35 YEARS OF PROPERTY PERSONNEL
We recently celebrated our 35th birthday at Property Personnel. Whilst the world of work is a very different place today to when we first opened our doors, we have seen more changes in the last 3 years than in the previous 32! But, before we talk about these changes, it is terrifying to note that most of our job seekers, and even some of our clients, weren’t even born when we started up the business. Indeed, our colleagues Charlotte, Georgina, and Maddie, weren’t even a twinkle in their parents’ eyes back then, and my co-director Allison was still playing hopscotch in the school yard!
These days, mobile phones and PCs are two of the most important parts of our day-to-day working lives, but technology was very different back in 1988. Mobile phones were the size of a brick, with an equally long aerial. At call costs of about £1 a minute they were only used by top executives and City traders, and the first texts were still 4 years away from being sent. Whilst talking about communication, computers were yet to make an entrance into the mainstream office world, so we all relied on telephones, fax machines and the Royal Mail to communicate with our clients and candidates.
Our early marketing letters were created on a typewriter and sent by post at a cost of 15p. Within 2 years we had upgraded to an Amstrad PCW 9512, and with that bit of Sir Alan’s kit the technological revolution had begun for us. That wasn’t the case for many of our candidates who were still creating hand-written or badly typed CVs, the latter often resembling old-fashioned ransom notes. It would be a further 5 years before we started sending and receiving emails, and not until 2001 did we have our first website.
Looking back through our records to the late 80’s / early 90’s, average basic salaries for negotiators were around £4,000, and if your OTE hit £25,000 you were a serious player. 90% of our vacancies were sales as opposed to lettings. Back then, lettings really was the poor relation, with most estate agencies not even bothering to get involved. Those, however, with the foresight to do so really did ‘steal a march’.
Over the years, there have been some remarkable changes in the attitudes and expectations of clients and candidates alike. Job seekers attending interviews would think nothing of lighting up a cigarette, in fact they were often offered one by their interviewer! Whilst it was often OK to smoke, males attending interviews with facial hair, or females wearing trousers rather than skirts, would often be instantly rejected! Heaven forbid if a tattoo or piercing was spotted. It was also perfectly acceptable to reject a candidate for being too old or too young.
From the outset, business was extremely tough. With the country in the depth of one of the deepest recessions, and the property market crashing, we had far more candidates than vacancies. Added to that, interest rates rocketed to 15% on Black Wednesday (19/09/92), both sets of statistics a far cry from where they are today.
Whilst we have survived several recessions, including the severe one mentioned above, Covid was a whole different beast! Monday 23rd March 2020 was a day we will never forget. We left our offices early that afternoon not knowing when we would see each other again. Within the space of a few days our very healthy pipeline had collapsed to zero. One client after another called us to let us know that they could no longer employ the candidates we had introduced to them, the ones who were due to start in the coming weeks. To make matters worse, a significant number we had placed who had just started were let go. If we had been paid, our clients understandably wanted their money back. They too were panicking. This left me a very scared business owner with no foreseeable revenue stream, with many static overheads including rent to pay and, most importantly, my incredibly loyal staff to pay. After all, between them, they had already worked for the company for over 40 years. Whilst our current Prime Minister may not be very popular, his introduction of the furlough scheme was a saving grace for us as we have the same team now that we had before the lockdown. That would almost certainly not be the case had it not been for the Chancellor’s unprecedented economic intervention.
The following few months were undoubtedly some of the most stressful ever experienced for me running the company. Whilst most of the country was bathing in glorious sunshine, drinking beer, being paid by the state, and doing jigsaw puzzles, I was single-handedly having to run the business and at the same time managing hundreds and hundreds of job applications with no jobs to fill. Many of the people I was talking with were even more stressed out than me, often desperate, and it really got to me emotionally. Added to that, my colleagues and I at Property Personnel had no idea if or when things would get back to normal. Scary times.
Irrespective of the above, some good has come out the lockdowns for us. As a team we felt it was important to take some time out and check in with each other more often. We have always been very close, happy to share what’s going on in our lives and how we are feeling, but in the busy world of recruitment that is not always easy. So, we now have regular company ‘Wellbeing Days’ where we will work up until lunch time and then down phones and computers, relax, share a lunch and a few glasses of wine, and have a good old catch up. These days have been a huge success and are now very much inked into our diaries.
To say that the world of work has changed since the first lockdown would be a massive understatement. Employees are no longer willing to work the hours and weekends that they once were. As a result, people are leaving the sector in numbers and, to exacerbate this, less are entering it as a career in estate agency is no longer ‘sexy’. This is causing a huge talent shortage, added to which, more and more job seekers are looking for either remote or hybrid working.
With employers fearful of not being able to retain or recruit staff, they are, often reluctantly, having to be more flexible than ever. At the same time, they are having to come up with benefits more attractive than their competition. Recruitment is now such a challenge that we have recently written a blog titled ‘Recruiting and retaining Millennials and Generation Z’ which outlines that the overwhelming evidence indicates that in order to attract the best candidates, the companies themselves need to do the adapting. Back when we started, and for many of the years we have been trading since, this was the complete opposite.
In closing, many of the candidates we have placed in the industry at entry level are now clients of ours, and many clients we recruited for back in the late 80’s / early 90’s are still clients of ours today. When we posted about our 35th Anniversary on LinkedIn, we received some wonderful messages from our clients and candidates, some of whom were the first we helped!
Mariel Roe – Co-founder – Properly
Congratulations Anthony. That is incredible. To place over 10,000 candidates is an incredible achievement! And 5000 clients 💥Looking forward to lunch xx
Jo Ryan – Sales Operations Manager – Gibbs Gillespie
Huge congratulations to you and your awesome team and your milestone anniversary Anthony. I hope you are well x
Brandon van der Westhuizen – Group Recruitment Director – Dexters Estate Agents
Top man top business and always a delight, congratulations to you and your team
Catherine Darbon – Head of Talent – Chestertons
Such an achievement and still at the top of your game! I feel privileged to have been a part of the Property Personnel journey and to have been taught by the best! Congratulations Ant to both you and the team xx
Nick Carter – CEO – Harding Green
What an achievement Anthony. I owe a lot to you and Jason placing me in London back in 2011 👏🏻👏🏻
Kevin Shaw – National Sales MD – Leaders Romans Group
What an achievement Anthony Hesse – a true legend of the industry 👏
Tim Van der Schyff – Founder – Vander Elliott Real Estate
Mr Hesse! You are one of a kind. A true gentleman and a legend, and you deserve every bit of success! Huge congrats to you! (And the girls!) 😘
Nik Madan – Group Lettings Development Director – Connells
Congratulations Ant and the team! A great business and the best people
Jason Tebb – CEO – OnTheMarket
Huge congratulations Anthony Hesse ! We should catch up soon.
Ben Gee – Founder – Hat & Home
Congratulations Anthony. Awesome achievement 👏
James Redington – Sales & Lettings Director – Douglas & Gordon
Congratulations Anthony and team, fantastic achievement.
Lewis Emms – Director – Novello Chartered Surveyors
Congratulations Anthony, I still remember dealing with you and Allison many years ago and you are still the most professional and thorough recruiters I have ever encountered!
Matt Mannall – Partner – Robinson Sherston
Anto, you’re a living legend…. I remember fondly our first meeting in 1994, when you interviewed and packed me off to ……. Blinkin’ THORNTON HEATH!!!! and the rest was history! Well done on a fab milestone! With love and best wishes
Jennie Fojtik – Head of Operations – Quintain
Congratulations 🎉 I’ve always loved working with you 🙌🙌🙌
Steve Truman – MD (Land & New Homes) – Dexters Estate Agents
Thanks Anthony for all your help in the past, you are a true Gent. I hope the future remains happy, healthy and prosperous for you, your family and your team
Jeff Culver – Principal Partner – NuEra Training & Business Consultancy
Congratulations bud, you’ve made it this far because you understand people and what they need, even if they don’t, that is a rare gift. VB Jeff
