Recruiting talent has been the focus of many successful brokers and firms forever. So too has been the concern over the growing gap between quality professionals in real estate and those licensees who, shall we say, need to up their game. Add to this the “maturing” average age of REALTORS^®, and the issue of recruiting future REALTORS^® becomes a real dilemma. This leads to a weighty question that is equally important to brokers/firms as it is to the industry/profession: how do we tempt talent? How do we attract young, smart and competent people to consider careers in real estate? Answering this question speaks to raising the bar of professionalism, image and profitability.

Part of the problem stems from an industry model that has relatively low barriers to entry coupled with relatively low CE requirements to stay in the business. Combine this potential of making considerable income, and you have a profession that appeals to a very wide range of talent.

It’s a profession attractive to the most ambitious entrepreneurs as well as those who seek only supplementary income or part-time work. One byproduct, however, is too many real estate agents are not qualified and the result leaves consumers and top professionals in the lurch. 

The fact is real estate has not traditionally been a first career for most in the profession. Only 5 percent of current REALTORS^® started out in real estate. According to NAR statistics, most REALTORS^® had previous careers in management, business, finance, retail or sales. Once in the industry, many members stay around awhile. The median age of a REALTOR^® in 2015 is 57 years old, up from 52 years old in 1999. And unlike numerous other professions, an undergraduate or post-graduate degree is not required. Under a third of REALTORS^® (30 percent) have a bachelor degree. Another 31 percent have “some college.” 

So why do very few students or young professionals see real estate as a first career? In part, the answer lies in what those younger job-seekers are seeking in a job. Surveys show most graduating college students want employer-paid medical insurance and company-matched 401(k) plans. They want companies committed to providing the latest technology. They want tuition reimbursement for advanced education. They want salaries — with median starting salaries of $40,547 — with guaranteed annual increases. Does that sound like many real estate companies you know?

To cajole young talent to choose real estate as a first career, brokers may need a stronger presence where job-seeking students and others are looking to start their careers. Consider these ideas:

• A more detailed and informative company website with career opportunities available: 98 percent of students say they consult company profiles online.
• Career fairs and job fairs: 88 percent of students say they find such events valuable. 
• Help from alumni: 69 percent of students identify alumni as a resource.

A more vexing issue is that of salaries. It’s difficult to promote a career in an industry where there’s no steady paycheck, and the first commission check could be months and months away. To attract more talent, perhaps a salary-plus-commission model would work better. 

Young talent values many things, including the use of and investment in ever-changing technology, mentorships and internships, and CE opportunities, to name a few. Many successful corporations like Wells Fargo, Charles Schwab, Northwestern Mutual and JP Morgan Chase invest in such programs as a way to attract and keep young talent.

The truth is many graduating students or young professionals looking for a change see real estate as “sales” similar to any other “sales” job and unfortunately don’t understand the multitude of diverse opportunities in the real estate space. More importantly, they’re likely missing the truth because we’re not adequately or effectively painting the right picture for them to see. The true picture is that a career in real estate is pure entrepreneurialism, where every agent is a small business in need of startup capital, good planning and solid mentoring; where the latest technology is essential and applied every day. And like any small business, it’s a profession where hard work and superb, competent customer service yields high professional, personal and financial rewards. 

Every successful REALTOR^® remembers seeing this vision, feeling this excitement and pursing this dream. If our goal is to attract young, smart talent to our profession, and then let brokers compete for that talent, we need to tell our story to more young people earlier, louder and in terms that will ignite their entrepreneurial spirit. Tempting the right kind of talent for the future will raise the bar for our companies and our profession.