What is the return on investment for hiring an executive search firm like Shine Associates? The question is especially relevant for firms that built their own in-house recruiting teams. Also, the proliferation of online recruitment and job-seeking platforms has led some firms to conclude that they can easily find talent without the assistance of a third-party search firm. Below are some of the most compelling reasons when considering what an executive search firm like Shine Associates has to offer:
We are a firm’s marketing arm. We’re in the market on behalf of our clients, advocating the aspects of each client and the opportunity to work for that client, confidently making both look compelling. We succeed because we’re capable, experienced, credible, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic about not only our work, but the real estate business as a whole. We function as an extension of our client, albeit a neutral party. We’re the face of our client in the employment marketplace, and as candidates come to know and trust us, they listen to what we have to say when we reach out on behalf of our clients.
We have connectivity and reach. We’re constantly in the flow of the real estate industry, as this is our sole focus. We all have networks of contacts across different organizations, various real estate functions and real estate classes. Given the structure of our organization, which provides principal leadership and management of every search, and which incents teamwork both as a business culture as well as financially, our clients have access to all these different networks, and to the vast collective experience our partners share. Essentially, there’s a multiplier effect in play that allows us to quickly and effectively find the best candidates for our clients.
We have a strong and broad real estate client base. We work for large institutional real estate companies, corporations, and smaller entrepreneurial real estate firms that are well established in one/all the national, regional and local marketplaces, which enhances our credibility and gives us access to high-caliber candidates.
We proactively find the best and brightest candidates. We engage in behind-the-scenes sourcing by harnessing our collective networks to find the best and brightest candidates. These individuals typically aren’t seeking job changes or opportunities, but are often happily and gainfully employed. When we proactively call these candidates, they’re willing to speak to us because we’re not competitors, and we may have relevant insights. Our approach is in stark contrast to firms that passively post job openings on a website, then sit back and wait for the A-players to come to them, and to firms that otherwise blanket the market with a shotgun approach in an attempt to net potential candidates.
We employ market intelligence and experienced honest evaluations of people. Having worked in, and focused on, real estate collectively as a team for over 85 years, we’ve created deep, trusting relationships with a vast number of industry professionals and companies that give us keen insight and understanding of our client’s wants and needs. Because of this, our contracts share with us the straightforward truth and their personal experience and insights. This includes confidential, honest reads on a candidate’s success, skill set, and work style-information that’s usually not as readily available to in-house recruiters. As impartial intermediaries, we’re able to ascertain the market’s opinion or reputation of individuals, a true benefit for our clients. We can also collect intelligence on what competitors are looking for in personnel, how they are structuring their career incentives, and how they are creatively tackling employment challenges.
Shine tracks, understands, and learns compensation expectation and details. While search firms are no longer allowed to ask for individual compensation, we can dialogue with a candidate about their expectations. In doing so, many of our candidates voluntarily share their compensation information with us. This is because they tend to trust us more than in-house recruiters. As an intermediary, Shine can provide market compensation information and furnish appropriate guidance to our clients and candidates that helps lead to a fair compensation solution and a positive experience in reaching terms—thus getting the employer/employee relationship off to a good and productive start.
Shine is experienced in, and understand, the complexity of hiring in today’s environment. The needs of our clients are more complex than they once were because firms are working to solve more challenging problems, and because in many cases, their clients are becoming more sophisticated. Accordingly, firms are seeking candidates with diverse backgrounds and skill sets to fill leadership and associated roles, often in contrast to the standard hiring qualifications approach of the past. Instead, our clients are now looking to hire individuals from different parts of an organization, or with experience across business lines, and/or product types, to fill leadership positions in real estate. Identifying candidates like this requires a lot of sourcing and networking to find the right skill set and cultural fit, which is where Shine Associates real value comes in.
Shine Associates has a keen awareness of psychological aspects of changing jobs. Contemplating a professional move can be an anxious process for some candidates, while clients don’t always understand the hesitancy or issues at hand. We keep things grounded in reality by providing counsel to both our candidates and clients. We help smooth out the emotional ups and downs of the recruiting process, and provide an employment solution that works for both our client and the candidate. So, that the working relationship gets off to a fast and successful beginning.
Do you need to strategically attract a high-performing individual or develop a team? Start by contacting Shine.
