MISS MANAGEMENT
CAROL LEVEY | LEVEY ENTERPRISES
How to recruit, interview and hire
people for the maintenance industry
I am a new regional director for a company expanding into the local market. Right off we have positions unfilled at several
of our apartment communities; especially in the maintenance area.
Moreover, as we expand our local operation and evaluate existing onsite staffs I’m anticipating an ongoing need for
recruitment, interviewing and hiring activity. What advice do you have for a newcomer that needs to succeed?
T
aking a hard look at your
current and future personnel
needs is the right step to
establish a strategic plan that
you can initiate, lead and sustain.
Your candidates will generally come in
(3) varieties:
One variety is the young graduate of
vocational training and/or institution of
higher education. These candidates have
character and interest but no experience.
You might be their first employer and as
such they will need the most basic office
training, communication protocols and
property routines. They are willing to
work hard but need interesting work with
growth potential. They require detailed
training and will do best with direct
feedback more regularly than you might
be accustomed. Catch yourself and others
when they say, “but everybody knows
that”. Don’t take anything for granted.
Utilize social media to create awareness
and initiate interest about the career track
you are offering. Maybe you can bring
groups of students to your apartment
community for a career night. Don’t forget
to communicate among your residents
and suppliers.
Your hiring practices need to
emphasize constant learning, compliance
proficiency and incorporating what is
learned into performance expectations.
www.aamdhq.org
Establish a core of testing, showing
understanding and demonstration
of skills within specific time frames.
Examples include: understanding the
lease, fair housing and other details before
stepping on-site.
The challenge is to create a smooth
on-boarding along with the initial 90
days. Tailor the steps necessary to raise
individual performance from a detailed
checklist that tracks experiences.
Conduct weekly evaluations to assess
real understanding of processes and
procedures. Keep each new hire in
charge of initiating and follow through;
it’s their career.
The second variety are the candidates
that meet the minimum education
requirements you’re looking for but have
experience in another field that might
translate into the property management
and/or maintenance skills. These often
have higher expectations for responsibility
and reward than you believe is warranted
due to no industry experience. Start with
total transparency about your concerns so
you will be direct about their progress or
lack thereof.
The interview questions must be
calculated and designed to establish
transparency moving forward. You must
engage this employee to establish what
they bring and how this has value in
specific ways. They must be coached to
initiate this process and prove value along
the way. You must create the environment
for this to happen.
The third variety are those candidates
that come from within our industry;
maybe even among your competitors.
Maybe someone has been out of the
industry for a time. The challenge in
recruiting people from your competitors is
the reputation you will need to live down.
Then there are the benefits and downfalls
that come with their experience.
You might assume they can “hit-the-door-
running”. Surprise! Surprise! You must
be careful not to assume or short cut the
training process. You need to fully engage
this employee during on-boarding and
initial training. Otherwise, you can get
outward acceptance of your way of doing
things but when left alone these employees
might fall back into habits you didn’t
intend to hire.
I think you get the message that no
matter which variety of employee you
recruit, interview and hire, there are
challenges and risk. You might experiment
with all the above and spread your risk.
Although some of you might recognize
this Q & A from four years ago I think
you will agree that to re-emphasize in the
current market is a good idea. Sometimes,
times and people change so that an idea
not workable before suddenly makes
perfect sense.
JULY 2018
TRENDS | 13