Tag: career

New Skills for a New Year

New Skills for a New Year

The past year was a strong one for real estate, and that momentum seems likely to carry into 2015 and beyond. With business on the upswing, this is the time to bring your career strategy to life. An expanding business often provides avenues to gain new experience or advance into more challenging roles as competition builds for talent. At the same time, it’s important not to overlook the importance of education in making the most of career opportunities that emerge in the new year.

Always Ask

Even in favorable business conditions, it’s easy for employee development to go overlooked by executives managing more immediate concerns. Don’t assume someone else will find time to advance your professional priorities, even if it’s part of his or her job. At the same time, you also shouldn’t assume your superiors aren’t interested in building your knowledge just because they haven’t dropped an educational opportunity on your desk recently. Keep an eye out for classes, conferences and seminars relevant to your job and the position you want to earn down the line. As budgets improve, it becomes easier to ask for the time and money required to pursue additional education. Doing so shows initiative and can also offer a gentle reminder of where you’d like your career to move in the future.

Self-Study

Spend much time on airplanes? Commute by rail? Have a few spare hours in your week to commit to personal and professional improvement? It’s never been easier to access a staggering array of classes online. Massive open online courses have made many classrooms at the nation’s top universities available to anyone who wants to log in. While programming and other technology courses tend to draw the most attention, there’s also a surprising range of free courses in management, finance and other fields relevant to a career in real estate.

Want to know more about the basics of corporate finance, marketing or even architectural photography to fill a soft spot on your resume? You might just find an appropriate video course at a modest cost on Lynda.com. Or, for more advanced learning, consider the career potential of online coursework or credentials from a relevant professional organization. A membership with the Project Management Institute, for example, costs less than $200 yearly and offers access to networking opportunities and educational resources that include dozens of webinars that can be used to help earn certifications.

Be the Person Who Knows the Software

Occasionally, picking from among well-qualified candidates comes down to which one can start the job familiar with that company’s systems. Likewise, team members who can troubleshoot a critical program or train others to use it can quickly become indispensable. While I’ve met few professionals in sales eager to spend a Saturday afternoon exploring their customer relationship management software, showing an interest in it can be an easy way to set yourself apart. If an employer isn’t footing the bill, remote training can be pricey for software like JD Edwards, Yardi or RealPage. But it’s worth considering whether the long-term earnings potential makes it worthwhile if knowledge of a specific system can make jobs available that were previously out of reach.

In the end, outlining educational priorities comes back to setting professional goals and putting in place concrete steps to make them happen. I’m optimistic that 2015 will see a continued recovery that buoys all of us in real estate. The professionals who benefit the most, though, will still be those willing to build their knowledge to match their ambition.

Over more than two decades, Christopher Frederick has helped match the talents of executives with leading companies in real estate. Visit our website at www.chrisfred.com where you can find exclusive job listings for real estate professionals and read more about our one-of-a-kind approach to executive recruitment.

Ambition’s Back: A Rebounding Market Calls for Career Confidence

Ambition’s Back: A Rebounding Market Calls for Career Confidence

It’s taken seven long years, but the shadow of the financial crisis has finally receded from American real estate. Residential property values have seen sustained increases across major markets. Commercial activity has picked up, and in many cities builders are scrambling to meet a significant under-supply of multifamily housing. For professionals in the industry, guarded optimism has given way to justified confidence about the future of their careers.

Good News for Builders

Recent job statistics from the Associated General Contractors of America back up the trend. April saw the construction workforce expand in 220 markets compared to the same month the year before. Employment remained stable in another 49 markets and declined in 70, partly because of reduced spending on government projects and the impact from Hurricane Sandy. Job gains ranged between 10 percent and 11 percent in the greater Los Angeles area and came in at 9 percent in Atlanta and Dallas. A handful of smaller markets experienced a small gold rush, with the construction workforce increasing by 42 percent in El Centro, Calif., 35 percent in the Steubenville, Ohio, region and 27 percent in both Pascagoula, Miss., and Springfield, Ill. These numbers don’t just represent tradesmen. In my recruiting practice, I continue to see consistent demand for construction professionals in purchasing, acquisition and development, regional/divisional leadership, investment management and other areas.

Make it yours

Confidence is empowering. It helps people work harder, take risks and broaden what they consider possible. An optimistic future for real estate should inspire those who work within it to seize the potential for advancement and professional growth that might have been delayed during the recession. Now is the time to redefine your goals for the next five years. How can you assert yourself in your current position to make them happen? Who in your professional network can help you? Is the organization you belong to the best place to grow? A rejuvenated market affords us the chance to explore these questions to an extent that wasn’t possible in the fairly recent past. As you do, remember: Mindset matters. I’ve found that success isn’t necessarily a product of one-off opportunities, but rather the result of decisions we make based on the circumstances at hand. In real estate, at least, today’s circumstances are as promising as they’ve been in a long time.

For more than 20 years, Christopher Frederick has helped executives and the companies they lead seize opportunities in real estate. Visit our website at www.chrisfred.com where you can find exclusive job listings for real estate professionals and read more about our one-of-a-kind approach to executive recruitment.

Job Happiness: How Smiles Can Get You Miles

Job Happiness: How Smiles Can Get You Miles

It’s no secret that an enthusiastic attitude, a positive outlook and a likeable disposition can bolster a career. Particularly for leadership positions, employers seek not only professionalism but an authentic passion for the job at hand.

What’s harder to divine from the advice of career coaches and business books is where all those positive feelings actually come from. Even people in a line of work they love face the same career risks, periodic setbacks and daily frustrations as everyone else. A positive outlook at work takes more than the right job title, a good salary or even a generally upbeat personality. What I’ve learned from the leaders I’ve placed at some of the country’s top real estate companies is that their success comes, in part, from a perspective that allows them to thrive within whatever environment they find themselves in.

I saw this spirit expressed in an unlikely place the other day. I love music, and when I watched the video for the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, I was struck by the sincerity of its underlying message. The soulful lyrics expound on the artist’s sense of joy despite any of the bad news or challenges around him. Meanwhile, a cast of diverse characters dances to the catchy hook: “Because I’m happy, Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof, because I’m happy, Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth …” There are good dancers and terrible dancers. Old faces and young. Business leaders and famous athletes. Mothers and kids. But they all seem to get what he’s talking about. Despite their differences and whatever unique circumstances they face in their lives, they acknowledge and celebrate the things that make them thankful in life.

That’s also the type of outlook that can have a meaningful effect on work satisfaction. Instead of dwelling on the stresses of every day, it helps to be reminded of the satisfactions and rewards that drew you to a position in the first place. Whether that’s the rush of a high-stakes deal or simply the satisfaction of earning a living for your family, allowing yourself to be happy for what you have now and what might lie ahead can help give you the positive outlook employers and coworkers value so much.

For more than two decades, Christopher Frederick has helped recruit tomorrow’s leaders in real estate. Visit our website at www.chrisfred.com where you can find exclusive job listings for real estate executives and read more about our one-of-a-kind approach to executive recruitment.

Stress or Success? Outlook makes all the difference

Stress or Success? Outlook makes all the difference

Consider these two descriptions of real estate professionals in management: One relishes the responsibility of brokering deals with millions of dollars at stake. She untangles each snag in the process like a puzzle waiting to be solved. She’s sacrificed and worked hard for years to earn a position of trust, and she arrives at the office each morning ready to take on the challenges that brings. The other executive, meanwhile, has a tense meeting on the calendar with higher-ups who might disagree with her approach. She’s facing some tough calls that will affect real people she knows personally. Every day she’s aware that the risks involved in her decisions could derail not only a big deal, but the reputation she’s worked toward for years. As she watches the sun go down from her office window, she realizes she’s spent the last eight Saturdays at work.

It’s easy to consider the work experience of the first executive as the definition of success. Likewise, the second person comes off as struggling with a stress-filled position taking its toll. But really, these examples could describe the exact same person. In any career, and particularly in real estate, stress and success are two sides of the same coin.

Perspective counts a great deal in the development of a career and in how it affects your life. Leaders know that anything worth doing comes with a degree of uncertainty, setbacks and struggle. Becoming successful in the long run involves all of these things. The most satisfied professionals, though, use them as a source of motivation. Even when a given situation looks bad, it’s important to consider the circumstances in the broader context of your years-long effort to achieve career goals. It’s tough to remain confident all the time, but consciously managing pressure in the workplace has a significant impact on personal and professional growth.

Everyone does this differently, whether by surrounding themselves with people they trust, escaping into a hobby after hours, or volunteering to help people facing greater challenges. Regardless, successful professionals usually develop a healthy relationship with the demands of a high-stakes job and, above all, refuse to give up, even when the outlook is daunting. Most people in our industry have experienced this first hand in the last five years. As the market collapsed, staying in the game required commitment, faith in the industry, hard work and the right attitude over the long term. In my practice, for example, the challenges of this period led me to branch out into a new approach to executive recruitment as the demand for traditional headhunting dipped. With real estate finally in recovery, we’re now reaping the gains of that positive outlook and perseverance. And I’ve realized that one of the best ways to move forward is crossing the line mentally between feeling pressured at work and feeling successful when diving into the challenges at hand.

For more than two decades, Christopher Frederick has helped place leaders with some of the largest companies in real estate. To learn more about how we can enhance your next executive search, contact Chris Hingle at chingle@chrisfred.com. Or visit our website at www.chrisfred.com where you can also find exclusive job listings for real estate executives.

Hot Housing – Make the Most of Career Opportunities in the Recovering Residential Market

Hot Housing – Make the Most of Career Opportunities in the Recovering Residential Market

Last year brought indisputable evidence of a recovery in housing, with the National Association of Homebuilders reporting a 28 percent year-over-year increase in housing starts in 2012. Even amid the volatility caused by rising interest rates this summer, the pace of construction remains robust, and expanding homebuilders are on the lookout for talent. Now is the time for professionals in the industry to assess their prospects and make the most of a rebounding market.

From my own work as a recruiter offering a unique digital approach to executive hiring, the high-demand positions I see at the moment are in purchasing and in land acquisition/development. If your career resides in these areas, think strategically and study the market carefully to find a position offering the most headroom and potential for expanded responsibility in your area of expertise. If your skills fall in a different area, fear not. The recovery is providing motivated professionals with a degree of flexibility as companies begin rebuilding their diminished ranks.

The housing downturn left many managers and their employees hesitant to leave their present positions, rightfully fearing that a move to advance their careers might leave them with no job at all if prospects worsened at a new company. Some of that caution persists, but today’s business environment should inspire confidence that careers can once again rise with the prospects of homebuilders. Career-focused individuals should also keep in mind that their years helping firms muddle through the downturn also have value in their own right in the eyes of employers looking for hard-working, innovative people.

Hiring managers, too, face a different landscape when recruiting executives. The decline in housing wasn’t gradual and neither is the recovery. The people who left the industry have not necessarily been replaced with younger talent in recent years, so many employers have become more flexible in the way they hire and develop their leaders. Companies must think deeper than job titles and years of experience. What leadership responsibilities and decision-making skills are revealed by a candidate’s work experience? How did he or she add value during the recession? Smart people are easy to train. Can you find the devotion and talent you’re looking for in someone from a different career track, or even from another industry? The talent is out there and hungry for a piece of the long-awaited growth in housing. Likewise, housing professionals should draw confidence from the work they’ve done in recent years – a confidence that inspires them to excel as things are finally looking up. The housing recovery will be yours to prosper from as well.

For more than 25 years, Christopher Frederick has helped match ambitious professionals with leadership positions at some of the most successful firms in real estate. To learn more about how we can enhance your next executive search using our extensive digital network, contact Chris Hingle at chingle@chrisfred.com. Or visit our website at www.chrisfred.com where you can find exclusive job listings for real estate executives.

Step Back to Move Forward – Taking Time to Think Strategically at the Beginning of a Recovery

Step Back to Move Forward – Taking Time to Think Strategically at the Beginning of a Recovery

Have you heard the news? May’s construction spending was up 5.4 percent in the trailing twelve months, driven by the strongest residential numbers in more than four years. Bidding wars on scarce properties have reemerged in once-stagnant markets. The Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index has jumped 75 percent in the last two years, and some builders are even having difficulty finding enough qualified tradesman to handle all of their projects.

Yet despite the headlines, caution remains the watchword for real estate companies expanding their professional ranks. The beginning of a recovery comes with as many risks as opportunities. Rebounding interest rates, for example, could dampen housing demand. Many effects of the deep federal budget cuts from sequestration won’t kick in until next year. The eurozone, which collectively represents America’s largest trading partner, reached a record-breaking 12.1 percent unemployment rate in May. To the east, concerns about China’s murky banking system and slowing growth offer another potential shock to U.S. markets, job growth and, ultimately, real estate. At the same time, those who fail to act at all risk missing another long climb for U.S. GDP growth and economic expansion. One thing is certain: The decisions of real estate professionals laying out their career plans now will affect their livelihoods for years to come.

Plan, Plan and Plan Some More

Even though we face unknowns in the economy, a well-thought-out career strategy is valuable no matter what direction the market takes. How long has it been since you considered what position you want to hold in five, ten or 15 years? What doors do you see opening as your skills advance, and what opportunities do you see expiring as you move further into a single specialty? Are there things you know you will regret missing if you don’t act, such as starting a business of your own? The simple act of thinking through questions like this, sharing them with your family and discussing them with your mentors can put you in a position to act with confidence when a new job or business opportunity emerges unexpectedly. Build your professional network accordingly. Once sales pick up, new positions will emerge quickly as firms position themselves to expand. Be ready.

Patience Pays

Optimism about the economy and confidence in your career should help you work harder to reach your goals. Just don’t let anticipation built over a long recession push you into rash decisions. Even if you’re dissatisfied with your current work, take a hard look at all the options available before you make overtures to your contacts about jumping ship. Even if an exciting new opportunity emerges, carefully study the company’s prospects and business plan to ensure the position has a high likelihood of getting you where you want to be. Finally, don’t settle. If a position with a moderately better paycheck comes along – even if it’s been a long time since you’ve had a job offer – go back to your long-term plan and ensure the move is worth the risk of missing a better opportunity next month. Those who plan with patience today will find themselves at the top tomorrow.

For more than two decades, Christopher Frederick has used its deep recruiting experience and digital network to help connect the leading people and companies in real estate. To learn more about how we can enhance your next executive search using our unique method of digital recruitment, contact Chris Hingle at chingle@chrisfred.com. Or visit our website at www.chrisfred.com.

Going Up? Career Strategy in a Recovering Housing Market

Going Up? Career Strategy in a Recovering Housing Market

By now you’ve heard the good news: February housing prices nationwide increased 9.3 percent year-over-year – their sharpest jump since May of 2006. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported the inventory of new homes stands near a record low, and some of the largest publicly traded homebuilding companies have watched their stock prices more than double in the previous two years. At long last, the labor market for highly skilled people in real estate appears poised for a comeback. Here are three career tips to make the most of it:

Keep networking: You’ve heard this advice over and over again, but there’s a good reason for it: Most hiring happens through professional and online networks. At Christopher Frederick, for example, we now have nearly 200,000 highly skilled real estate professionals in our digital network who benefit from targeted job announcements when our clients are searching for talent. Likewise, you can expand your range of potential jobs by maintaining your own professional and personal contacts. Just as the career moves of past colleagues, bosses and clients can open unseen opportunities in a tough job market, staying in touch with the same people advancing during a rebound can put your name top-of-mind as companies prepare to compete for talent.

Don’t live in the past: What we’ve emerged from was not a normal downturn. The lion’s share of real estate professionals in most of the country experienced at least one pay cut, a layoff or the shrinking of the operations they oversaw. With more high-level positions now opening up, it’s tempting to focus heavily on accomplishments from the boom years, when the numbers were more impressive and the salaries were higher. Overemphasizing accomplishments from five years ago, though, can be a mistake. Even if the sales figures are smaller in your current job, employers still want to know what you’ve done lately. Emphasize the steps you took in your career to adapt, to look to the future, and to capture market share in a challenging environment. Remember, the people hiring you experienced the same market. They’ve evolved to work within it, and they’ll want to know how you’ve done the same.

Be patient: In construction, for example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the number of jobs has increased by more than 300,000 in 22 of the last 24 months. Companies are growing and positions are opening up, but as analysts at the National Association of Homebuilders observed, the hiring numbers are still well below where they would normally be given the sector’s robust expansion. Overtime and worker productivity can only go so far, and eventually hiring will have to accelerate to catch up. Therein lies the challenge for ambitious real estate professionals. You might soon have the chance to leave an unsatisfying position or pursue a larger paycheck somewhere else. But don’t jump ship just for the sake of leaving your current job. It’s important to think strategically and consider the new opening’s potential relative to other jobs that might open up in the next year. Optimism and growth are finally seeping back into the job market. More than ever, it’s time to evaluate career goals and take the steps necessary to achieve them during the market’s recovery.

Over more than two decades, Christopher Frederick has helped connect real estate executives with companies seeking talent for some of the industry’s leading roles. To learn more about how we can enhance your next executive search using our extensive digital network of professionals, contact Chris Hingle at chingle@chrisfred.com. Or visit our website at www.chrisfred.com.

Social Beyond Media: Add value to your network by developing relationships

Social Beyond Media: Add value to your network by developing relationships

It’s no secret that most managers would rather hire from their networks than sort through strangers who reply to a want ad. Accordingly, candidates today direct much of their job-hunting effort to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to reconnect with any and all contacts who might pass along a promising lead.

Social media can prove remarkably effective for staying in touch with colleagues. But the ease of connecting online is no excuse to neglect the real-life relationships that often have the greatest consequence in shaping a career.

Face time trumps Facebook:

It takes seconds to ask for or accept a social media invite. Inviting someone to coffee or offering to buy lunch, on the other hand, involves a degree of gumption and effort that shows you are really serious about your professional relationship with that person and your industry. The same goes for approaching someone at a conference, mentoring, introducing yourself in a social setting or volunteering to help with leadership tasks within a professional organization. Face-to-face meetings and the conversations that result create associations outside the parameters of what’s usually discussed on social media, and someone’s real-life presence will always stick in a person’s mind more prominently than an online profile.

Don’t just look up:

Colleagues at or below your level of responsibility can sometimes prove just as valuable as the executives whom everyone in the building wants to know on a first-name basis. People at the department level know that department’s needs. They know who’s coming and who’s leaving and what the budget looks like for next year. Forming relationships with coworkers or potential coworkers through shared interests can create insight into the precise personnel needs of a company at a given moment. Such relationships needn’t be strictly professional, either. Join the company bowling league. Have margaritas after work. Look for coworkers at your kids’ sporting events and activities. Recreation and friendship can often lead to lasting, meaningful professional connections.

Don’t just talk about the job:

As former Silicon Valley recruiter and author Nick Corcodilos advises mid-career job seekers: Keep your focus on the needs of the person you’re meeting with. Offer to sit down with a manager at a company you’re interested in and talk about his or her challenges in areas where you have expertise. Offer advice and critical discussion to help that company run better, and do it outside the context of a formal job interview. If you can prove valuable to an organization before you’re even employed there, you’ll likely find yourself on the short list of candidates when a job opens up later.

Regardless of your current place on the career ladder, the value of a professional network comes not only from the number of people within it, but also from the quality of those relationships.

For more than 25 years, Christopher Frederick has helped executives and companies in real estate build relationships and place the best talent in some of the industry’s leading roles. To learn more about how we can enhance your next executive search using our extensive digital network of professionals, contact Chris Hingle at chingle@chrisfred.com. Or visit our website at www.chrisfred.com.

You Call This Work? – Make a Living Doing What You Love

You Call This Work? – Make a Living Doing What You Love

It’s a classic chestnut issued to graduates and young people choosing careers: “Do what you love and the money will follow.” A decade or two later, life and the realities of the job market usually make that advice less realistic. But you don’t have to abandon your job to start a jazz band or sell oil paintings on the streets of Paris to enjoy your working life.

There are often unrealized connections between what we enjoy in our leisure time and what we find fulfilling at work. Take an analyst who plays Texas hold ’em poker on the weekends, follows the NFL religiously and won’t board a plane without a mystery novel in hand. Stepping back and evaluating the traits these activities share reveals a passion for risk evaluation, strategic thinking and problem solving. All represent aptitudes regularly sought by managers. Working those interests into a career could involve a new position in the same industry but in a sales, management or deal-making role slightly outside what might be intuitive for a given degree or career track. The same goes for someone who lives for literature, participates in community theater and volunteers at the local library. That person may never publish a novel or star on Broadway. Regardless, being conscious of the pleasure taken from the creative process can broaden the possibilities when it’s time to make a career move, perhaps to include marketing, design or companies with cultures placing a high value on them. Just because we can’t all make a living from our hobbies doesn’t mean they can’t tell us about the things that will make us happy at work.

Even between large career moves, small changes can inject interests and passions into business to make it more enjoyable. For someone who spends as much time as possible travelling or recreating outdoors, that could be as simple as getting out of the office to make site visits or call on clients in person. For others, that might mean taking advantage of educational opportunities in different areas of the industry they’d like to explore. Don’t just climb the ladder. Volunteer for projects outside your comfort zone. Make a continual effort to discover the types of work you enjoy and find ways to do them. Your career, and your life, will be better for it.

For more than 25 years, Christopher Frederick has helped recruit passionate people for leading companies in the real estate industry. To learn more about how we can enhance your next executive search using our extensive digital network of professionals, contact Chris Hingle at chingle@chrisfred.com. Or visit our website at www.chrisfred.com.

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