​There’s a skills gap apparent across many roles in real estate, with hiring managers, talent acquisition, and HR specialists struggling to find the talent they need from their existing networks. The talent exists outside these traditional networks in many roles, it’s just about effectively attracting it.

Real Estate and Capital Markets specialist, Ciarán Nicholl & I spoke about this and how to open up new avenues of recruitment through practical inclusive hiring practices, on a recent webinar we conducted alongside Bayfield Training.

Why does the skills gap exist?

Sometimes the gaps exist because education hasn’t been adequate, new technologies and processes have evolved, or there are other global factors in play.

For example, there is a shortage of qualified finance staff across all industries as a knock-on effect from so many having to postpone their exams during the height of the COVID pandemic. We can see from the ONS “How many people do my job?” Index that only 13% of Construction Project Managers are under 30 at the moment, and in real estate/capital markets, there is a wave of experience leaving the sector either through retirement, or more commonly of late, an entrepreneurial drive to go it alone. Brexit has also had an effect, creating barriers for international students and the recruitment of those from other countries to fill these gaps.

So, how can hiring more inclusively fill the skills gaps?

There’s no magic wand, but there are a lot of practical steps that organisations and individuals can take to hire more inclusively and therefore fill those skills gaps. Below is my 4-point plan:

1) Hiring can become habitual, but every hire is unique

Often one of our biggest downfalls when hiring is that we follow a similar pattern that we’ve followed time and time again. We apply the same principles to each search we do, even when the roles are different.

This is human nature – where we subconsciously rely on instinct that may be clouded by biases and preferences. This can play out as what is called ‘the ladder of inference’, where we rely on learnt behaviours to make decisions and assumptions about similar scenarios – a concept discussed in Trevor Maber’s Rethinking Thinking concept.

It’s easy to understand how this could translate to hiring new personnel – meaning a thought-out, individual assessment of each position before going to market will help ensure that you are getting exactly what you want from your next hire.

2) Prioritise skill sets

So, what skills do you actually NEED in your hire? Make sure that these are clearly delineated in the job description and throughout the process – studies have shown that men will often apply to positions when having 60% of the role requirements, whereas women feel they need to meet 90-100%. By clearly stating the priorities on the job ad and differentiating that list from the ‘nice-to-haves’, or not including those at all, it will ensure you don’t put off potentially relevant candidates.

Does the new hire need existing experience with a certain software, or can this be taught? Same with soft skills, can you teach these? If yes, how and who will they learn this from? Having a clear plan for onboarding including the relevant training and who in your company or team can support that is essential in a hiring plan.

3) Ensure alignment across all hiring parties

When looking at a new hire, how often are your HR, Talent Acquisition, and Hiring Manager aligned on exactly what the role will require and what kind of person they want in the position? Make sure that everyone in each part of the interview process understands what you want to from the candidate – including the skill and competency-based questions you’ll ask at interview and how you’ll measure their aptitude with these. Think about the onboarding as well – what will it involve (mentor programs, shadowing, training, etc.), how will it need to be adjusted to suit their previous experience, and who will be responsible for it? A simple conversation between all parties to get everyone on the same page can go a long way.

4) Broaden your search

Consider where you’re currently hiring from and re-examine whether these networks are simply because they’re a culture-fit’, rather than a ‘culture-add’. If you’re going to the same job boards, LinkedIn searches, or same four or five competitors because they’re tried and tested, try somewhere new to see if it can help plug that skills gap. There are many reasons why someone might not have landed the role that gives them a perfect CV – so stop trying to find the perfect candidate and recognise that there will be talented candidates out there if you focus on skillsets.

Apprenticeships or graduate programmes could futureproof your pipeline of talent, mitigating skills gaps as they progress through your organisation. If you don’t have the infrastructure in place for these, then speak to organisations that already do this work, such as The Land Collective who encourage youth engagement in the built environment and develop their employability for a career in real estate.

Also consider those returning to work after a career break - perhaps people more senior but looking for part-time work instead of a full-time role, or someone with ample experience but who is perhaps looking at a phased retirement. It won’t be possible in all roles, but by making them remote, you’ll immediately appeal to a wider geography of people and talent hubs elsewhere in the UK as well as those who might find it difficult to consistently work in an office atmosphere, due to a disability or other responsibilities (like the 1/3 of employees in the real estate sector that have caring commitments, as per our Diversity in Real Estate Report).

Becoming an inclusive employer

You have the practical takeaways to fill your skills gaps, now how can you go further to become a truly inclusive employer?

1)      Join groups and networks – The Land Collective mentioned above and Real Estate Balance are both doing amazing things to improve representation in the sector, helping to fill these and future skills gaps with the future leaders of tomorrow. Both of these, as well as RICS, offer an array of DE&I tips, events and programmes, such as talks, networking, and an industry-wide reverse mentoring initiative.

2)      Collect diversity and inclusion data - measure your diversity with anonymous tracking, and measure inclusivity with feedback surveys will let you know where you might have challenges to address. At Cobalt we have a job seeker report we publish several times a year, which shows the diversity of the candidates we are working with.

3)      Work with a recruitment agency that specialises in improving inclusive hiring - that can provide custom reports so they you see how your hiring processes compare to others in the sector, and that can help you build diverse shortlists for roles.

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Training as an inclusion specialist, my role is not only to prioritse inclusion at Cobalt, but across the recruitment processes and practices of our clients in the real estate sector, so to ensure the best available talent can get in and get on in the space.

If you want to discuss inclusive hiring, on either an individual role or across an organisation, I’d be delighted to speak with you.

Email: mbond@cobaltrecruitment.com

Phone: +44 (0)20 7478 2508