The Institute of Estate Agents, Western Cape, has launched an additional new service to its members and to the public by creating a recruitment and placement division, says chairman Ivan Neethling.

Property Placements is a non-profit organisation focusing on recruiting for the property industry. The business will be run from the Institute’s premises in Howard Centre in Pinelands.

“Since the Estate Agency Affairs Board introduced new training regulations for the estate agency industry it has become clear that there will be a shortage of qualified people in the recovering economy, and the new division will address this,” says Neethling.

“The division will have tremendous benefits for all members, especially corporate members,” says Neethling. “The recruitment industry doesn’t specifically cater for estate agencies as the property industry is commission based, with payment for results. There is no facilitator for people who may want to enter the industry or change from one employer to another, and Property Placements will meet those needs.”

The new division will be run by Kim Ashton, who has many years of property experience. She says she already has mandates from employers to recruit managers and agents. Salaries offered range from R20 000 to R40 000 a month plus incentives.

“The IEASA Western Cape directors decided at the last monthly meeting agreed to launch this division as one of several new offerings to members. It follows the success of the PropStats division, the new monthly property statistics web based service offering data updated every 24 hours. PropStats enables members to accurately value clients’ properties because it works with current, reliable information, accessible only to institute members.

“We believe we can place between 10 and 20 people a month in good positions. We will offer monthly career evenings for the public and members and they will find out about all the employment opportunities available to experienced and inexperienced people including sales, letting, administration and management. We will also service the commercial property, auctioneering, business broking, estate agency franchises and licenses sales, mortgage origination and the property training industries.”

“Already we have received a welcome response from our industry and members and we hope through this initiative to speed up the transformation in the industry,” says Ashton.

Charges for the recruitment service will be nominal for institute members, says Neethling, and generally far lower than those charged by recruitment firms. This is due to cost subsidisation from other business initiatives of the institute.

Any business planning to downsize their staff numbers should contact the Institute, says Neethling.

“We will gladly give staff talks on the opportunities in property and will be especially interested in those who want to set up their own agencies and are willing to work through our mentorship and coaching programmes. When this division is up and running we will help other agencies to set up similar recruitment divisions,” says Neethling.

Contact Kim Ashton at kim@propertyplacements.co.za.