Meet One of Building Careers’ Consultants: Julia Turpit

Meet One of Building Careers’ Consultants: Julia Turpit Read More »
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, there was a renewed call for diversity and inclusiveness in CRE. It’s clear there is no more room for inequality and exclusivity in our country and in our industry. And fortunately, many leaders in commercial real estate are showing us the way forward.

When the recent protests over inequality flared up, Bisnow reached out to racial minorities to discuss diversity and inclusiveness in CRE. Leading the way, the popular industry news journal opened up a much-needed dialogue with the racial minorities working in CRE to better understand how they feel and what solutions to pursue. The responses provide a unique snapshot and roadmap for improving diversity and inclusiveness in the CRE industry.
First, they asked how it feels right now to be a racial minority in America and in CRE. While some responded with frustration that this even had to be a topic, many others expressed hope that this time was different. Many feel positive change is in the works – not only for commercial real estate, but the nation at large.
Next, they asked what CRE leaders can do to bring about a more diverse and inclusive workforce. Helpful responses poured in. A common response was to praise the various programs and organizations pushing for inclusion, like:
But the primary response was to stress the importance of awareness and dialogue. We cannot pretend diversity and inclusiveness in CRE are not real and valid concerns. Leadership in this area requires meeting the issue head on and then working on ways to solve it.
Bisnow’s project is not the only example of leadership on this matter. There are other notable members of our industry making firm commitments to diversity and inclusiveness in CRE.
The commercial real estate industry has a spotty track record on diversity and inclusion. But there is hope for the future. As leaders rise to the forefront and make the case for a colorful and varied industry, others are listening and following in their path. We can no longer pretend away this problem. But through tackling it head on, we can find creative and enriching solutions for a more colorful and expansive CRE.
The Need for Diversity and Inclusiveness Leadership in CRE Read More »
In just three weeks, more than 16 million Americans have lost their jobs, and before the coronavirus pandemic fades, many millions more will become unemployed. And that leaves many with only one critical tool to recover their career: network during a pandemic.
To be sure, the normal routes we used—in-person meetings or coffees and networking events—have vanished. Here’s a sobering stat: until COVID-19, event planners were putting together more than 5,200 meetings a day, each with more than 10 attendees. And while the odds of hearing responses to new LinkedIn connections were never great, they are even tinier when people holding jobs are in turmoil themselves
Nonetheless, experts say there are still a host of systematic approaches to remind the business professionals you know that you’re around—and letting others realize you exist. But it’s all different in the era of COVID-19. And trickier. Here are some thoughts on how to network during a pandemic:
Networking is often done over coffee or during breaks at a conference, but meeting people in person is almost impossible at the moment. But instead of just settling for a phone call, experts say networkers should set up video chats to actually see each other. The video calls can make it easier to establish a connection and be authentic—especially with a new person.
Nobody should start a network conversation with “I need a job.” Successful networking is about building relationships, experts say.
It can start with making a list of the possible things you can do for people in your network. Perhaps you can make a connection to an important partner in someone’s field. Or point to a little-noticed but important new research paper. Even small things, experts say, if done sincerely and are genuinely meaningful to the other person, can jump-start your networking.
Read More: https://www.kornferry.com/insights/articles/job-networking-search-coronavirus
Contact Us: https://www.buildingrecareers.com/contact
Contact Carly Glova: CGlova@BuildingRECareers.com
How To: Network During a Pandemic Read More »
To be really effective in your job, you need to know why and how to praise others for their good work. You need to know the importance of employee recognition.
Employee recognition is the timely, informal or formal acknowledgement of a person’s or team’s behavior, effort or business result that supports the organization’s goals and values, and which has clearly been beyond normal expectations. To be fully successful in the workplace at any level, you need to understand the psychology of praising others for their good work, to apply the principles of employee recognition yourself and to encourage others to initiate it in their working relationships.
Appreciation is a fundamental human need. Employees respond to appreciation expressed through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work is valued by others. When employees and their work are valued, their satisfaction and productivity rises, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work. Gallup studies show employee recognition is the key factor influencing employee engagement, and therefore organizational performance.
Employee recognition is the principle of social proof in action, a term pioneered by social psychology professor Robert Cialdini. He defined the principle in this way: “We view a behavior as correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it.” Employee recognition embodies the principle by showing to others in a tangible way that a person’s efforts have been outstanding.
Yet Gallup analysis in 2016 found only 1 in 3 US workers strongly agreed they had received recognition or praise for doing good work in the past 7 days. Gallup consultants recommend that recognition should be given weekly in broad terms to those who deserve it – and in a timely way so the employee knows the significance of their recent achievement and to reinforce company values.
Contact Us: https://www.buildingrecareers.com/contact
Contact Carly Glova: CGlova@BuildingRECareers.com
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RETS Associates principal Kent Elliott said the CRE unemployment rate has been — in some roles and sectors — even better than zero, much healthier than the national rate. While some roles and sectors in the commercial real estate industry are seeing furloughs and layoffs and some employees are finding that good job interviews are few and far between, the industry overall may be in much better shape than the national average.
Of course, good data is hard to find, but according to RETS Associates principal Kent Elliott, the CRE unemployment rate is much lower than the overall unemployment rate, even in the midst of a pandemic. In fact, Elliott told Multi-Housing News in a recent interview that the rate in CRE could be as low as a third of the national rate.
“Currently, overall unemployment has spiked to around 13% and the CRE unemployment rate stands at roughly 4%,” he told MHN at the start of July. “That figure is the same as what the broadest sector of the economy stood at when it was healthy.
“You can’t find this data with the Bureau of Labor Statistics or anything like that,” he told Bisnow. “It’s just the sense that we have, as recruiters, being focused just on real estate, on where we think things are at this point in time.”
He said RETS is working with about half as many placements as it was last year at this time.
“The first quarter [of 2020] was rock-solid,” Elliott said. “The second quarter was not as good. The sense is we’re at about 50% of where we were last year at this point.” Across the RETS team of 15 recruiters, “nobody is at full capacity compared to last year,” he said.
But this period of flagging activity follows a national unemployment rate of just 3.6% as of January 2020, at which point Elliott estimates the rate for CRE, was again much better: somewhere between 2% and, in some sectors and geographies, as low as negative 2% — meaning more jobs were available than there were skilled candidates to place.
Starting from such a strong position, even with the ravaging economic repercussions of the coronavirus, the industry would have a long way to fall.
CRE recruiters outside of RETS are divided on the 4% theory. Some think the estimate is too low given the extent of the downsizing they have witnessed. Others say it seems about right, based on the work piling up on their and their colleagues’ desks. It varies by job function (high-paying, high-risk positions are being cut more readily and hired more hesitantly now) as well as by city.
For example, the May unemployment rate in Las Vegas hovered around 30%, whereas in the D.C. metropolitan area it was more like 9% and in Lincoln, Nebraska, just 5%.
When it comes to pinning down the sprawling industry of commercial real estate, there is no clear data, as residential real estate is often lumped in, skewing the picture. According to data from the BLS, the real estate industry at large in the U.S. showed real estate at 3.3% unemployment in March, spiking as high as 8.9% by May, and then dropping to 7.4%. However, CRE measures up against the national unemployment rate, searches happening at a 50% capacity are a shared experience.
CRE-focused recruiter Carly Glova, resident and executive recruiter of Southern California-based firm Building Careers, said 2019 was the firm’s best year to date, both in terms of revenue and number of placements, and in Q1, it was on track to surpass that in 2020. But over the past several months, the open roles it is managing have also seen a decline of about half.
“You compound COVID with the fact that now we’re in July,” Elliott said. “July and December are the two slowest hiring periods, so now you’ve got a double whammy. Half of [the slowdown] is COVID and half of it, it could be just normalcy.”
Of course, what may have been normal in July of last year is far from normal now. The Real Estate Roundtable 2020 Q2 Economic Sentiment Index registered a score of 38, confirming a dive in the industry’s read of market conditions.
“Although our Q2 survey results show there is hope for improved conditions within the next year, there are significant concerns that other sectors of the industry could be dragged down if jobs don’t rebound and government assistance tapers off,” Real Estate Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer told GlobeSt.
Elliott said hiring interest is like a spigot, and as the world tries to regain its footing amid chaos, the flow remains in flux.
“I can feel all these things happening, almost from week to week,” he said. “This week, Wednesday morning, I had four calls with four new clients, discussing four new search opportunities. I had my recruiter from Phoenix on one of those calls, Charlotte on one, Denver on another and Newport on another. That’s a good sign.” Read More: https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/employer/cre-unemployment-rate-vs-national-unemployment-rate-coronavirus-105152?utm_source=CopyShare&utm_medium=Browser
National Unemployment Rate vs. The CRE Rate Read More »
Looking for a job can be a bit like dating. It can be easy to go online and find a match for a first date, but what happens after that is what matters the most. Will that first date (or first interview) turn into a long-term relationship? Or is it going to be a bust?
Job searching can be hard work. It’s not just a question of finding a job – any job. It’s important to find the right job, a job that is an excellent fit for you now and for the future, either as a stepping stone for your career or as an opportunity you’ll be comfortable with for the long haul. If it’s the wrong job, you’ll end up having to start a job search all over again if the position doesn’t work out. Besides it being stressful, you’ll need to avoid being considered a job hopper when writing your resume.
Because job searching is time-consuming, as well as hard work and because it can be even harder when a job doesn’t work out and you end up quitting or getting fired, it’s best to spend your time trying to get it right from the time you start job hunting. Here are five secrets to finding a job you’ll love.
Before you start your job search, spend time making sure you’re looking for the right job. If you’re not certain about what you want to do, take a career quiz or two to generate some ideas. If need be, get career coaching or counseling to help get you on the right track. Use the job search engines to search for jobs that are a match for your skills, experience, and interests.
Don’t just apply for the job. Take it a step further. Use your connections on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other networking sites to discover whom you know at the company. Ask them for insight and information on the company, in general, as well as about the job. Your contacts may also be able to provide you with a referral for the position. Check out the company’s LinkedIn page and social media profiles to gather information.
Read More: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-tips-for-finding-a-job-you-will-love-2060996
Contact Us: https://www.buildingrecareers.com/contact
Contact Carly Glova: CGlova@BuildingRECareers.com
5 Secrets to Finding a Job You’ll Love Read More »
It’s one of the biggest work at home conundrums. You finally found a job that you love that will allow you to work from home or you’ve been working from home due to the Coronavirus. You imagine how much time you’ll save from not having to commute into an office, how much money you’ll save by not having to pay for said commute (and office wear and fancy lunches), and how productive you’ll be with all that extra time not having spent stuck in traffic.
Thing is, your work life and your personal life can easily become one big mélange of misery if you don’t try to set boundaries. Here are a few tips in which you can separate work and life during COVID-19 when you work at home.
It may seem unnecessary to have regular office hours when you work remotely. After all, isn’t the point of having a flexible schedule that you can work flexibly? But if you start and stop your workday at various times throughout the day, it can wreak havoc on your productivity. Instead of getting more work done effectively, you’ll find yourself working much longer than you need to, often when your kids are home from school or even later into the evening. So try to keep a consistent schedule, and then allow for interruptions or breaks as needed.
You’re prepping dinner and you have your laptop open on the counter at the same time. While you might be tempted to scan your work emails as you’re tossing the salad, you shouldn’t. It’s imperative to establish boundaries when you work from home. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself working 24/7. So make every effort to be present in your life, whether you’re trying to finish up a big project or if you’re having a conversation with your 10-year-old. Setting boundaries will ultimately make you a better, stronger, and happier worker and person.
Dirty dishes. That mound of clean clothes that have to be folded and put away. When your home and your office are one in the same, distractions are plentiful, even more so than if you worked in a traditional office. If you don’t ignore the distractions, though, you’ll find that you’ll get far less work done. So as much as you’d like to have a totally clean house, you’ll need to block the mess out of your mind until you’re done with your work for the day.
Read More: https://www.workflexibility.org/separate-work-life-when-you-work-at-home/
Contact Us: https://www.buildingrecareers.com/contact
Contact Carly Glova: CGlova@BuildingRECareers.com
Tips to Separate Work and Life During COVID-19 Read More »
Unforgettable Interview Thank-You Letters
Sending a thank you letter after an interview might seem old-fashioned, but it’s just as important to write one as ever. One survey from TopResume showed that 68 percent of hiring managers say that a candidate’s decision to include or not include a thank you note after an interview affects their final hiring decision. But while sending a thank you note has become expected, it’s not enough to simply send a note that says “Thanks for chatting with me” — you need to put some thought into it. In this guide, we’ll show you how to write a thank you note that will impress interviewers and increase your odds of getting a job offer.
The Timing of Writing a Thank-You Letter
Writing a thank you note to your interviewers shows that you are gracious, humble and thoughtful — all important qualities for potential new hires to possess. That’s why you should write a thank-you letter after every interview within 24 hours. You don’t want to risk having recruiters or hiring managers think that you’re cocky, ungrateful or absentminded.
People You Need to Write a Thank-You Letter For
In general, it’s a good idea to share a thank you note with everybody you interviewed with individually, from recruiter to hiring manager to potential colleague. If you don’t already have their contact info, request it from your main point of contact throughout the hiring process (likely the recruiter), explaining that you’d like to thank them for taking the time to speak with you. If you had a panel interview, you might want to save your time by sending one email to the main interviewer with everybody else CC’d.
If you spoke to many different people — say, you presented to a room of 10 or more — it’s probably not practical, or a good use of your time, to include each and every one of them. In this case, you can follow the same procedure you would in a panel interview: Send one note to the main interviewer with several of the key players CC’d.
Learn More: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/guide/how-to-write-a-thank-you-letter/
Interview Thank You Letters: A Beginners Guide on How to Write One and When Read More »
So you’re considering jumping ship and working for a new company – but what about that non-compete agreement you’ve signed? Perhaps you’ve been offered the perfect position as a resale coordinator, builder liaison, or broker. The role and location are precisely what you want for your career and your family. But there’s those nagging questions: is it worth the risk of legal hassle? Is your contract even enforceable? How should you proceed?
First of all, like all legal matters, there’s no way to know without consulting an attorney. So talk with an attorney who handles non-compete agreements and get legal advice before proceeding.
But as executive search consultants in the commercial real estate industry for many years, we know a thing or two about non-competes, too. And here are some important points you should know.
Don’t be flippant about violating a non-compete. It is a contract, and you can be held liable for its terms. Proceed with caution.
Besides, as a CRE professional with integrity, you want to be a man or woman of your word. Review the terms of the agreement and understand just what you may or may not do.
While “reasonable” is subjective and differs from state to state, generally, this kind of contract is only considered reasonable according to three criteria:
While most states tend to be lenient with employees, some states go so far as to consider a non-compete agreement as null and void. Fortunately, California is one of those states.
California employers may protect company secrets if they can prove they are proprietary, but competition is not restricted. If your employer is in California, you probably weren’t required to sign a non-compete to begin with. And if you were, it’s almost certainly unenforceable.
If you’re in an area where a non-compete agreement is legal, and you’re unsure about its reasonableness or enforceability, communication is key. Talk to your prospective employer before you defect, and show them the contract. They may be able to design your role in such a way to preclude a lawsuit or potential violation of the agreement.
Talk to your recruiter. Executive search firms are adept at handling objections like these and helping you avoid pitfalls – especially recruiters who specialize in CRE and know the employment rituals and rules for your industry front and back.
Navigating these troubling times can be treacherous, so go with a firm whose expertise you can trust and rely on. They can be your advocates and advisers through each step.
What If I’ve Signed a Non-Compete Agreement? Read More »
Financial recovery won’t be businesses’ only concern when they begin to reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ll also be tasked with making customers feel safe coming to their offices and stores again. Magnolia Bakery in New York City for example will ask customers entering its shop to walk through a cleansing chamber, The Wall Street Journal reports. Patrons will be “bathed” in ultraviolet (UV) light for 20 seconds, which is safe for humans, but lethal for viruses and bacteria. Columbia University has tested the far-UVC light on 100 hairless mice for almost a year with no ill effects.
Customers can expect these types of precautions as businesses attempt to curb people’s fear of going into buildings. Prior to the pandemic, people did not give crowding into places like offices, schools, retail shops, restaurants, sports arenas and gyms a second thought. Now, it will be up to building owners and operators to assure people it’s OK to do so again if they want customers to return in pre-COVID numbers.
Here are some technology solutions and interventions that building owners are putting to making their buildings safe again for patrons to visit and shop.
Indoor air has become more polluted than outdoor air in a lot of cities during the last few decades, The Great Indoors author Emily Anthes wrote. The drop in inside air quality is partly due to efforts to make buildings more energy efficient. In doing so, some buildings have become, “sealed tombs” that don’t have much outdoor air exchange.
It is possible to for a building to absorb more outdoor air without sacrificing energy efficiency. Engineers didn’t put these measures into practice because they require more design effort and equipment than just recirculating air. Installing filters that can catch small particles, even as small as the Coronavirus, so air ducts are not transmitting re-circulated virus-laden droplets on people as they walk by is another way to improve in-building air quality.
Learn More: https://blog.thebrokerlist.com/measures-cre-owners-can-take-to-make-their-buildings-safe-again/
How CRE Owners Are Making Their Buildings Safe Again Read More »