membership” committees. She is an active participant in the “Chamber of Commerce” and also holds her “CAM” designation.

Christy holds a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University in business administration. She lives in Austin with her husband, their two children, and their two dogs. In her free time, Christy likes to travel and enjoy the outdoors.

We are so pleased to welcome Christy to our team, as she will certainly be a huge asset to Hire Priority!

Seth McCain, Marketing Specialist

I am pleased to announce that Seth McCain has accepted the position of Marketing Specialist here at Hire Priority in Austin.

Seth will be responsible for all marketing and public affair matters at Hire Priority.

He graduated from Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina with a degree in Communications and a degree in Bible. Prior to accepting this position, he served as a Director of Communications & Social Media. Seth brings experience and a proven track record of success in marketing, which will be invaluable in meeting Hire Priority’s goals and objectives. I would like to thank my colleagues who participated in the selection process. Their efforts are deeply appreciated.

Seth will be an excellent match for this position and a strong asset to the team. Seth will be located at our Austin location and can be reached at (512) 338-4473 or at smccain@hirepriority.com.

Please join me in welcoming Seth McCain to our team!

John Garcia, Director of National Recruiting

Hire Priority is pleased to announce that John Garcia joined the company in November 2014 as the company’s Director of National Search.

John has over ten years of successful recruiting experience in both agency, and corporate settings. At Hire Priority, John will focus on placing high-end property managers, regional property managers, and other corporate office positions for our property management clients. Before joining Hire Priority’s apartment industry division, he recruited the following types of positions: accounting/finance, legal, sales, and telecommunications. Most recently, John spent eight years at Oracle – three years as a corporate recruiter, and then five years in a specialized M&A HR role.

John is a proud native-Houstonian, and has his bachelors degree in business from Texas Tech University. John enjoys live music, follows Houston’s professional sports teams, and coaches his daughter’s basketball team.

Posted in Featured Jobs, News, Press Releases |

Welcome Christy Martinez

Posted on March 25, 2015 by James G. Lenhardt, CPC, CTS

Welcome (1)

Hire Priority is excited to announce the newest member of our team, Christy Martinez. Prior to joining Hire Priority as the new Regional Account Manager, she gained extensive experience as a community manager with Martin Fein Interests, AMLI Residential, Luma Corp and Camden Property Trust.

Notable is her most recent accomplishment, Lakeshore Pearl where she completed a lease-up of 230 units in 4 months and 2 weeks. This also earned the team the “lease up property of the year” award from the Austin Apartment Association. Christy’s greatest strengths are her creativity, drive and leadership. She thrives on challenges, particularly those that expand the company’s reach.

In 2013, Christy was recognized and awarded the Greystar Pillar Award for Profitability. Other honors include “Top Performer Award” in 2011, “Community Manager of the Year” in  2004, “Pillar Award-Community” in 2013, and “Rising Star” recognition.

Christy has an active role in the Austin Apartment Association and currently participates in the “Community Outreach” and “Membership” committees. She is an active participant in the “Chamber of Commerce” and also holds her “CAM” designation.

Christy holds a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University in business administration. She lives in Austin with her husband, their two children, and their two dogs. In her free time, Christy likes to travel and enjoy the outdoors.

We are so pleased to welcome Christy to our team, as she will certainly be a huge asset to Hire Priority!

Posted in Featured Jobs, News, Press Releases |

MY STORY: Alberto Pico

Posted on March 26, 2013 by James G. Lenhardt, CPC, CTS

Alberto found out about Hire Priority through a friend who personally knew our wonderful staffing manager, Loa McManus and he decided to contact her for help with looking for a new job position. Alberto had some experience with leasing and was able to take on temporary positions around Austin in order to take the time he needed to find the right fit for his personality as well as finding a community close to his home.

Alberto says he loves leasing and enjoyed his opportunity to try on different apartment communities while looking for a permanent job placement. One of his top priorities while looking for a job was to find somewhere close to where he lives.  Alberto was called in to fill in for a Leasing Agent who was out for the day sick. The very next day, that same Leasing Agent put in their two weeks’ notice.

After only working with the community for a day, they already loved Alberto so they immediately offered him the position. It was exactly what he was looking for, a leasing position close to home. It was an extra added bonus that Alberto is tri-lingual and perfect for the community.

Alberto now enjoys working very close to home at an apartment community that he loves. He said he is very grateful for the doors that were opened to him through Hire Priority and that they were always extremely friendly, helpful, and courteous.

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Five Ways to Motivate your Maintenance Supervisor

Posted on January 23, 2013 by James G. Lenhardt, CPC, CTS

If your maintenance supervisor doesn’t seem as motivated as they used to be, then there may be several underlying factors that contribute to their lack of motivation. Understanding how to motivate your maintenance supervisor also requires that you understand why they may be demotivated.

There are many reasons why employees become disheartened or unmotivated in their jobs but for maintenance, we can pinpoint some specifics that are often the cause. Take a look at your work environment, your supplies, and whether or not your residents and staff show proper appreciation, the answer to why a maintenance supervisor is not motivated often lies within one of those categories. So what are some things that a property manager can do in order to help re-motivate their maintenance supervisors? Here are a few examples:

  1. Sometimes the smallest things mean the most. When was the last time you stopped your Maintenance Supervisor to say “Thank you”? Do they know that you appreciate all that they do for you and your residents? Make sure you acknowledge their hard work. Your Maintenance supervisor and technicians are what keeps your apartment community running smoothly and what keeps your residents happy. Don’t forget to tell them how important they are and how much their work is valued.
  2. One of the most frustrating things in any job is to not have all of the necessary tools to complete the task. Imagine trying to keep up with emails from prospects, residents, and vendors without reliable internet service. That is how frustrating it can be for a maintenance professional who is tasked to do a job without the proper equipment. Talk to you maintenance supervisor about what tools, parts, and equipment they need to get the job done. Try to help make sure you have all of those things available and if they are not, then make sure to talk to your maintenance supervisor about when they will be available.
  3. Are you understaffed? Does your maintenance supervisor feel overwhelmed with requests and not enough staff to properly take care of customers? Make sure to keep communication open about labor needs. Sometimes, it will help re-motivate your maintenance supervisor if they know that you understand their frustrations and are working toward a solution together.
  4. Is there a work place issue that is bothering your maintenance supervisor? Talk to them to find out if there are safety concerns you need to address together and reassure them that they are an important part of your apartment community and you will address any safety concerns with them.
  5. Try to help reduce the stress associated with their position. Do they get bored taking care of the same types of maintenance requests just because that is what they specialize in? Allow some flexibility and new challenges for your maintenance supervisor so that they get to expand their knowledge and have some variety in their position.

Most of these motivational factors can be helped with solid communication between the property manager and the maintenance supervisor. If it is simply not in the budget to fix the staffing or equipment problems, then make sure they know that you empathize and are not simply ignoring their needs. Bring in breakfast or lunch once in a while just to let them know you appreciate their work. And as always, keep the lines of communication open and professional.

Posted in Career Advice, Career Blog Categories, Hiring Tips, Jobs, Management Advice, News, Press Releases | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , |

How Aggressive is Too Aggressive in your Job Search?

Posted on January 9, 2013 by James G. Lenhardt, CPC, CTS

In today’s job market, everyone’s advice seems to be the same: Be aggressive. Most companies want to hire employees who want to work for them but who also do not come across as desperate. There are several steps involved in the hiring process and we will examine each one in order to understand where that line lies between aggressive and too aggressive.

Let’s begin with your cover letter. This is pretty standard for most positions and helps to demonstrate that you took the time to make this application personal to the apartment community where you are applying.

Do write a cover letter, it is important. It gives your prospective future employer an opportunity to see your writing style, your personality, and your desire to get the job. A good cover letter explains why you are interested in working for the apartment community and how your previous experiences make you a good fit for the job. If you are applying to become an assistant property manager as a move up from a leasing consultant position, talk about your experiences, how you learned from other assistant managers, what you will bring to the position, and why all of those things are good for the apartment community.

Don’t try to sound preachy in your cover letter. While explaining how you can improve the company or what value your experiences may bring, avoid sounding as if there is something wrong with the apartment community. Make sure you sell your talents without sounding as if you know it all!

During the interview, be proactive, interested, and attentive.

Do research the property and the neighborhood so that you are comfortable with the area and possibly the culture of the apartment community. Make sure you have questions in mind that will help you show that you have done your research and that you know the business. For example, if you are applying for a job in Houston or Austin for an apartment groundskeeper position then know the plants that do best in those regions and how to best accent your property.

Don’t criticize. A great example of this would be a person applying for an apartment porter position who says negative things about the landscaping. Even if you think those plants do not work in that area, you may be expressing that opinion to the manager who picked them out. Instead, practice wording suggestions as compliments, “Hibiscus really are beautiful plants for this area, I like to have a few accent ground covers around mine, maybe some trailing purple lantana would really bring out the colors of the flowers.”

Now that the interview is over, it’s time to follow up.

Do follow up! Thank you notes are not completely out of fashion, especially not in the apartment job market. Follow-up calls are also ok. This is a way of letting your prospective employer know that you are still available for work, that you value the time they took to speak with you, and it shows that you are dedicated to getting the position.

Don’t harass. One follow up call is plenty, unless you were asked to call back. You will really come across as desperate and too aggressive if you are calling the property manager’s office every day to see if they have filled the position yet.

You should always be aggressive in your job search, even though it does take a little more time to research, write, and follow-up, it is always well worth it. Just be careful not to cross into an area where you come across as desperate, too aggressive, pushy, or harassing.

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