Property Management Lead for Europe's largest REIT
The Challenge
Europe’s largest Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) had a new role for a Property Management Lead that they needed to fill.
They wanted someone who could bring a ‘one-team’ approach into the business, whilst streamlining their processes and integrating new technology into the way they worked. As this was a role where they would have a team of circa 12 people, including 2 Associate Directors, it was key for them to get this hire right and get a strong manager with vast experience of leading teams.
They were looking for someone highly technical, personable, and a proven leader, who had commercial astuteness and could bring everything together to deliver the best in-class property management. In terms of experience, they’d also need to have working knowledge of overseeing supply chains and tendering processes, too.
The challenge was to find those at the senior/director level the position required, who would be willing to move into a newly-created role.
The Solution
Being exclusively mandated for the position, we were able to get an intimate understanding of how this new role would work, and feel confident in our ability to market this to prospective candidates.
We have worked on senior-level property management appointments before and were best-placed due to having an existing talent pool for this role, and an extensive network to leverage.
We targeted candidates as a team via our team lead’s (Chris Sycamore) existing network at this senior level, through my research of our 10,000+ strong database of candidates, and through a LinkedIn outreach project that was specifically aimed at senior leaders in the industry.
We identified a longlist that comprised over 15 candidates. We then called all the candidates and assessed their suitability for the role in line with the requirements. This initial phase took around 3 days.
In the next 3 days, we trimmed this down to a shortlist based on our conversations with candidates, identifying the strongest profiles and fits, sending across 8 people in the end for the client to consider.
The hiring manager was going on annual leave, so it presented a challenge over the next weeks to keep the candidates interested and warm while they were moved through the different stages of the process outside of the hiring manager’s pre-booked holiday, which we did through regular check-in calls with each of these candidates.
The Results
They ended up seeing 5 of the candidates for an interview, with 3 candidates making it through to a second stage, and a final 2 at the third stage.
The candidate who was selected for the role was someone who had worked for major retail brands, and had extensive experience in managing, training, and overseeing large-scale teams, whilst previously having done hands-on facilities management roles themselves previously.
The client has been very appreciative of the recruitment process, and has complimented their new employee by saying they are “running with the demands of the role, have got all the team on one page, and made my life easier”.
The candidate is loving their new role, and has already identified areas for change, as well as the recruitment requirements they’d have as they shape their team. We are currently supporting them in one such hire, a Property Manager to sit within their team.
Total Facilities Recruitment. Covering hard and soft FM, as well as health and safety, we are the leading recruitment agency for facilities management, building management and workplace management in the UK. We cover it all from add from Building Managers to Regional Facilities Managers, through to Head of FM jobs, placing FM specialists across a range of commercial, residential and alternative asset classes, for both landlords and occupiers. Get in touch with your challenge here.
