The Future of Global Real Estate – Technology and Talent

Posted by & filed under Uncategorised.

We’re running an exciting survey right now in partnership with Unissu looking at global innovators in real estate.

With the deadline to complete the survey looming on Friday April 8, I wanted you to have a chance to take part before it’s too late. Please click this link. It only takes around seven minutes to complete.

https://unissu.typeform.com/cherrypick

 

Working on this project set me thinking about innovation and technology in the global real estate sector and wondering about the other factors that will be the drivers for change and improvement in future.

Industries as diverse as finance, logistics and retail are implementing technology at an accelerating rate, driven by the epic impact of the pandemic on workplaces and buying habits.

Why then have the real estate and construction industries been slow in comparison to adopt new technologies?  One reason is that the property sector has been buoyant, and there are traditionalists in many boardrooms who still think if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

But that is changing. The pandemic has literally transformed the way businesses work from Zoom meetings to hybrid offices and automation. Seeing the changes around them, senior people in real estate firms are increasingly interested in the potential of PropTech and other technologies to effect change.

For real estate, as with businesses everywhere, getting the right tech stack in place looks crucial to keeping up with competitors and gaining those vital per centages that may give you the edge.

And there is a huge variety of tech for the real estate market. It includes AI, CRM systems, property or project management systems, finance tools, search platforms, drone technology, virtual reality, asset utilisation, 24/7 insights, communication tools, data collection, digital contracting and automation of paperwork.

Choosing the right tech partners and driving adoption with the right people are both going to be game changers, which leads me to the other major factor for success in future – talent.

Without the right people in place, businesses will miss growth targets and fall behind competitors who are better able to hire and retain the best people.

We believe that technology and talent already go hand in hand and that will be increasingly true in the property and construction industries. Our survey is designed to uncover the extent to which businesses are buying into people who are driving innovation through technology.

Competition for those people is likely to become intense. Across job titles, it is already a candidates’ market with talented candidates having unprecedented choice of new roles and the biggest salary inflation I have seen since I began working in recruitment.

But money isn’t everything. Talented people are also looking for excellent benefits packages, and they put remote, hybrid or flexible working as one of their top three factors when choosing which role to accept.

The last two years have also seen a lot of change at Cherry Pick People as they have for our clients. We have adopted a hybrid working model in consultation with our staff. We have also embedded three new pieces of technology, and we are reviewing others with a view to implementing several of them in the coming months.

So, technology is a fundamental factor in the future of real estate. That is why the innovators who are driving digital transformation are going to be at the forefront of the best global real estate firms over the next decade.

Getting the right people in place to champion change will be vital. It’s about more than hiring people who are tech-savvy. Firms will need teams of people across the business who will utilise technology, learn it, train people in it and push it internally.

I would love to hear your views. What are you seeing out there?

If you are a leader or innovator driving digital transformation in your business, please input into our survey. Remember that the closing date is Friday April 8 so please take part today.

https://unissu.typeform.com/cherrypick

 

Last chance to take part in Innovators in Real Estate survey

Posted by & filed under Uncategorised.

As featured on Design & Build UK www.designandbuilduk.net

Real estate managers with responsibility for PropTech have until Friday April 8 to take part in a landmark study.

PropTech specialists at CBRE, JLL and BNP Paribas are among well over 100 who have already contributed to the Innovators in Real Estate survey, which aims to establish for the first time how effectively the industry is deploying new technology.

Organised by recruitment specialist Cherry Pick People in partnership with PropTech procurement platform Unissu, the online survey is aimed at heads of digital transformation and innovation, and those in similar roles, as well as their line managers.

It is available to complete at https://unissu.typeform.com/cherrypick

Participants are asked to give their insight into the sector’s relationship with technology and to identify the challenges facing managers leading innovation within their companies. The survey also looks at different organisational, team and individual roles and responsibilities for PropTech within real estate firms.

This is believed to be the first attempt to understand these dynamics, and to provide benchmarking data and perceptions to help innovators understand their current position in the industry and their future prospects.

Alex Wiffen, Managing Director at Cherry Pick People, said: “We firmly believe that people leading innovation strategies are going to play an increasingly important role in the real estate industry. By providing insight, our study will help them to manage their careers and encourage more people to take this journey.”

The survey findings will be presented at conferences across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific in the coming months with a detailed report published to coincide with the beginning of the conference season.

All participants will receive a free copy of the report.

About Unissu and Cherry Pick People

Unissu is a PropTech procurement platform, helping innovators in real estate find and select the best PropTech companies from more than 10,000 suppliers worldwide.

Cherry Pick People is a talent and recruitment consultancy specialising in real estate and PropTech with a mission to help drive the digitisation of the global real estate sector.

 

Administrators Are Pointless

Posted by & filed under Blog, Jobs, Opinion, Uncategorised.

As an administrator, have you ever felt unappreciated in your job? Do you feel like you are the least important person in your office?

If I had a pound every time an administrator tells me this, I’d be a very rich woman.

Here are 5 reasons why your administrator is amazing:

  • They are your right-hand man. Anything you ask them to do, they do it. Without complaining and with a smile on their face and even if they have a list of 20 other things to do, they never say no! (even though they really want to sometimes)
  • They are always one step ahead. Everything is done a couple of hours before you have even got round to asking them to do it.
  • Every office needs a mum right? They keep everyone in check when you are not there. They see every romance blossom. They go through every break up with you. They always offer the best advice and a shoulder to cry on. They keep you calm and help you see reason.
  • Not only are they the office administrator, they are a doctor, counsellor, teacher, IT specialist, all round superhero, pretty much everything you can think of.
  • Lastly and most importantly they save you time! Something we could all do with a lot more of. A good administrator means you spend more time focusing on managing the team, making sales, meeting clients, winning new business whatever it is you need to do to run a successful office.

One of the biggest challenges I come up against in my job as a Property Recruitment Consultant is hearing from clients that they do not want to pay recruiters for administrators as they are not ‘fee earners’.

Yes, negotiators are ‘fee earners’, they bring in the money and are at the forefront of the business. But please do not forget about your administrator. They are the backbone of the office and keep things running like clockwork. Appreciate the work they do for you, pay them well, keep them happy.

Administrators salaries have risen drastically since I started specialising in Business support here at Cherry Pick People. To find out if you are being paid the right salary or are paying your staff the correct wage please take a look at our salary survey. http://www.cherrypickpeople.com/salary-survey/

If you would like to have a confidential chat about the next step in your career please contact me today on 0203587 7689 or georgie.barraclough@cherrypickpeople.com

Why being in the wrong job is like being in a bad relationship!

Posted by & filed under Advice, Blog, Jobs, Uncategorised.

Why being in the wrong job is like being in a bad relationship!

So a while ago I wrote a blog about how going for an interview is a little like going on a first date (Why a failed first interview is like a failed first date!!), and the more I think about it the more I believe the similarities to be true. I also believe that being at work is very much like being in a relationship… There’s the honeymoon period, the break ups and the make ups!… And there’s always that one colleague you would like to suffocate while they’re sleeping like you would your partner!

So how does being at work relate to being in a relationship, I hear you ask?…

 

The honeymoon period and making it last!

It’s great when you’re starting off in a relationship and things are very much rose tinted! Very much like starting a new job; you’re full of enthusiasm and getting to work early, getting involved and giving it 110%. But that day comes when you wake up (maybe next to your partner) and question the past three months and whether you have done the right thing! The trick here is thinking about the reasons why you took the job in the first place, giving yourself some space from work by perhaps booking a holiday and ensuring you have a good work-life balance.

 

Working through the good times and the bad

Like any relationship, there will be good times and bad times, but we tend to forget about the good times a lot quicker than we do the bad times… However being successful at work requires you to learn from both the good and the bad; why did things work out the way they did and could they still be improved? However, with the bad times can always be a time to learn but also reflect on why we took the job in the first place and the “honeymoon period”.

 

Taking it to the next level

Just like going from base to base (you know what I mean) you don’t want to be in a stagnant career. A lot of the time employees will wait for an appraisal or a review to voice their opinions or their desire to progress their career. As you would make a move in a relationship, there’s nothing stopping you from speaking to your seniors inside or outside of work and expressing your ambition to move up the ranks

 

Trying not to kill your colleagues (or partner)

Do you ever look at your partner while their sleeping, think how peaceful and great they look, but also at the same time how easy it would be to get a pillow and cover their face? I get that from time to time with my colleagues too! In a relationship either one of you can end up on the sofa for the night or give each other the silent treatment until one of you breaks the silence. The same goes with your colleagues, take some time out, have a chat about things, kiss and make up (if you’re into that sort of thing)

 

Staying faithful

Not that I’m condoning cheating! But there are bad days in our careers where we may think the grass may be greener on the other side. Change in role? Pay rise or better work-life balance? Before making the move to another company or entertaining a call, what measures have you taken to iron out any issues which you have with your current company?

With the debaucherous work Christmas party soon approaching are you going to remain faithful or do you want to explore how green the grass is? If it is the latter get in touch with us!

So there you have it, my overview on work and relationships.

So happy my offer has been accepted? But oh WAIT, the dreaded stamp duty…

Posted by & filed under Blog, Cherry Pick People News, Industry News, Opinion, Uncategorised.

So happy my offer has been accepted?  But oh WAIT, the dreaded stamp duty…

The Times recently stated, “Stamp duty only used to be paid by the wealthy property buyers but now it makes younger buyers poorer”.

As promised, here is an update on my last blog – the sales market is it doomed? I started the process of buying my first ever home in London.

To give you an update – I have had an offer accepted on an amazing property in my perfect location! So happy! But the excitement flattened, as a first-time buyer I was shocked in the increased stamp duty to 5%. I sat there – looked over all the figures – How do they expect first-time buyers to save for a deposit, pay the mortgage and solicitor’s fees as well as pay a hefty stamp duty? Naomi Heaton (CEO of a Property Investment firm in PCL) has said the fall in home sales is ‘very concerning given additional government schemes for first-time buyers’. The Guardian have also blamed the huge rise in stamp duty as London home sales fall by 40 per cent!

The Telegraph has stated that stamp duty is not actually helping first-time buyers – an example was shown of a married couple trying to buy in Brixton, found their dream home at £345,000, offer accepted but did not budget for the stamp duty and had to pull out due to an additional £10,350 for stamp duty that they could not find the money for! Contradicting the latter, Marsh & Parsons have stated that home purchases have increased from 22% to 34%, according to data collected from buyers across all Prime London. The FT have also said the 3% rise in stamp duty for private landlords has scared off buy-to-let purchases which have given a larger market to just regular buyers.

According to the Land Registry in 2016 we have seen that the huge rise in stamp duty is blamed for London’s sales falling by 40% with the average stamp duty at a whopping £16,500 – even more so in Central London with a 60% fall (only 62 properties were sold in Central London in 3 months!). Comparethemarket.com has shown that a third of people are choosing to renovate their homes instead of selling/ moving. I had this experience a few times whilst looking – viewings booked, properties had already decreased their prices by 20-30% and then the seller decides to not sell!

However, if we scrapped the stamp duty – what would happen to house prices?! Of course in logical thinking, bringing more people into the property market without increasing supply is likely to push prices up? It has also been suggested by Yorkshire Building Society, that Stamp Duty should be paid by the house sellers rather than the buyers to remove the burden of money so that younger generations who are struggling can actually get on the property ladder earlier in life!

So, what are you thoughts? Should the stamp duty be paid by the sellers? Should it be different for first-time buyers? Or has the increase actually helped the property sales market?  I’m interested in your thoughts on this.

How to avoid annoying your boss

Posted by & filed under Advice, Uncategorised.

When most people start their job they’re on their best behaviour with their boss, but with the best will in the world, those standards can slip as the months go by. Everyone can get annoyed with their colleagues from time to time, but annoying your boss is a definite no-no.

At the end of the day, your manager can have a big influence on your career, so you want to avoid annoying them as much as possible. To be fair, you might not be aware of some of the niggling things that are really grating on them – so here are five things to avoid.

 

Not responding to emails

The working world is a busy place – especially if you’re working within the property industry which means that emails can be easily forgotten about. But if your manager has sent you an email, make sure you acknowledge it – otherwise, they might think you’re either being rude or you’ve been negligent and forgotten about it.

Your boss will not have the time to chase up emails that you should have replied to. If you’re rushed off your feet and you’ve been sent a task that you won’t be able to do that day, just let your manager know the situation and the time scale that you’ll be able to get the task completed by. This way, everyone knows what is going on and your manager will have no reason to feel frustrated.

 

Not pulling your weight

There are certain duties that most offices have like washing up or making a round of hot drinks. If you’re always the one who sits there and waits to be served, then your manager will probably have taken note of it. No one likes laziness so make sure you get stuck into the daily office routine – you want to show that you’re a team player and don’t mind getting involved.

 

Being too loud

At Cherry Pick People we love a laugh and a giggle but at the end of the day the office is a place of work – so if you keep talking incessantly then you could actually be distracting others from their work, which could really irritate your boss.

 

Moaning

We understand that some days you wake up and everything that could go wrong has gone wrong – you wake up late, burnt your breakfast and get stuck in a long traffic jam on your way to work. However, avoid bringing the rest of the office down with you – a manager’s job is to keep team morale up and if you’re putting a dampener on the office environment then you’re going to get on their nerves.

 

Taking feedback to heart

Constructive criticism can be hard to hear at times because all you want to hear about is the good things you’ve done, but in order for you to progress it’s great to hear both positive and negative feedback.

If you’re defensive to constructive criticism, then your manager is going to wonder whether you’re the right person for the job. So when your boss gives you some points to improve upon, take them on the chin. Your boss will be especially impressed if you turn the negatives into a positive.

 

So there you have it; five things to watch out for that could annoy your manager. If you’ve got any more ideas feel free to comment below.