Your property manager can make or break your team. Not only will they be in charge of the day-to-day operations of your property, but they’ll be the one responsible for your team members as well. And with the livelihood of your residents on the line, can you really afford to hire a less-than-satisfactory property manager? When hiring a new property manager at your multifamily community, try these tips to make sure you land the perfect new employee.
Get Your Whole Team Involved
As you start to dwindle down to the final candidates, get some of your other employees involved. Consider inviting people the new manager would be working side-by-side with, people they would be managing, and other property managers within your company. This can be a little costly at first, taking up to 45 minutes of work time from other employees’ schedules, but it will help to find the perfect fit for your team in the long run.
Screen for a Good Fit, Now Just Smarts
Sure, you want a candidate with good cognitive abilities, but you will want to make sure that your candidate also has the proper skills and tools to manage a property or can at least learn the skills quickly. Ask them questions about their goals for the job, what they think the company should be focused on, their plans to increase revenue, and questions about what challenges the industry faces right now.
Assess Candidates for Company Culture Fit
This includes sharing the values and priorities of their coworkers. How will the new hire get along with their peers, even in high-stress situations? This can be difficult to tell in just an interview, but asking important questions can get the job done. Consider asking your candidate about a time they had to do something unpopular at work, or something they knew would make a coworker angry. Ask them to describe a time they worked with their team to accomplish a difficult task, and have them talk about their ideal work environment.
It may take some time to find the perfect fit for your property manager position, but when you do so, you can rest easy knowing that your property is in good hands. Spending some time and resources finding the perfect employee for the job will pay off in the long run when you don’t have to deal with turnover, mistakes being made in the workplace, or a sudden vacancy in the job farther down the road.