This is the final part to our four part blog where we look back over the last year of PropTech in the North American market. Previously we have reviewed the effects of COVID-19 on the Proptech market, the stand-out PropTech startups and the verticals they have emerged in; the investment landscape, VC’s and portfolios owners, and this week we take a look hiring and recruitment tends.
At LMRE, we recruit for property technology VCs, startups, and consultancies. We have seen a massive change in the sector, particularly the remote workforce, but also the types of profiles our clients are looking for, whether that be sourcing them from across sectors or across industries.
The United States PropTech market has always been slightly ahead of the UK and Europe markets in terms of being open to people working remotely, but it’s changed completely over the last year. At LMRE we were primarily always working with PropTech businesses with mandates for New York, San Francisco, Austin, and to an extent Dallas. Now, in the space of eight months, we’re recruiting people out of all 50 states which highlights a massive opportunity for businesses and candidates.
It opens up the talent pool on a huge scale, you can tap into the best talent no matter where they are. Companies are accessing a much more diverse candidate pool that you wouldn’t originally get if you’re just looking in San Francisco or New York, also there is an opportunity to hire talent at a cheaper rate as you don’t have to pay inflated salaries that come out of the tech hubs of San Francisco or New York. We’ve seen that as a massive benefit in terms of finding talent but also for clients being able to find best in market candidates for a good price and salaries that these starts ups can afford.
From a candidate perspective it’s opened the door very wide for them – you can still join that exciting start-up but don’t have to move to a major tech hub and pay 10X the price for renting a shoebox! Along with the benefits it is also met with challenges such as the difficulties of remote onboarding, training and culture. How do you keep young employees motivated 3000 miles away with zoom happy hour?
We are seeing many businesses put in a huge effort into maintaining culture, consultancies such as Jamestown, and Cushman & Wakefield who are now hiring ‘Heads of Diversity’. PropTech companies are now pivoting and paying attention to biases, not just hiring people with certain universities degrees or qualifications. It is about making sure in every interview process you have people from different parts of the business, so there is always cross selling amongst teams, from marketing, operations, sales so the teams collaborate from the get go, which allows for further innovation.
In Canada it is interesting, because the PropTech market is still nascent compared to the United States, meaning the candidate pool is a little narrower due to the immaturity of the market. People haven’t worked in the sector for very long, therefore it can be harder to find that ‘unicorn candidate’ that every founder wants with six years of PropTech experience to join their company. We will have to see a widening of expectations from founders to get the talent that they need into their business at this stage of the market.
The key roles we are seeing in huge demand include SDR (Sales Development Representative), Full Stack Engineers and Marketing. A strong team of SDR’s will allow your Account Executive the chance to have a high conversion rate by dealing with qualified leads who are in a position to buy. Full Stack Engineers, which are harder to come by as PropTech is still in its infancy but are certainly becoming more popular. They are the ‘unicorn’ developers with experience of front end (website/ tech management) and back end (coding and data analysis). Marketing is a role in high demand as the popularity for the PropTech market increases, ensuring the startups are landing themselves in front of the desired target audience.
We understand that recruiting and hiring is the most important and toughest part for any fast growing company. LMRE are here to add tremendous value for your company, to connect you with our specialist recruiters and add crucial value whether it be with hiring plans or advice on how to build and scale a team. So please get in touch for more information.
As we continue to partner with many of the early-stage adopters and entrepreneurs within the United States and Canada whose biggest challenge is finding the right resource to help them scale their teams and products.
Are you scaling your business as technology becomes ever more prominent within the Real Estate industry? We can help your business by saving you valuable time and money and search the market for you – leave it to us, specialist PropTech recruiters. Leave your details and a consultant will give you a call back today.
LMRE are specialist PropTech recruiters, if you need help growing your business or making any key hires please get in touch via the form below!
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