Hit the ground running with an Estate Agency All-Stars recruit

When you hire a new negotiator it’s because you really, really need that extra person to help handle the volume of instructions.  So wouldn’t it be great if your new recruit could hit the ground running and start contributing straight away?  Joshua Rayner of Estate Agency All-Stars believes he has the solution.

Estate Agency All-Stars is a recruitment agency with a difference. It attracts fresh talent to the property business and combines a rigorous vetting procedure with a five-day intensive training course, ensuring new recruits are able to be productive employees from day one.

Growing Leicestershire firm Knightsbridge Estates has enthusiastically embraced the concept, with one new recruit – Sarah Burberry – having already undergone the comprehensive training programme and another about to embark on it. “The Estate Agency All-Stars package is very reasonably priced and when you think it includes not only recruitment but training as well, it really is a no-brainer,” explains Knightsbridge Estates sales director Luke St Clair. “Candidates might be able to ‘talk the talk’ at interview but having to pass a course means they have to actually demonstrate their knowledge and skills. The course content is very thorough and well-structured so that a complete beginner can absorb it. They come away with good basic skills that give them a solid foundation for a career in estate agency.”

Negotiator Sarah Burberry achieved 100% at the end of training, despite having no prior experience of the property world whatsoever.  She says, “I hadn’t even bought or sold my own home before so came into it completely blind.  I found it valuable in that I was able to pick up a lot of information in a short period of time compared with learning on the job.  Practical things like ‘The Magnificent Seven’ questions to ask when factfinding that I could put into practice back in the office.”

Luke St Clair believes the course has accelerated Sarah’s progress by several months: “She’s become an integral part of the team very quickly.”

The low dropout rate for Estate Agency All-Stars placements indicates that the approach works.  In its first year it has placed 80 All-Stars, only one of whom has left, compared with an average industry turnover rate for junior recruits of 60% in their first year of employment. Luke St Clair remarks, “One of the most demoralising things when you’re new in any job is feeling ill-equipped to do it so, as important as knowledge and sales skills are, the training gives new starters something even more vital – confidence.”

Joshua Rayner is the recruitment expert behind Estate Agency All-Stars