Recruiting Property Professionals

Are you a property professional or looking to employ one? Are you interested in seeing where recruitment and talent acquisition in the property industry is headed?

 

Here at PropertyJob.co.uk we know how important it is to consider both the property sector as a whole, the jobs available within the property industry and what salary and benefits are available to those employed within Property Jobs. Here at propertyjob.co.uk we also think it is useful to look at recruitment trends within the industry.

 

• Talent shortage is a real issue in the current market. Almost three quarters (72.8%) of employers are struggling to recruit workers within the property industry with the necessary skill set and qualifications. (Manpower)
• Getting the right person for the job is (obviously) important to the recruiter, so be prepared to impress them. About a 1/3 are looking at the quality of the hire as the key goal while about ¼ of recruiters consider the retention rate as their primary measurement.
• Over 60% of the workforce search for jobs online, and this number is growing rapidly.
• Companies lose as many as 89% of potential candidates due to an overly long screening process (Zety, 2019). So if you can hang on and be patient during a long property job application process, it may help you get the job.
• Over a quarter of companies are transparent about pay and salary ranges (LinkedIn).
• New starters take on average 24 weeks to reach optimum productivity in SME’s and 28 weeks in large firms.

• 56% of candidates who felt they had a positive hiring process experience said they would seek employment with the company again in the future, 37% would tell others to apply there, and 23% would be more likely to purchase products or services from that company.

(Keep scrolling for more trends and recruitment stats)

Property is finally embracing technology and this has created the Proptech industry and the roles associated with it. With that comes a changing job market and the opportunity of social media to help people find their ideal property job.

Trends in the property job market (%’s below based upon respondents to the RICS Macdonald and Company UK Rewards and Attitudes Survey 2019).

 

• 64% of workers in the property job market reported a pay rise in 2019
• Of the 64% in a property job who got a salary increase, the average increase was over 5%
• Median Salary for a UK Property Job Professional is £48,000 per annum
• 37% percent of property professionals are looking to move job in the next 12 months.

 

Applying for a Property Job, remember these points.

1. Recruiters can take as little as 5-7 seconds to form an opinion.   Spelling or punctuation errors can mean you CV is thrown away even if you can do the job.
2. Make sure you have a professionally looking email address. Approximately 75% of CVs are ignored if your email is not.
3. Only about 2 fifths of candidates receive any information prior to their actual interview, other than the date and location. Job seekers, do your homework before you get there.
4. On average, interviews last 40 minutes (phone interviews 30 minutes), however in a survey of 2,000 hiring managers, 33% claimed to know whether or not they would hire someone within 90 seconds. After that, it usually takes 24 hours to two weeks to hear from the company with their decision.
5. What employees look for before making an offer: 36% look for multitasking skills; 31% look for initiative; 21% look for creative thinking; and 12% look for something else in the candidate.

 

Property Market Overview

2019 was a difficult year as a whole for the economy, the property market itself was not immune. The shadow of Brexit has meant investment money destined for the property (amongst other markets) has been stockpiled for future opportunities once the economic uncertainty subsides. On a more positive note, the UK continues to see very low levels of unemployment. With employment likely to remain high by historical standards despite predicted falls, the Bank of England has recently revised up forecasts of nominal pay growth in 2020 to 3.75%.

Due to a lot of unknowns associated with Brexit as well as the possibility of a hard Brexit still on the table, the market simply has too many significant variables to be able to predict with any certainty what 2020 will bring. There is a possibility that the economy will continue to stall until some certainty is provided by government.

The property market has seen considerable changes over the last 5 years. Fundamental changes to the risk and reward associated with asset types. Town centre retail going from one of the strongest asset types, to now one of the weakest and riskiest. With changes of demand in asset types, so the number and demand for property jobs within that sector change. Retail property jobs  have moved closer to looking at redevelopment, change of uses to leisure/ entertainment, and place shaping for major town centre development.

The office market has also seen somewhat of a downturn, with offices remaining vacant for longer, and that is even with supply being somewhat affected by permitted development (offices turning into residential). The Prime office market continues to outperform secondary, with notable strong increase in q3 2019 in Bristol and Leeds.

Industrial property has outperformed all other asset types and has seen yields strengthen as users are pushed out from central town and city areas. These are often due to redevelopment for residential and tenants having to move out due to rising rents.

Despite the down turn of the some of the commercial property sector and the stagnation of the residential property sector, the property job industry remains robust. The industry has a historical skill shortage and this will take some time to address. Therefore the South East property job market, and most notably the London property job market remains strong.   Where before some of the skill shortage was filled was from people moving from Manchester, Birmingham down to London, the Northern Powerhouse boost has meant there are now greater opportunities to work in property in the Midlands and in the North rather than always aiming for property jobs in London.

In times of austerity, there are certain property roles that have shown to outperform other property jobs. Property management jobs, Asset Management Jobs and general practise jobs remain strong when the market is not performing as well. After all, the properties need to be managed even if they are vacant, or not performing at their optimum. Commercial Property Agents or Estate Agents jobs can be somewhat precarious around this time. These jobs need transactions, and if the market is not trading, then they are often a resource that is either cut or repurposed into a different department.   When the market is strong, this is often the best paid sector, but with reward, there is risk.

 

UK Employment Summary

In the three months to October 2020, there were 800,000 vacancies in the UK, down 53,000 on the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

A spokesperson for the ONS said that the rate remained “high by historical standards”.

Compared to this same period a decade ago, the number is up 80 per cent on the 441,000 vacancies recorded at the time.

Employment rate

 

 

Are you thinking of changing property job, are you attracted to the property market? If so please click here and start searching for your ideal property job on propertyjob.co.uk.