Tag Archives: dallas

3 Things Santa does to keep his Elves Motivated

Posted on December 13, 2012 by James G. Lenhardt, CPC, CTS

With all the hustle and bustle going on just before the holiday season, here are a few tips to help you keep your employees focused and motivated.

  1.  Make your Holiday Cards personalIt is so easy and cost effective these days to just have a company print up your Christmas Cards with your name already printed on them in place of a signature. This year, take the time to let your leasing professionals, maintenance technicians, and assistant managers know you took the time to personalize their cards. Personalization is becoming so rare that it will be noticed and appreciated. Use their names and write each staff member a short note telling reiterating some of the great things they’ve done for you!
  2. Decorate the leasing office and let your staff help!Often there is only one person in the leasing office who decorates the tree. This year, let your staff make it a shared event. Buy one box of plain colored Christmas tree ornaments and a Sharpie and write each and every employee’s name and job title on them. Let them hang the ornaments on the tree while serving some hot cocoa and cookies.As the years pass, you will enjoy looking back at some of those ornaments to see how far your employees have come. How about that leasing consultant who is moving up the ladder and is now your assistant manager? Or the groundskeeper who in five years runs the entire Maintenance staff.
  3. Try to consider each employee’s holiday family traditions when making your schedule.It will likely be impossible to make everyone happy when it comes to scheduling work hours around the holiday season. However, if you take a moment to sit with your staff and get to know what their traditions include, you will be showing them that you made an effort – and sometimes that is the greatest motivation.

For more tips on retaining employees, read 3 Ways to Retain the Apartment Industry Professional from Hire Priority.

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My Story: Marni Long – Apartment Leasing Consultant Houston

Posted on August 7, 2012 by James G. Lenhardt, CPC, CTS

My Story: Marni Long

            Over a decade ago the people-oriented aspect of the Houston apartment industry drew Marni Long to look for jobs; however, she ended up pursuing a career in office management instead. Today, Marni has returned to her original goal of working in an apartment job, and is employed by Sentinel Real Estate.

In transitioning to the apartment industry, Marni remarks, “I knew that if I wanted to break into a new job channel the best route to take would be through a placement company.” And after a quick Google search, Marni ended up with Hire Priority Apartment Staffing.  Marni knew what she was looking for, and the day she showed up at Hire Priority she was immediately sent to a position they had waiting for her. Of her journey to working for Sentinel Real Estate, Marni says,

“I decided the apartment industry is where I wanted to end up and simply took the steps to accomplish my goal. Hire Priority got my foot in the door and Sentinel gave me the opportunity to prove I could do the job.”

And Marni has found exactly what she was looking for with her current position—a job where she gets to work with people, making them feel comfortable and excited about leasing at her community. Being proactive, asking questions, and networking are all elements of Marni’s journey to which she accredits her success.

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Compete for Jobs Against more Experienced Candidates

Posted on July 21, 2012 by James G. Lenhardt, CPC, CTS

How To Compete for Jobs Against More Experienced Apartment Industry Candidates

Chances are, in the search for your ideal job you will come up against more qualified candidates. Perhaps they have greater experience, specialized skills, or impressive professional accomplishments on their resumes. So how do you compete with someone who, on paper, appears more qualified for a job?

The key is to offer employers something in addition to your own experience and resume points. While credentials are important, they are not the only determining factor in the hiring process. For example, interviewing with an apartment manager or hiring authority presents an opportunity to demonstrate qualifications beyond bullet points on your resume. While you may not be a seasoned veteran of the apartment industry, you can offer a fresh perspective and a willingness to adapt to a new environment. Or, where  your property management experience may be lacking, you are a candidate who can be molded to fit the management company. Combined with a passion for the position you are interviewing for, these advantages can contribute compensation for a lack of experience.

Interviews are crucial; however, competition for jobs begins much earlier with searching and networking. In a pool of stronger candidates, taking advantage of networking opportunities can lead to apartment job opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible. Successful networking combined with a strong interview that emphasizes your strengths, in particular those that may not be immediately evident from your resume, will give you a competitive edge against more experienced apartment industry contenders.

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Finding Apartment Industry Talent When Talent is Scarce

Posted on July 21, 2012 by James G. Lenhardt, CPC, CTS

3 Tricks to Finding Apartment Industry Talent When Talent is Scarce

Perhaps you have exhausted your resources, investigated your networks, and interviewed a surplus of candidates for your open apartment regional manager position—and have yet to discover talent that will prove invaluable to your company. Rather than saturating the ranks of the unemployed, talented employees are most likely already employed for their sought-after status. So how do you find talent when it is scarce?

 1.)  Expand Your Search.

When you’ve already expended your usual hiring networks without luck, it is time to expand the reach of your search. One means by which this can be accomplished is through social media outlets. Social media pages are an ideal way to communicate what your apartment management company is about as well as advertise job openings. These pages offer an inexpensive means of ‘branding’ your company so that it appeals to your target job candidates and increases your company’s reach.

2.)  Hire Continually Rather than Coincidentally.

This concept is best demonstrated with a sports analogy: if you are the manager of a baseball team and one of your players quits unexpectedly your inclination is to hire the best possible player to fill that space. However, the superstar player you would like to have on your team is most likely already playing for another; and therefore you are forced to contract an unemployed lower-skilled player. The same holds true for hiring. Instead of seeking potential apartment industry employees due to the coincidence that there is an open position within your property management company, seek to continually be on the lookout for talent. Social networking is the most effective way to go about doing this, by seeking to establish connections and relationships in order to hire talent either immediately or when a position opens that interests them.

3.)  Think Outside the Box.

While talented employees look great on paper, they also have a spark that makes them successful—they are passionate about their work, innovative, and driven. Finding talent in a competitive market is about more than locating skilled applicants—as an hiring authority for an apartment management company you must also be able to recognize them. Sometimes the employees that turn out to be invaluable are those that, while they may be lacking a bullet point on their resumes, have a real passion for the company. And on the other hand, those who have impressive experience but the wrong attitude can turn out to be a mistake. Throughout the hiring process a mindset of thinking outside the box, and not limiting candidates to their appearance on paper, can lead to a talent goldmine.

Making these adjustments in your property management company’s hiring process and it’s approach to finding talent can lead to big payoffs—as talented employees can prove invaluable in the innovation, customers, and revenue they bring in.

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3 Things to Watch Out for on Your Resume

Posted on June 14, 2012 by James G. Lenhardt, CPC, CTS

3 Things to Watch out for on Your Resume

Most resumes are looked at for a matter of seconds-and in a field as competitive as the apartment industry a potential employer can often tell at first glace whether a candidate is a suitable match. So how do you keep your resume from ending up in the discard pile? Following these three tips will ensure your resume gives a good first impression:

1.) Format:
When initially faced with a resume the first thing a potential employer is going to notice is the format. A scattered or unorganized resume can leave the reader with the impression that you are likewise unfocused in your professional habits. Bullet points instead of dense paragraphs, refraining from cookie-cutter resume templates, and avoiding too much white space on the page are all hallmarks of a successful resume. In applying for any range of jobs within the apartment industry-from leasing consultant to apartment maintenance personnel to property manager-a clear and well-organized resume will keep the reader from being distracted by formatting mistakes, and allow him or her to focus on the resume’s content.

2.) Content:
One of the greatest mistakes resume writers make, and we see this when candidates are applying for apartment temporary jobs, is to describe their job duties rather than to convey how their previous experience resulted in transferrable accomplishments. The information on your resume should communicate a clear theme-how you can succeed at the position you are applying for. For example, if you are applying for a leasing consultant position, include your numbers of apartment leases or occupancy growth at previous positions. Quantifying accomplishments provides a clear argument that you will be successful at your next job. In large urban centers such as Houston or Austin, there are any number of similar apartment industry job listings, and tailoring your resume to target specific job positions will ensure your resume stands out.

3.) Grammar:
Grammar errors are another red flag that will land your resume in the discard pile. Typos are a common, and costly, mistake that can easily be fixed by proofreading. Another grammar faux pas to look out for is the use of first person-avoid the use of “I” or “me” in exchange for more business professional language. Even the words you choose should be carefully crafted in order to sell yourself for the position, refraining from cliché phrases or flowery sentences.

While there is no set formula for a resume, looking out for these common mistakes will ensure your resume catches the eye of potential apartment industry employers-for the right reasons.

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