While the Live, Work, Play concept is vastly appealing to many, research is showing that urban jobs are not necessarily being created as fast, which is contributing to the increased number of people living the reverse commute. Will we ever get to a balanced Live, Work, Play environment?
Published on July 12, 2018 on Connect Media
What is Driving the Uptick in Reverse Commutes? Read More »
Go travel, spend time with family and friends and have some fun! Then, it’s time to be an adult, put your quality education to good use and start paying the bills. It can be a daunting time looking for your first real job but also an exciting one. And if done thoughtfully, the decisions you make here will lay the foundation for a successful career doing what you love and doing it well.
I am honored to be conducting a webinar for my college alma mater, Penn State, in September. The dialogue will be around “How to Navigate a Candidate’s Market” and as I begin to prepare for it, I have been thinking a lot about my experience from college student to job candidate to business professional.
Between freshman and senior year, I went from studying marketing to finance to commercial real estate, the latter being my ultimate calling and what, as many of you know, I am immersed in today. I bounced around for a bit but my journey to finding my dream career fortunately came to me relatively quickly. And I think it is because of something I was taught to embrace early in my college and professional life: The power of networking.
Your network is your continuing education and where your professional growth continues
It’s never too early to network and create a community of genuine relationships that will propel you in your professional life. Think of these people you meet and the relationships you nurture with them as your support system. They are the colleagues, mentors, bosses, team members, employees and college friends who will directly and indirectly influence your career path, educate you about your industry and role of choice and ultimately refer you to relevant opportunities. Your network will open doors you may have not even known existed.
When I embarked on the endeavor of creating my own real estate recruitment company, I spoke with anyone and everyone, especially in the commercial real estate world. This curiosity and desire to understand each person’s role in the industry and what motivated them gave me the clarity I needed to confirm it was exactly what I wanted to do for a living.
Your network will help you be your best self
When you spend time with your network, it’s also a check in with you. Where are you in your career and where do you want to go next? Oftentimes we go to college or specific schooling not truly knowing what we want to study and do for the rest of our lives, me included! And unfortunately, some high-potential students graduate with the same uncertainty. You’re not alone if you are one of them.
Around the time of my graduation, my created network suggested I take a personality assessment to identify my personality type and help me validate my interests, aptitudes and quite frankly what I was probably not going to be good at. It was invaluable. My network also referred me to two of my now favorite books: Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath and What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles. I highly recommend both!
Your network is your group of trusted advisors. Follow in their footsteps. Seek their advice. Ask for help when you need it to make a hard decision. Be inspired by them. They will celebrate your successes and hold you accountable to always be the best you can be now and in the years to come. I am grateful for mine.
Congratulations to all of the graduates out there! Your next chapter has just begun. All the best in the endeavors that await you!
What Do I Do After Graduation? The Power of Networking Read More »
Lean In’s focus is to research, support, and raise awareness for building a more equal world. They offer a myriad of resources to help from videos to books to step-by-step guides. Visit leanin.org to learn more and read the full article: 10 Tips for Recent Graduates
10 Tips for Recent Graduates Read More »
The economy, low unemployment, better pay. Why are more people quitting their jobs?
More People Are Quitting Their Jobs Read More »
Mindfulness is a buzz word that has become more and more commonplace over the past few years. Constant efforts to fit everything in in the day and “multi-task” are causing constant stress in our days, which affects everything from work performance to physical health. Practicing mindfulness allows us to better deal with the stressors that life will undoubtedly throw at us.
Mindfulness can be manifested many ways including focusing on one task at a time, setting an intention for the day, meditating and/or concentrating on your breathing.
The article below provides other examples of how people fit mindfulness into their workday.
How These 12 People Fit Mindfulness Into Their Work Day
Published by Kate Ashford in Forbes.com on May 31, 2018.
How These 12 People Fit Mindfulness Into Their Work Day Read More »
So you didn’t get the job or the second interview or maybe you didn’t even receive any feedback after submitting your resume. Sound familiar? While there are a myriad of possible reasons why you didn’t get the job, here are some of the most common reasons.
Resume
Your first introduction to a company is your resume. Studies have shown that hiring managers spend an average of 6 seconds reviewing a resume, so it could be that you didn’t have the right keywords or easy to read formatting to allow the hiring manager to clearly understand your experience and how it relates to the role they are looking to fill at their company. Some companies also put a strong emphasis on pedigree, so if you haven’t worked at a large, institutional company for example, you may automatically be out of the running for certain opportunities where that experience is preferred (and vice versa). Companies also might be looking for specific certifications/licenses that are an automatic deal breaker if you don’t have them, for example CFA, CPM, CPA, etc
Personality and Culture Fit
In this day and age, personality match and culture fit are the second most sought after job must-haves for candidates (after career growth opportunities). Companies know this too and approach the hunt to fill a position with a large emphasis on scenarios like, are someone they could sit next to on a cross country plane flight? Nearly half of the companies that we work with have gone so far as to ask candidates to complete personality assessments and based on historical data/experience and other personality types in the office, decide whether or not you will be a fit within the company and/or specific team you’ll be working with. Other personality fit deciding factors include succinctness of communication, the way you carry yourself, the questions you ask, how you interact in interviews, and how you relay your excitement for the role.
Skill Set
Some roles require more soft skills, while others required a very specific skill set. For example, a company looking for an experienced commercial real estate analyst will be looking for someone with real-world experience in the software program Argus. More and more companies are starting to test for these hard skill sets as part of the interview process.
Experience
In the current economy, everyone is busy and hiring managers have a lot on their plate. “We need someone that can hit the ground running” is a phrase we hear a lot as many companies cannot dedicate the time and resources it takes to train someone into a role. Years of experience relative to the job and your reputation in the industry are two common deciding factors on whether or not you get the job.
Competition
As solid as your resume, personality, and skill set may be, you are also still compared to the other candidates interviewing for the job.
Compensation
You may have priced yourself out of a role. Perhaps you are more expensive relative to your competition. While this does factor into a hiring decision, we don’t see this as much because most companies are willing to meet compensation requirements for the right fit of all of the above.
External Factors
There could be a variety of external reasons that you didn’t get the job. A company reorganization, budget issues, an earthquake – you name it. Perhaps the company promoted someone internally or received a referral from a trusted source. Or maybe the company decided they don’t need anyone in that role after all and closed the position. Maybe they decided to outsource the role to a 3rd party.
Realistically, you will may never know specifically why you didn’t get hired. Whatever the reasons are, either internal or external, know that the right job for you is out there. Continue to focus on your job search, trying to improve each time and doing your best to not take negative outcomes personally.
Why Didn’t I Get Hired? Read More »
Are your company’s behaviors, systems, and practices aligned and in sync with its values?
A few of my takeaways from the article are that the following things can lead to creating a truly understood and desirable culture.
Read the article here: Why Great Employees Leave “Great Cultures”
Originally published by Melissa Daimler in Harvard Business Review on May 11, 2018.
Why Great Employees Leave “Great Cultures” Read More »
As the US continues to become busier, more stressed, and less happy, this Yale course seeks to provide the tools to change that.
After discussing happiness misconceptions, the focus of the course centers on behavior change and practicing happiness. The good news is that we have control over our attitude, practices, and behavior, so happiness is within our reach!
While you may not be able to participate in the full semester class, this article includes links and assessments to lay the foundation to build upon your own happiness. Now off you go to spend time with family and friends and nurture the relationships that make you happy!
Want to be happier? Read on for a Yale professor’s CliffsNotes on how to continue practicing happiness. How to be Happy
Published by By Adam Sternbergh on May 28, 2018 in New York Magazine.
While the Royal wedding may have not had a direct impact on commercial real estate, certain industry sectors did get a boost. Read on to see which areas of the economy were measurably impacted: Royal wedding’s $1.4 billion economic impact
Article published by Victor Reklaitis on May 18, 2018 on MarketWatch.com
Royal wedding’s $1.4 billion economic impact: Here’s the boost by sector Read More »
Have high expectations of your recruiter. Sit down with him or her and articulate what your company’s short- and long-term needs are and have an open dialogue about how you can effectively work together to find the best employees and job candidates for your team. Ultimately, you share the same goal but it’s important to ensure you’re on the same page when it comes to achieving it. And these three criteria are key to finding the right recruiter for your organization.
Effective recruiters are good communicators.
From start to finish, a recruiter should be in regular contact with you and be accessible when you have questions or simply need an update. After the recruiting firm provides you with a thorough overview of their capabilities and how they specialize in your industry, ask them what their strategic approach and process is to finding you job candidates. When can they deliver. Some recruiting firms, Building Careers included, go so far as to commit to timely responsiveness in order to provide you with the highest level of service. Talking regularly inevitably leads to more success faster. The recruiter is there for you and will be able to provide their honest and direct thoughts regarding their experiences with certain candidates and who they believe could be a great fit for your team.
Experienced recruiters know the world of recruiting for your industry.
Market knowledge and access to a qualified network of candidates are the two main reasons you reached out to a recruiting firm in the first place. Recruiting firms know your industry and know where to find and select the right employees for the open positions you have at your company. They can provide insight on where market sentiment is, who else is hiring and at what levels, and what compensation ranges you should consider to attract and retain the best talent for your team. They can also offer you ongoing industry insights and inspiration.
Many recruiters work with organizations as an ongoing human resource extension so that at any given time, they have the inside scoop on your team dynamics and needs and can fill open positions quickly and efficiently. The recruiters operate as an extension of your company. They complement and amplify the current processes you have in place. And this leads me to the final point.
Smart recruiters are in it for the long-term.
The right recruiter isn’t in it for a one and done or to simply be a use and burn resource. So invest your time and energy into finding a recruiter who recognizes your immediate need to fill an important open head count but who also wants to understand your company’s and team’s business objectives and plans for growth. They can tell you what kind of relationship and agreement makes sense – contingent search versus retained search – based on your budget, business needs, team functions and so on. The best kind of recruiter is the one who spends time with the key stakeholders in your company to build the kind of relationships that will lead to mutual success now and in the future.
Not only will a smart recruiter commit to timely responsiveness and transparency, but they will also be your company’s biggest advocate. The recruiter will spend a lot of time building the candidate relationship and rapport where the candidates are able to be transparent with the recruiter in order for the recruiter. This allows the process to run smoothly from all perspectives and allows the recruiter to be in the best position to negotiate on behalf of the client. A sure sign that your recruiter is a keeper is when they dedicate time to front line marketing and evangelizing what your company does. Your company deserves the best talent that aligns with your culture. Make sure that your recruiter is in line with that too.
What Should You Expect From Your Recruiter? Read More »