The property industry is engaging with schools and graduates in a bid to attract much-needed young talent and raise awareness of the sector and the career opportunities it offers. However, the industry must also recognise that not all fee-earners and high-flyers make good managers.
These were just some of the subjects debated at last month’s Property Trailblazers seminar at MIPIM UK.
Chair Ginny Gibson, deputy dean of University of Reading Henley Business School, said that property was not widely understood beyond its own world and that this had to be addressed if the industry was serious about attracting and retaining talent at every level.
Ema Saunders, people development director at Savills, said the agent employed around 100 graduates a year and it believed that getting in front of students while they were still at school had become increasingly important when showcasing the industry.
“We are doing masses to deliver presentations to schools, raising awareness of what the property industry is exactly and how amazing it can be,” she said.
“We want to support access into the industry, demystify it and take a blend of undergraduates and masters students.”
But finding the right person for the right job has its challenges.
While property is very much a people business and relationships are often key to successful business deals, the most well-connected big-hitters are not
always the most suitable people managers.
Capita Real Estate director Jeremy Day said: “Generally, people in property do not make great people managers. However, this will change.”
Savills’ Saunders added:“If you can get middle management right you can grow talent and give people a hand to grow the next generation of high-flyers. We have 4,000 staff in the UK, but teams are still quite small and our structure is relatively flat. Younger staff are usually only five steps away from senior management.
“We recognise that some of our best fee-earners wouldn’t want anything to do with managing people, so we try to nurture people’s strengths.”
But all companies need leaders, so how do you develop a leadership pipeline?
Paddy Allen, head of capital relationships at Global Student Accommodation Group, said that having room to make mistakes and the support to deal with them was crucial.
“People should be able to own their own projects and be given room to make mistakes while still receiving support,” he said.
Saunders said that giving younger recruits access to the high-flyers could fuel ambitions.
“We give access to key, senior people like [Land Securities chief executive] Rob Noel, so younger staff can see how more experienced people have made their journey, which can be inspirational.
“The big shift is that people are now looking at not just role they are being hired for, but the platform that it will offer them in their future career,” said Saunders.
“People are now very open about where they think their career might go. Which helps us plan for the future.”
Day agreed, adding that the profile of graduates had changed dramatically over the years and that today’s graduates were more diverse, had wider skill sets and were more financially and business astute.
Managing talent
Retaining talent is an age old problem and one that does not show signs of fading.
According to figures released earlier this year by HR body CIPD, one-third of employees plan to change jobs this year. Employers need to do something about this. Hiring staff may not always be the answer, but investment in retaining talent should be.
According to a survey by Halogen and Cranfield University, almost one-fifth of employers plan to reduce their expenditure on external recruitment while an encouraging 57% expect to increase their expenditure on training and development.
Almost half of respondents to the survey said they would increase spending on performance management and succession planning, with 47% saying that a need to focus on retention of key talent was a top priority.
