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Agencies & People

‘Higher and higher salaries are not only answer to industry’s candidate shortage’

Claim is made by online training platform co-founder Charlotte Jeffrey-Campbell who says paying more can cause more problems than it solves.

Nigel Lewis

able agent charlotte property

Sales and lettings agencies need to take a more sophisticated approach to overcoming the current candidate shortage within the property industry other than higher salaries.

The comments have come from Charlotte Jeffrey-Campbell (pictured), co-founder of online training and qualifications provider The Able Agent.

This follows recent research that shows an 11.4% average pay rise and 80% increase in vacancies since the market reopened following lockdown in May 2020.

“When it comes to skills shortages the industry needs to adapt and put strategies in place to deal with the problems head-on and prepare for the future,” she says.

“Paying more is potentially a good start, but it doesn’t get to the root of the issue.

“In fact, it may potentially create more of a challenge in the end with unskilled or unsuitable candidates being quickly hired to plug the gaps.

Property talent

She adds that if the industry wants to attract and retain quality talent, negotiators and other employees within agencies need to be offered fulfilling careers, and that bosses must understand what agents want, and need, to succeed and feel rewarded.

Jeffrey-Campbell says this includes giving new employees structured new-starter training to attract the widest range of possible candidates; giving new and existing employees a clear progression path in their career; understanding each employee’s aspirations and ambitions and problems.

This includes helping staff who are not enjoying their job but like working in the property industry to transfer to a different area of the business they are more suited to.

“If agencies are going to survive and thrive during this challenging time they need to look to quality, long-term solutions to attract the right candidates, support current staff and to future-proof themselves,” adds Jeffrey-Campbell.

Read more about salary rises in the industry.

December 8, 2021

2 comments

  1. I agree, new staff is often taken on at, or well past, the point of need and then shoehorned into several roles at once. Better standards of training, career progression, and clever tech that helps day-to-day employed to reduce the pressures. Those negotiators taken on without this will surely leave and the cycle will begin again.

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