Jobhop Jobhop's blog : An Interview With Norfolk Estate Agent, Samuel Legood
Today we chatted to Norfolk Estate Agent, Samuel Legood from abbotFox about what makes a great estate agent.
Samuel is the managing director of the largest independent estate agents in Norfolk and reckons he can tell the signs of a great estate agent instantly.
Here are some of the questions we asked him and his answers were very interesting.
Can you tell immediately if someone is a good estate agent?
I reckon I can, I’m not usually wrong, and I can usually tell even before a face to face interview.
How can you tell before an interview?
If someone approaches me about being an estate agent at abbotFox I’ll schedule in a phone call with them and from that call I’ll know if I should invite them in for a face to face interview.
What can you pick up from a phone call?
How quickly they answer the call can tell me how eager they are, and how they greet me on the call, I can also detect their eagerness. I’m listening for a clear, confident voice, as well as someone who wants to ask me questions. I’m always impressed by someone who has researched abbotFox and our properties before they’re even offered an interview, that shows me they’re keen.
Sometimes I’ll say can you call me back on a certain day and time, if they’re prompt that’s another sign they’re keen.
What happens once the candidate gets an interview?
From the minute the candidate walks into the office that’s when the interview starts. I look at how confident are they when they walk in, how they talk to our staff who meet and greets them, and if they fidget while they’re waiting, and I check to see if they read any of our literature on display.
Then at the face to face interview, their body language is carefully looked at, how is their handshake, do they fiddle, cross their arms, point their feet towards the door, look surprised etc
When anyone makes it to a face to face interview they have to be good, they have to arrive looking like an estate agent, and they need to have done their research, not just on abbotFox and our properties but all the areas of Norfolk.
What happens after that?
If they’re good they’ll be invited back for a second interview, where they’ll meet key members of the abbotFox team, we have to make sure the candidate is going to fit in. The key members will have their own questions to ask and the candidate will be able to find out more and make their mind up about working here. During this session there are a couple of trials that we’ll ask the candidate to participate in, they’re to be completed on the shop floor right in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the abbotFox working environment.
How long after that will it take you to make up your mind?
I’ve usually made up my mind by the end of the second interview but because abbotFox is like a big family I like to chat to the key members and the staff who came into contact with the candidate on the shop floor. Once I have all the information then the candidate is notified within a couple of days, we never keep a candidate waiting.
How far do you go to make sure you have the right staff?
I want to make sure that the candidates really want to work here, so much so that I’ve told them to go for interviews at competitors, because if they come back to me and say they only want to work here then I know they’re right for abbotFox.
What’s the key to happy staff?
I pride myself on the fact that abbotFox has very happy employees and I think there are a few reasons for that. First, we hire for culture, not just because someone is an estate agent. We engage our staff in everything, the work environment at abbotFox is fantastic, the rewards for employees here are excellent, from bungee jumping to holidays abroad and the coffee is the best!
Estate agencies can have a high turnover of employees but we have a really low turnover, and we have people queuing up to work here, our employer brand attracts great candidates.
Can anyone apply to abbotFox to be an estate agent?
Yes, we rarely advertise so if someone thinks they have what it takes to be an estate agent at abbotFox I always say contact us.
email Samuel Legood your CV if you think you have what it takes samuellegood@abbotfox.co.uk
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