Why it’s important to deviate from the traditional route into real estate

EG FUTURE LEADERS 2024: Michael De Los Santos Samson, apprentice surveyor, CBRE

If real estate really is on a mission to become a more diverse and inclusive industry, then it needs to take decisive action when it comes to its hiring processes. That was the message that came loud and clear from Michael De Los Santos Samson, an apprentice surveyor at CBRE.

De Los Santos Samson used his Future Leaders speech to physically show us the difference in starting points between a more traditional route into real estate – the route tinged with a hint of that nepotism we’ve heard about in past Future Leaders speeches – and an apprenticeship route.

He showcased not only the passion for the sector there was among those who might not be immediately offered a direct route into real estate, but the barriers they face.

“Why should we work extremely hard to get into an industry where as soon as we get to the office, there’s no one who looks like us?” he asked the audience. “There’s no one who talks like us and there’s no one who acts like us.”

He added: “The base skillset of those in the real estate industry is having people skills, having personable skills. Those people skills will open you up to different demographics. Those different demographics will open you up to different markets and those different markets will definitely open you up to more opportunities.”

De Los Santos Samson ensures he uses his experience of entering the industry to help others understand that there is a different way in – and that it is worth it – and he wants us to too.

He called on the audience to put three things into practice:

1. To share their own story of how they got into real estate, the different routes they may have taken, so the next generation can be inspired and see that doors are open;
2. For senior members of the industry to engage with networks within their businesses, showing their people that they are seen; and
3. To switch up the hiring process, utilise blind CVs and to never, ever ask what area a potential employee’s sixth form college was in.

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