There are about 168 million individuals in the U.S. workforce.
Of the 168 million, about 1.4 million are real estate agents (0.8%).
Among the 1.4 million agents, the average agent completes about 5 transactions per year, and less than 50,000 agents are high performers (i.e., complete 25 or more transactions per year).
It’s safe to say that not everyone is cut out to be a real estate agent.
Among the existing agent population, your chance of hiring a high performer is about 1 in 28.
Among the broader workforce, your chance of hiring a high performer is about 1 in 3400.
I’ve often heard real estate hiring managers boast that hiring new agents is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Most anyone can shoot a fish in a barrel–the hard part is getting the right fish in the barrel.
The real estate industry is full of low performing agents because many of the wrong people were coaxed into the barrel (they are usually the easiest ones to attract).
If you truly want to build a high performing team, it makes sense to spend the upfront time, resources, and effort to source and pursue the recruiting prospects who have the highest chance of success—either from inside the industry or from outside.
