It all starts with having the right digital real estate recruiting systems in place.
For starters, if you want to get more Millennial agents working at your firm, you have to meet them where they spend a significant portion of their lives: social media. Head to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest to not only determine agents in your market who have strong digital presences and work sans an agency behind them, but also to reach out to the ones you deem as possible fits for your brokerage. Sending messages to these hopefully soon-to-be official candidates on each social network with detailed descriptions of your brand, info on what you’re looking for in new hires, and a request for a meet-up or phone call is the ideal protocol for getting them interested in your firm’s open position.
This can undoubtedly be a time-consuming task, but it’s a phenomenal way to discern agents who are on top of their real estate marketing games from those who are seemingly still dedicated to their outbound/offline strategies (in other words, perhaps not the most optimal agents to pursue).
LinkedIn, Indeed, SimplyHired, Monster, and other job-searching websites offer a great start for your recruiting efforts as well, but to find real estate agents who are exceptional fits for your brand, you’re going to need to be more proactive than simply posting a stock listing on one of these services.
For instance, find out what common keywords, terms, and phrases agent job-seekers tend to enter in these employment search engines so you know which popular ones to include in your listings. Think of it as a minor version of trying to rank organically on page one of Google search results, except now you’re trying to get your job listing to be listed as the most relevant for a variety of search entries.
For LinkedIn, specifically — which serves as a primary online locale for industry pros to display their real estate agent resume and employment history — be sure to systematically research possible candidates throughout the hiring process by filtering your searches based on the criteria you’re looking for in a new agent, like those who live relatively nearby, have worked in your market for a long time, and have mastered one or more niches with their business. As LinkedIn expert Ted Prodromou notes in this Entrepreneur article, using the platform’s InMail feature to introduce yourself and your brand is the best way to start building trust with prospective hires and nurture them through the recruiting process.