By Sasha M Pardy, CoStar News
Opportunistic Hiring, Working Twice as Hard, Tough Going for Newbies, Expense Frugality, and Careful Management are Key Themes
With the increasing number of store closings, retailers going bankrupt, and cutbacks in new stores opening, as well as the credit crunch slowing down investment sales volume and the development pipeline, retail real estate firms are feeling a strain on income. However, for now at least, retail real estate executives report the changes have not yet affected their hiring and employment strategies significantly.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Firms continue to actively seek out experienced (15+ yrs) retail real estate professionals to join their ranks, especially strong deal-making teams.
Executives are seeing retail real estate professionals sticking with it — There’s no widespread trend of people leaving the industry, taking on second jobs, or trying to cross-over into other real estate sectors.
Retail real estate professionals are working harder — they’re putting in longer hours, making more cold calls and pounding the pavement, and trying more creative approaches to sealing the deal.
Tough-going for “Newbies.” Those newly out of college or moving from other industries will likely have a hard time getting hired, unless they have a connection to someone already in the business. However, for those who do get hired, the consensus is now is the best time to learn.
Firms have yet to make broad cutbacks, such as laying off support personnel or taking away marketing budgets. Instead, “frugality” is the word of the day — which translates into web-meetings when possible in place of travel, client lunches instead of dinners, and fixing the copy machine instead of getting a new one, etc.
CoStar Advisor: How is the Current Economic Slump Affecting Employment/Hiring at Your Company?
In mid-June, just after Jones Lang LaSalle acquired Staubach (a deal that didn’t include Staubach Retail), CoStar Advisor interviewed Clay Smith, president of Staubach Retail. At the time, Smith said the company aimed to double its size in the next three years. Smith said organic growth, strategic hiring, and acquisition of strong deal teams across the country are essential to reaching this goal. “We’re in numerous conversations with top performing teams right now and intend to continue adding to our team,” said Smith at the time.
In a recent update provided to CoStar, Staubach Retail said it has added 81 staff and brokers to the company since the start of 2008. Key hires include two SVP/market leaders — for Chicago and Charlotte, an EVP of business development, a COO, and a director of marketing.