The Real Estate & Hospitality industries are evolving and so are the expectations around talent. Firms are no longer just looking for candidates who can do the job; they’re competing for individuals who can drive growth, lead through change, and add long-term value.
But here’s the truth: if your recruitment strategy hasn’t evolved alongside the market, you’ll struggle to attract and retain the calibre of professionals your business needs.
Whether you’re scaling a team, replacing leadership, or entering a new market, here’s how to improve your recruitment strategy for lasting success.
Why a Strong Recruitment Strategy Matters
Recruitment isn’t just about filling vacancies, it’s about shaping the future of your organisation.
A poor strategy leads to:
- Wasted time and resources
- High turnover and low morale
- Missed revenue opportunities
- Reputational damage in the market
A great strategy delivers:
- Higher-quality hires
- Improved retention
- A stronger employer brand
- Competitive advantage in the market
And in Real Estate & Hospitality where people drive performance, this couldn’t be more important.
- Start With a Talent Audit
Before you improve recruitment, get clear on where your current approach stands.
Ask yourself:
- Where are we consistently struggling to hire?
- Which hires in the last 12–24 months have been most/least successful?
- What does our current recruitment and onboarding process look like?
- Is our Employee Value Proposition and Employer Brand clear?
- What are the recurring reasons candidates decline our offers?
- Where are the gaps between what the business needs and what we’re attracting?
A short internal audit gives you a factual foundation to work from, and ensures any changes you make are data-led, not just reactive.
2. Strengthen Your Employer Brand
Top candidates especially in the senior and real estate sectors aren’t just choosing a job. They’re choosing a culture, a leadership style, and a long-term story.
That means your employer brand needs to do more than talk about “growth” or “collaboration.”
You need to:
- Define and communicate your value proposition: Why should someone join you?
- Share real employee stories and successes (especially at the leadership level)
- Be transparent about career progression, DEI initiatives, and company culture
- Ensure your public-facing materials (website, LinkedIn, press) reflect who you are today, not who you were five years ago
💡 Tip: Candidates are often passive. A compelling employer brand turns browsers into applicants and applicants into advocates.
3. Partner With Specialists
For niche, senior, or revenue-critical roles, you need specialist search partners.
A specialist search firm understands:
- Market dynamics and salary expectations
- Who’s actually open to a move (even if they’re not advertising it)
- How to discreetly approach top performers from competitors
- What “great” looks like in your specific function and location
By outsourcing search to trduted specialists, you free up internal capacity, reduce time-to-hire, improve the overall quality of your shortlists and then the final hire.
🎯 Bonus: Search partners can provide real-time market intel on compensation trends, competitor movement, and talent availability.
4. Modernise Your Selection Process
Top candidates won’t wait weeks for feedback or endure multiple rounds of repetitive interviews. If your process is outdated, you’ll lose good people to faster-moving firms.
Here’s how to modernise it:
- Keep interview stages concise, but meaningful (3–4 rounds max)
- Focus interviews on problem-solving and value alignment, not just CV walkthroughs
- Train interviewers to assess potential, not just credentials
- Ensure feedback loops are quick, clear, and human
Also, consider integrating practical case studies or team interactions, especially for leadership roles. These provide more insight than traditional Q&A alone.
5. Go Beyond the Obvious Channels
If you’re only relying on job boards or LinkedIn ads, you’re missing out on a massive portion of the market.
Here’s how to widen your reach:
- Tap into passive candidates through targeted headhunting
- Build alumni networks and internal referrals
- Partner with industry organisations or forums
- Attend (or speak at) relevant events to build visibility
Especially in Real Estate & Hospitality, where the best talent often comes through relationships, your strategy should include network-first approaches, not just applications.
6. Prioritise Candidate Experience
Candidates talk and a poor recruitment experience can damage your brand far beyond the role you’re hiring for.
Improve candidate experience by:
- Communicating proactively and respectfully at every stage
- Giving timely and constructive feedback, even to rejections
- Explaining the interview process and timelines upfront
- Making the offer process smooth and professional.
Even if a candidate doesn’t accept your offer, they should walk away with a positive impression of your business.
7. Use Data to Refine & Improve
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Build a system to track:
- Time to hire
- Cost per hire
- Source of hire
- Offer-to-acceptance ratio
- First-year retention
- Candidate satisfaction
Review this data quarterly to spot trends, identify bottlenecks, and make informed decisions. Over time, you’ll create a hiring engine that’s both scalable and smart.
Final Thoughts
A successful recruitment strategy isn’t built overnight, but it is built deliberately.
In real estate, where commercial outcomes are tied directly to the quality of your people, investing in smarter hiring processes is one of the most valuable moves you can make.
Whether it’s refining your employer brand, partnering with the right search experts, or enhancing the candidate experience, improving your recruitment strategy isn’t just about hiring faster. It’s about hiring better today, and into the future.
Looking to future-proof your hiring strategy?
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