Professional Talent Managers Increase Their Hiring Standards

by | Aug 6, 2025

Despite a large majority of the agents in the industry being minimally productive, the total number of agents has not really declined much in the last few years.

In one sense, this is a mismanagement of talent.

Rather than releasing unproductive agents, most brokerages continue to dilute their talent pool with unqualified individuals.

How do you fix this problem?

Of course, you should allow natural attrition to run its course and regularly prune those on your roster who are not producing.

But you must also increase your hiring standards when you rehire.

In the professional hiring manager’s mind, not everyone makes the cut.

They must meet selection criteria that are well-established and reflective of the desired performance level of the organization.

Your selection criteria can include factors such as work history, assessment results, interview performance, desired character traits, social network capacities, and other factors you’ve documented that will lead to success.

The goal is not to craft the perfect selection system–it’s to thoughtfully create one, and then, follow it.

 

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The Attrition Variables

The Attrition Variables

While these attrition constants still have the greatest influence, there are some emerging attrition variables worth noting. People also tend to leave companies when: They feel like they’re not doing as well as others in their peer group outside the company. They feel like they’re not as far along as they should be at a certain point in life.

The Attrition Constants

The Attrition Constants

If you’re not focusing most of your retention effort on these issues, you’ll miss the mark. If you’re not focusing most of your recruiting effort on exploiting these weaknesses among your competitors, you’re missing the best opportunities.

The Persistence Mindset

The Persistence Mindset

A leader equipped with this mindset can have a profound effect on the life and career of each individual they engage. It works because an agent is getting a real-time glimpse of what it would be like to work on your team. But it only becomes believable when it is persistently applied over time.