Property Management Jobs

Hi All,
Not sure if many property managers frequent the forum but i thought i might start here for advice.
My wife is currently looking for a new job in property management after completing a 1 year contract for maternity replacement role. She has applied for about 5 jobs and had 3 interviews without much success. One good thing about these roles is you can see who got the job over you and look at their linkedin profile. What amazes me is a lot of the people who seem to get the job had a record of only staying in their previous jobs for between 1 and 6 months.. My wife has a degree in economics and completed the agents rep license, as far as education i believe it is more than enough for property management.
Why would agents take the risk of hiring people who have a record of jumping from job to job over someone who has put in the years in every job they have had. How do you land a role in property management, i would have thought with such high turnover. the hiring manager would be looking at work history for someone who puts in their time.

 

Experience in property management helps

 

Get a gig through a temping agency to build up experience - sometimes they're short but others ay extend to 12 months - residential agencies don't use too many temps.

 

It was my experience that they like them young, inexperienced so they trained on the job and could pay them less. From what I have witnessed over the last few years things haven't changed much [read the complaints about PM's on this forum] A degree in economics is worth zilch in that field and the agents rep license just glosses over the knowledge that a senior property manager should have.

 

The reps licence is a mandatory requirement for working in an agency - it's only 3 subjects.

Degrees are highly valued if working for commercial agencies.

 

She has done 1 year on a maternity contract already. Not a fan of the temp agency, as soon as she had left there only 1 hour later the temp agency had called her previous workplace asking if they needed a position filled. I think recruitment agencies advertise too many fake jobs just to get leads and it is not worth the time putting in for them..

I tend to disagree about a degree being worth zilch in any industry, having a degree in any field shows you have a willingness to invest in your own future. In the current occupation I'm in we understand anyone can do the job without a degree, but its a must have if you want an interview.

One thing for sure its much easier to get interviews for real-estate than accounting. I have noticed an increase in job application for low level accounting roles increase from an average of 15-30 in 2009 to 180-300 now.. I have a feeling the unemployment rate is far higher than what is being reported on.

 

If I was hiring, and I'll need to be shortly, I think a degree would add extremely little to a candidate's chances.

 

The best pm's that I have crossed paths with have land economics or valuation backgrounds. The worst for in depth knowledge are the certificate of registration holders - investing very little into their careers. There are exceptions both ways. I mostly deal with asset managers, so my perception & expectations may be tainted; )

 

@tommy4711 - there are plenty of varied roles in property which are poorly paid, why not use her skillset and look at roles which are inferior and she can leverage off her experience - linky

Roles like that far outrank a residential pm, even on a cold miserable day in Melbourne.

 

Hi @tommy4711

The degree could work against your wife in that she could be viewed as overqualified... someone who will get bored in the role and leave promptly thereafter. As such she'll need to convince employers of why this role now suits her changed life circumstances.

With respect to securing a role, perhaps she could request to do some shadowing (unpaid work experience).

 

@tommy4711

PM is generally pretty easy to get into, I will send you a PM with some links to places that might be useful for you.

 

Thanks for the replys. She was able to secure a job as an assistant PM, it's not great but it's better than sitting at home wishing your life away... I think this can be used as a fill in until something else comes up.

I had a meeting with someone in government who explained to me how they were getting the unemployment figure and after this and the change in increase in change of employment from full time to part time and casuals, I think Australia is heading down a bad path that's being concealed nicely from the public.. I think it will be the case of everything is good until it's not..

So while we will continue viewing the job adds for better career prospects, certainly be keeping in the back of our mind that the job market for professionals is extremely tight...


Something I learnt from my wife that surprised me is how much help migrants get from the government.. I believe this could be the reason a lot of them destroy properties, they didn't have to earn their way there

 

Wow really...?

 

I've found the opposite, because they're so grateful of getting a chance

 

I have new migrants via anglicare in some of my low socio area properties and they look after them immaculately....

 

I agree with DT and Davem. They are always respectful at getting a chance.

 

I feel I need to question if your wife has you views on being an assistant pm, if so I can understand why it may have been harder for her to obtain employment, giving the impression that being an assistant is inferior is a fast track to unemployment and fast turnover, (if you don't appreciate your assistants, you don't deserve them, a lot of assistants do the work of property managers and more so) assistants need to be treated valuably because they hold as much value as anyone else in the company, some agents can't do the great job they do without the help of their assistant.. Think about that and maybe your wife being an assistant and you not looking down on the role as if it is beneath her will be an assist to both your futures.