The 2024 real estate industry is an arena of fierce competition. In this world, recruiting real estate agents (and retaining them) is a high-stakes game.

Succeeding is not a matter of luck but rather the result of superior strategies and tools used. Because let’s face it–why should a real estate agent pick your brokerage?

Competitive salaries, commissions, and other benefits have long been advertised.

Nowadays, you need a go-to-market strategy that highlights expectations and real opportunities.

Thus, we put together the definitive handbook for recruiting real estate agents. We’ll also offer some mind-blowing facts and statistics at the bottom of this piece—but no peeking! So, let’s begin.

Understanding the Landscape

Real Estate Agent recruitement Source

In 2024, agent recruitment begins with understanding the dynamic landscape of the industry. Hence, let’s break down this critical aspect in three easy steps:

1. Understand Market Trends and Showcase Your Knowledge

To recruit experienced real estate agents, you must stay updated on market trends. Without industry knowledge, you’re missing out on trends and best practices.

Plus, experienced agents will be able to tell that you’re not in the loop. This will make them reticent to work with you.

So, if you want to stay updated, you should be looking at:

  • Property Demand. What types of properties are in demand? Are people looking for condos, single-family homes, or commercial spaces?
  • Pricing Trends. Are property prices soaring, or are they stabilizing?
  • Market Regulations. Follow NAR and regional authorities for the latest legal updates.
  • Changing Trends. Keep an eye on changing trends in real estate, such as sustainability and the demand for properties accommodating remote work.

You’ve wrapped your head around property demand, pricing trends, and other industry trends.

Now, you need to leverage this knowledge to attract top agents in the recruitment process.

  • Use your insights into property demand to tailor your recruitment efforts. For example, if the market is craving single-family homes, let potential recruits know you specialize in that niche and see if they’re a fit for your specific goals.
  • Understanding whether it’s a seller’s or buyer’s market is a game-changer. Showcase your expertise in the prevailing market conditions. For example, if it’s a seller’s market, promote your successful track record of securing deals for your clients.
  • Keep in mind that your knowledge of market regulations is your ticket to legal compliance. Highlight your commitment to abiding by the law and ethical business practices in your recruitment pitch.
  • Show potential recruits that you can adapt to the latest sustainability practices and cater to the remote work demand. This will set you apart from the competition.
  • Lastly, highlight your industry knowledge in job descriptions and interviews. This will show that you’re serious about business and looking for like-minded agents.

2. Show Openness to Emerging Technologies

Your knowledge should also extend to:

  • Industry news and updates
  • Real estate best practices (PS: Xara’s free blog resource does a weekly real estate update on this topic, so now you don’t have to.)

Thus, potential recruits shouldn’t only be aware of emerging technologies and equipped to use them effectively. Make sure to highlight your:

  • Tech-Driven Approach. If you’re committed to staying on the cutting edge of real estate technology, you must advertise that. Mention your company’s benefits regarding training and allocated resources (e.g., tools, procedures, mentorship, etc.)
  • Digital Marketing. Show potential recruits how you leverage technology for marketing. Mention your online presence, social media strategies, and use of virtual tours to attract more clients. Ask if they’re ready to commit to adopting new technologies and adapting to the tools you’re using so far.

Pro Tip: Prepare a video recording that integrates and advertises your brokerage’s information. You can add it to your recruitment pitch to show agents your solid background and years of experience and explain that the ideal agent profile looks like someone with a strong market interest as well.

Want to Recruit Top Real Estate Agents? Craft a Winning Recruiting Strategy

Recruiting top-tier real estate agents to assemble a killer team is the goal. To make it happen, you need a winning plan.

Thus, we’ve put together a solid master plan checklist that we guarantee will upgrade your recruiting efforts. In other words, we’ve done the strategic work, so now it’s your time to implement it.

Let’s break down the essential components of this strategy, step by step, without the fluff:

Step #1: Define Your Brand

Real Estate Branding Steps Source

Your brokerage’s brand is like its fingerprint—unique and distinguishable. It’s the first thing potential agents see, and it should send a strong, compelling message.

When crafting your brand identity, keep these aspects in mind:

  • Core Values. Are you committed to innovation, transparency, or client-centric service? Your values should reflect your true identity and set the stage for what others can expect.
  • Mission and Vision. Create a clear mission statement that reflects your brokerage’s purpose. What do you aim to achieve in the real estate industry? Ensure that this statement is clear and inspiring.

When defining and creating your brand, head out to Xara. With its brand identity management feature and its content creation tool, Xara is the marketing automation software for all great agents.

👉Create and maintain consistent branding across all your materials for free here.

Step #2: Create Branded Content and Promote Your Brokerage to Potential Hires

Here’s how to create a strong brand identity for your real estate business in 5 easy steps with Xara:

  1. Upload Your Assets. In Xara, you can easily upload your existing brand assets, including your logo and any custom graphics or imagery. You can even create them from scratch or extract them from your website by pasting your URL.
  2. Design Using Real Estate Templates. Use Xara’s intuitive design tools and templates to create branded materials. This could include marketing materials, recruitment materials, job descriptions, brokerage highlights, internal employee reviews, etc.
  3. Highlight Your Unique Selling Points. Showcase what makes your brokerage stand out. This could include your company culture, commitment to agent success, or any special training.
  4. Tailor Content for Different Roles. Customize the recruitment materials for different positions within your brokerage. Highlight specific skills or qualities you’re looking for in agents, whether they are experienced realtors or newcomers to the industry.
  5. Distribute and Print. Once your designs are ready, you can directly distribute them online or print them for physical marketing materials.

Step #3: Create Compelling Job Listings for Your Ideal Real Estate Agent

Your job as a real estate brokerage recruiter is to stand out in a sea of mundane postings. Your ideal top-producing agents are out there, waiting to hear from you. Here’s how to find them:

  • Be Specific. Define what you’re looking for in prospective agents. Are you seeking someone with strong negotiation skills, local market expertise, or proficiency in a particular technology platform?
  • Highlight the Benefits. Go beyond the compensation package. Let potential agents know how their hard work will be rewarded. Whether it’s a lucrative commission structure, bonuses for hitting milestones, or other incentives, be clear about the rewards your real estate team can expect.

PS: If you’re one of those new real estate agents looking to get noticed, nail your next job application with these free customizable resume templates!

Step #4: Leverage Social Media

Undoubtedly, social media is an invaluable tool for reaching a broader audience of potential recruits. Here’s how to make the most of it:

  • LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and More. Around 71% of recruiters use social media platforms in the screening process. Alternatively, companies also promote their own personal brand and job ads on social channels. So, hop on this trend and share success stories, market insights, and the positive experiences of other real estate agents.
  • Engage and Interact. Social media is also about engaging with your audience. Visually engaging images are a must, so keep content creation on track and be consistent. Respond to comments, share content, and connect with potential agents.

Pro Tip: Xara’s marketing automation capabilities can help you schedule and manage social media posts efficiently, so give it a try for free here.

Step #5: Networking

Real Estate Brokers Networking Event Source

Here’s how to leverage networking effectively:

Mastering the Art of Interviewing

Real Estate Agent Interview Source

The interview process is your make-or-break moment. To ensure you’re bringing the best agents on board, you nail these critical stages of recruitment:

1. Structured Interviews

Structured interviews are organized and consistent. They involve using a predetermined set of questions for every candidate, allowing for a fair and objective evaluation.

Here are three examples of structured interview questions to make sure you hire a good fit:

  1. “Describe a successful resolution of a buyer-seller disagreement. What approach did you take, and what was the result?”
  2. “Share an instance when you adapted to market changes. How did you adjust your strategy, and what were the outcomes?”
  3. “Tell us about a complex real estate deal you managed from start to finish.”

2. Behavioral Questions

Behavioral questions are the windows to a candidate’s past. They reveal patterns and tendencies that can predict future performance. Here’s how to use them:

  • Inquire about past experiences such as “Tell us about a time when you successfully negotiated a challenging deal. Describe the approach and the outcome.” Using specific examples helps you spot seasoned agents.
  • Don’t just listen, but engage, especially if the answer is vague. Active listening and follow-up questions provide deeper insights into the background of real estate professionals.

3. Bring Real-World Scenarios to the Interview

Real-world scenarios help you see how candidates respond to the challenges they might face. Here’s how to incorporate them:

  • Role-Play. Present candidates with hypothetical scenarios like handling difficult clients, negotiating a competitive offer, or addressing unexpected property issues.
  • Case Studies. Use actual cases your brokerage has encountered. Ask candidates how they would approach the situation. This is a great way to spot really talented real estate agents.

Onboarding and Training

Real Estate Agent Onboarding meeting Source

Once you’ve recruited top agents, you need a comprehensive retention program to secure the new talent in your team.

Comprehensive Onboarding

A warm welcome ensures your new agents will start on the right foot. Here’s how to design it:

  • Introduction to Your Brand. Reiterate what makes your brokerage unique and special. Emphasize your core values, mission, and vision.
  • Technology and Tools. Provide in-depth training on the technology tools they’ll use. Show them how to navigate property databases, CRM systems, and marketing platforms. Introduce them to your 30-60-90-day sales plan to set expectations from the start.

Ongoing Training

For an organization fostering a learning culture, ongoing training should be a core practice. Regularly provide your agents with market updates, trends, and insights.

Additionally, invest in their professional development by offering opportunities for certifications. Commitment to growth improves their skills and ensures that you keep retaining agents by your side.

Work on Your Retention Strategies

Real Estate Agent Team Meeting Source

Securing top real estate agents is vital, and retaining them is equally crucial. Here are some additional retention strategies:

  • Competitive Compensation. Recognize and reward your new agents to motivate them to stay and excel. Stay true to the promises you’ve made in the hiring process.
  • Recognition and Incentives. Acknowledge your talented agents. Provide incentives to boost their morale and dedication. Public recognition, awards, and performance-based bonuses can be powerful incentives.
  • Work-Life Balance. Encourage your recruited agents to maintain their well-being. A balanced lifestyle leads to greater job satisfaction and long-term commitment.

Equip Agents with the Right Tools to Close Deals

To thrive in 2024, you need to offer your agents the resources and support they need, and Xara is a must-have tool in your arsenal.

Xara–Your Go-To Marketing Solution

Xara Marketing Center for Real Estate Agents

In a crowded market, standing out is your only chance at being seen. But does that mean that your current agents should spend their valuable time creating marketing materials?

If you’re struggling to balance priorities, find it difficult to automate marketing processes, and would love to allocate more time to lead generation, hear us out:

  • Xara simplifies all real estate processes in your company. From crafting stunning marketing materials to maintaining a consistent brand identity, you can automate it all.
  • The tool allows for streamlining marketing efforts with AI, saving time and costs in the process.
  • Its content creation and brand identity management features empower your agents to generate materials at scale. Plus, it ensures that your brand remains consistent, making your brokerage instantly recognizable.
  • Automated content creation allows you to distribute materials digitally and physically while focusing on what matters: creating the go-to-market strategy and attracting leads.

Xara doesn’t just save time. It elevates your agents’ marketing efforts and boosts their productivity.

With valuable time on their hands, agents can focus on what matters most: selling properties and closing deals. 

If your goals are efficiency, stunning marketing materials, added revenue, a well-balanced team, and more time to sell,

Well…

Try Xara for free and empower your team

Still, Xara is just one piece of the puzzle. You should also consider these essential tools and practices:

  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems. CRM software and sales tools allow agents to manage client interactions, track leads, and maintain a database of valuable contacts.
  • Property Management Software. For agents handling rentals or property management, realtor tools streamline lease management, maintenance requests, and financial transactions.
  • Continual Education and Training. Invest in training platforms like EdApp to keep your best real estate agents on top of their game.

Recruiting Experienced Real Estate Agents Just Got Easier

Real Estate Broker Recruiting Agent Source

Recruiting real estate agents that are experienced isn’t easy. However, with the strategies and insights shared in this guide, your job just became easier. Let’s recap the key takeaways:

  • Understand the real estate industry
  • Craft a compelling brand narrative
  • Improve the interviewing process
  • Provide onboarding and training
  • Focus on employee retention, too
  • Equip your top producers with essential tools
  • Stay informed about industry trends

Ready to Elevate Your Real Estate Game? Now is the right time!

Empower your team with Xara

👉 the all-in-one solution for brand identity management, content creation, and marketing automation.

Ethan Ives

Real Estate Recruiting – FAQs

1. How do I create a unique brand identity for my real estate brokerage?

To create a unique brand identity, define your values, culture, and mission. Aim for a unified brand message and style across all platforms. Head to Xara as a go-to real estate resource for creating and managing your brand recognition.

2. How do I recruit agents?

Recruiting agents involves crafting compelling job listings, leveraging social media, networking, and conducting structured interviews.

3. What are the most important KPIs to measure the success of recruitment efforts?

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure in your recruiting real estate agents efforts include:

  • New Agent Retention Rates. This KPI reflects how well your brokerage retains agents over time. High agent retention rates indicate job satisfaction and a strong company culture.
  • Time-to-Fill Vacancies. This metric measures the time it takes to fill an open position. A shorter time to fill means an efficient recruitment process.
  • Quality of Agents Recruited. Are your real estate agents meeting or exceeding sales targets? Do they align with your brokerage’s culture and values? High-quality new recruits lead to better long-term results and show if your recruiting process works or needs refining.