Stick a load of 18 year olds in a room and ask what they want to do, and the number aspiring to be estate agents will be close to zero. Was the same for me but I’m very glad I found my way there. It’s a great industry, but not one that you go into for the money. It’s always been badly paid and is getting worse by all accounts. It’s also one where different skillsets can and will lead to different positions and no two days are the same. Some of my most difficult conversations happened when a top salesperson decided they wanted a better status job as a manager.
Experience told me that more often than not an excellent salesperson wouldn’t make a good manager – so promotion often meant getting a bad manager and losing a top earning neg. Not many were willing to admit defeat and step back down when things didn’t go right either.
Sadly, the industry is under attack from many angles potentially making recruitment even more difficult. Because the business is badly paid the rises in NICs for employers will be severe, and changes to employment legislation will put many people off employing at all as many newbies in the sector go through rough patches before they find their metier. If new employees don’t have to wait to have a whinge, it’ll tie up senior management in the minefield that is employment legislation. Given how social media is seemingly teaching young people exactly how to game the system, I only see this getting worse.
Having originally been a supporter of estate agents’ regulation my head has been somewhat turned by the fact no one in authority seems to understand the costs involved or that the vast majority of agents do a ****** good job. Redress exists already and current legislation on upfront material information should [always get nervous when using that word] address the problem most complaints and frustrations stem from – namely the esoteric and cumbersome method of buying and selling. All the tools are there to make the process easier and upfront info a serious answer to time wasting – the issue is enforcement and resourcing.
I’m afraid I can only see ROPA burdening more agents with more costs whilst leaving enforcement issues unanswered. If we put more barriers in to becoming an agent, and ROPA will do that, less people will apply. With more resource behind redress and Trading Standards enforcement, plus rolling back onerous employment legislation to give employers a chance, the industry can only become a more desirable place to work and attract even better candidates rather than resorting to outsourcing services.
Excusing employer NICS rises by claiming they won’t affect workers is clearly Gov’t obfuscation on an epic scale – but there’s still time to rethink and better resource a pivotal industry to yield better results for everyone down the line.
