Views from the Top: About Mäklarhuset
Interiew with Johan Martinsson, CEO of Mäklarhuset
By Grazyna Sotta
About Mäklarhuset, ranked 4th by real estate students in Sweden (FöretagsBarometern 2010)
What are your main activities?
Mäklarhuset provides real estate services for individual consumers.
Something you would not expect about Mäklarhuset:
We are the third biggest real estate agency in Sweden with an international cooperation network.
Current Number of employees: Approximately 400, out of which 350 are estate agents.
Expected Number of Vacancies for 2010: We expect a natural growth of 40-50 vacancies this year. However, we focus primarily on headhunting activities and search for the best on the market.
About Mäklarhuset’s Employer Brand
What are the current business conditions that are driving the need for employer branding in your organization?
In our business, we are highly dependent on professional high achievers and there’s fierce competition for these individuals. We have recruited and developed top talents in real estate since our founding year in 1998.
How long has the company focused on its employer brand?
It has been our focus since the start and is the reason behind Mäklarhuset’s various distinctions in the industry.
What does your organization hope to accomplish via its employer branding activities?
We strive to be attractive to the successful real estate agents and recruit the best of these talents.
What specific objectives will take advantage of or mitigate the impact of your specific business environment?
Due to the competitive nature in this working environment and irregular working hours, a lot of successful real estate agents run the risk of burnout. In Norway, this has lead to a change in legislature prohibiting appointments outside of regular office hours. In Sweden, they are expected to hold showings in the evenings and weekends and be constantly available for client contact. In this hard working environment, we do our best to provide administrative support functions in order to take the burden and excess hours off that group of staff. Furthermore, our training and internal education helps our staff develop contributing to their growth and sense of fulfillment.
Are you measuring your employer brand? If yes, how?
We follow up on the results of each individual’s activity, but not of the brand as a whole. I believe that the Universum Student Survey amongst Real Estate Agents, carried out for the first time in Sweden this year, will give us a an idea and first measurement of our employer brand attractiveness.
Is employer branding driven by the senior management team?
Yes, it’s very important to the management team and vital for our company.
How do you define your employer brand in a few words?
Challenging
How do you think your company is perceived by students? Is it accurate?
It’s probably not their first choice, as we primarily focus on recruiting successful young professionals. We are not predominantly associated with security, but rather focus on being entrepreneurial and investing in developing our employees.
How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?
Our competitors have more resources and can thus invest in advertising and other activities. We are more creative in our communication and focus on showing that we are the market leaders rather than saying it. We used to just attend career days by ourselves, but have now decided to bring Jonas Gård (co-host from reality shows such as Fame Factory and Grannfejden) onboard to shed light on the interpersonal aspects of the role. The purchase or sale of property is very often a result of a major life change, such as a new step in a relationship, a divorce or close person passing away. Having an expert in conflict resolution and relationship management touring campuses with us not only educates the future agents, but also shows that we take their professional and personal development seriously. We also cooperate with Jonas Gård for internal development and education purposes helping our staff grow. Our clients notice that even in a leading position on the market, we always strive to improve. I feel this gives us the best indication that we are clear in our communication and manage to achieve our objectives.
What are your current internal and external Employer Brand priorities (strategic and promotional)?
Internally, we continue to develop our current employees through training camps rather than kick-off meetings. We focus on best-practice and knowledge sharing to help our talents grow in their current roles. As we already hire the best on the market, we look to them to develop and deepen their knowledge and experience. Externally, we carry out targeted campaigns to selected individuals in order to raise awareness and attract the best potential employees.
Do you have specific deliverables that your employer branding programme needs to produce? And if so, what are those deliverables?
We need to show good results and financial growth. This is strongly connected with attracting, recruiting, retaining and developing successful real estate agents.
With the coming elections, what consequences do you expect for employers and job seekers? And will this have an impact on your employer branding activities?
Our industry is susceptible to changes in the interest rates, loan policy changes, economic growth and EU influences on our market. The elections as such will not have a strong impact.