Hiring strategies: a quick phone chat, a strong first impression and a 15-minute interview can net a capable leasing professional.

Say what you want about the TV show American Idol, but consider this: It's format could be used as a model on how to solve one of the multifamily housing industry's toughest challenges--hiring qualified leasing professionals.

No, the industry is not ready to hire based on vocal talents. But, personality, poise, a closing attitude and winning over an audience in a few short moments are the key components to a unique hiring strategy offered by Derek A. Lobo & Associates (DALA), a national consulting firm based in Burlington, Ontario. Lobo's hiring theory has been tested, bringing pleasing results to management companies, such as Home Properties, The Lane Company and The Dolben Company.

The traditional method of hiring staff is by placing an ad in a newspaper or on the Internet and then waiting for resumes to come in. Once they arrive, they are reviewed, collated and rated in terms of the applicant's professional sales experience. Next, applicants are called until a suitable number of approximately 10 people are found; thereafter interviews are scheduled.

After first interviews are conducted, some candidates are called back for second interviews, and in some cases, third interviews. An offer is then made to the best candidate. This process typically takes at least two weeks--by which time, the "best" candidate may have found another job. Out of need to fill the position, the management company then must make an offer to the second-best applicant, or possibly the third.

Derek Lobo, CEO, Derek A. Lobo & Associates, whose company hires and trains sales forces for apartment communities across North America, was frustrated with the conventional hiring and training process and the closing skills of leasing consultants. Hiring and training staff, using traditional hiring and training methods, was expensive, time-consuming, and sometimes produced mediocre leasing professionals. DALA designed a hiring process that quickly eliminates unqualified candidates, based on a quick phone interview, a brief in-person discussion and a first impression. While this approach was met with some skepticism from those doing the hiring in the multifamily housing industry--one industry executive even compared the seminar with today's "speed dating" methods--they have been able to hire staff in two hours instead of two weeks.

Lobo said he believes that when interviewing for a salesperson, the candidate doing the hiring often knows within the first five minutes if they do not want to hire the person.

"So why do we as an industry spend a half-hour or 45 minutes interviewing candidates when we know in five minutes whether or not we want them," he said.

There are no guarantees that reviewing a resume is a reliable way to hire a leasing professional, Lobo said. Consider that while solid writing ability is a valuable skill for any career, it is hardly a key component in the definition of an effective sales person. Therefore, a more accurate judgment of a candidate will come with their telephone skills, punctuality, personality and most importantly, the ability to ask for the sale! Simply stated his philosophy is to hire people who can close, and then teach those people the apartment business.

"In our industry, the turnover of leasing consultants can be more than 50 percent per year," Lobo said. "Naturally, we would be keen on lowering that number, but at the same time, it seems the industry, has accepted that this position simply has a high turnover rate."

Lobo said many companies hire and fire employees out of fear and desperation.

"We've found that some companies have people onsite who they know are not particularly good leasing consultants, but the idea of going through the hiring and training process for a new person, with the possibility of the new person not working out will justify, maintaining the status quo," Lobo said. "As a result, the industry tends to accept mediocrity."

Bill Donges, Chief Operating Officer, The Lane Co., recently entered the multifamily housing industry. "One of the first things I noticed was that management companies basically are just swapping leasing agents. Turnover at this position is probably the worst among any in apartment management.

"[Lobo's] program has enabled us to bring in some new blood. One of our leading agents came from the toy industry, and another used to sell contracts to fit ness clubs. We've held two programs with him, and we've taken his program, modified it a bit and conducted it ourselves."

Joe Miller, Regional Property Manager, Home Properties, Buffalo, N.Y., said in the past his company promoted from within or ran a traditional classified ad or posted the job opening on the company Web site.

"When I heard about this approach, at first I shook my head, but I decided to try it," Miller said. "We had about 25 candidates show up for the first interview. It worked well also because we wanted to be able to hire people who were truly new to the industry. This way, we could train them and there was less chance that they'd bring with them any bad habits."

Al Murphy, Vice President of Marketing, The Dolben Company, Burlington, Mass., said he used Lobo's seminar when Dolben decided to replace the entire staff at a community where the vacancy rate was "not up to par."

No Warm Fuzzies

Cindy Gallagher is a Property Manager for Idylwood, a Home Properties community in Cheektowaga, N.Y.

"Hiring leasing agents in the Buffalo area is tough because there just aren't a lot of apartments in Buffalo, so there are not many people out there with that kind of experience," she said.

"I was a bit skeptical at first, but I decided to just roll with the punches. Because of the way it was set up, according to the initial ad, the applicants knew what to expect when they got there.

"I think applicants appreciated the bluntness of being told right away whether they got the job or not. This style is really out of the ordinary. It's not the warm and-fuzzy way to do interviews. It's more [direct]. You find out if they can sell and find out if they can learn."

Laurie Capozzi answered an ad and attended a seminar held by Lobo. She now leases apartments at Idylwood.

"It's kind of a nerve-wracking experience, but then again, what interview isn't," Capozzi said. "For a person appling for a job, it's a real plus to know right then and there whether you have the chance of being hired or not.

"The fact that they bring in candidates who don't have experience in leasing apartments is not a bad thing. Personality is 75 percent of the sale. People rent from people who they like. They like to rent from people who are honest and straightforward in their answers."

Murphy said that when seeing a large group of candidates all in one room, it is easy to quickly realize who won't get the job and who has a good chance.

"We had 30 who answered the ad and came to the seminal and right away 1 knew the guys who show up in shorts and sandals aren't what we are looking for, and those who dress professionally with their resumes in hand are good candidates," Murphy said. "We came out of it with five strong candidates and ended up hiring three.

"Everyone in the morn understood the presentation and the hiring process, so, in a few hours, they knew if they had a chance at getting the job. It turned out to be a very time-efficient method for hiring good people."

Paul R. Bergeron III is NAA's Director of. Communications. He can be reached at 703/797-0606 or e-mail [e-mail].

Lobo's Unique Hiring Seminar

Lobo said his company decided to build a hiring system based on reducing turnover while ensuring that the best candidate is hired. The technique allows companies to hire staff in two hours as opposed to going through a two-week process. It is based on a quick phone interview and a brief in person discussion.

1 A classified ad is placed in a newspaper that does not sell the position through rose-colored glasses. In other words, it is a factual ad that clearly describes the position. Rather than including an e-mail address for interested persons to respond to, a toll-free phone number to Lobe's staff is listed. Respondents are then spoken to briefly shout the position, during which time a basic evaluation of their telephone interaction skills are measured.

2 Prospects who pass this test are invited to a hiring seminar, often held at the club house of the hiring apartment community or at a nearby hotel meeting room.

3 When the prospects arrive at the hotel, they are greeted and given a brochure about the apartment community, as well as a one-page application. The front of the application asks for their name, address, phone number, previous job and reason for leaving, and provides a small space for them to write about themselves. Applicants are asked to fill in these details before the session begins.

4 The seminar then begins exactly at 3 p.m. Persons arriving late cannot attend and are turned away. The first thing stressed to applicants is that punctuality is an absolute must.

5 During the hiring seminar, which lasts approximately 30 minutes, either a person from Lobo's staff or someone representing the community gives a presentation to all candidates about the management company, the business of renting apartments and the specific community. Again, the job is not described through rose-colored glasses, but instead includes exact job details, salary, training procedure, mystery shopping and so forth.

6 Once the presentation is complete, the presenter asks that all the candidates who are interested to remain for an interview. Typically, if there are 100 initial phone call inquiries about a position, an average of 45 people attend the seminar. Next comes the task of interviewing the remaining candidates quickly. All applicants are asked to leave the room, at which time four interview stations are set up. The candidates are called into the room in the order that they arrived, one at a time, to meet one of the four interviewers.

7 During the interview, rather than talking about generic topics such as the apartment management company itself or where the candidate hopes to go in life, the interview simply cuts to the chase, seeking to determine if the applicant has the ability and the chutzpa to close. Period. It is believed that any one can be taught all of the nuances of the apartment industry, but what is needed is a candidate who has experience in closing or the ability to close. Period. Therefore, during the course of the interview, the interviewer engages in role-playing exercises, taking the position of a prospective resident. They speak on objections to renting ("I want to think about it"; "This is too much money"; "This is the first apartment I've seen"; "I need to bring my roommate to see the apartment"; "What's your special? The person across the street is offering one month free rent."). Then, the interviewer asks that the candidate close on them. If the candidate answers the questions well (or if when they are told the answer their face lights up), or something during that five-minute interview gives the sense that the person can close, they are asked to wait for a second interview, which takes place that afternoon.

8 Given the scenario that the seminar began with 50 people, the first interview round will likely narrow the field to 12, Lobe said. These 12 surviving candidates are then interviewed by a different person, and are asked the same objection and closing questions. This provides a second opinion on the candidates' abilities while also determining how well they retain information, since they were given the answers to the closing questions by the first interviewer.

9 At the end of the second interview, the list of 12 typically is cut in half. The final six are immersed into Lobe's training program, and upon successful completion they are hired, accordingly.

The training session runs for five days, with two hours of homework each night and ending with an essay-style exam that lasts two hours. The candidates are paid a nominal compensation for time in training. It is a very tough course, and is meant to shake out the people who are not committed. During the training session, the trainer, standing at the front of the room, can usually determine who among the candidates is "getting it," Lobe said. Therefore, during the training session the trainer can quickly determine whether a candidate would be a successful leasing professional.

At the conclusion of the training program, offers are made to the best candidates.