A 4-Step Guide to Hiring Your First Assistant

Central PA Real Estate Career Podcast with Dave Hooke

Here’s what you need to do to find the perfect assistant. How do you hire your first administrative assistant? Here at The Dave Hooke Team, we have multiple administrative assistants and transaction coordinators, and at our Keller Williams brokerage, there are transaction coordinators integrated into the business to support the agents who choose to use them. Not every real estate professional has these resources at their fingertips, though. If you don’t have these options and are looking to hire your first assistant, here’s the four-step guide you can follow: 1. Write a missing persons report and position agreement. The missing persons report should be a description of the type of person you’re looking for. Out of that should come the position agreement, which should be forward facing so that when you position it, the potential hire can read what they have to do. 2. Write a job advertisement (and publish it). This advertisement should be simpler and shorter than the missing person report. It should stand out to the applicant and incentivize them to click on it. “During the interview process, delve into the applicant’s life story.” 3. Review the resumes. Review them and screen them with a quick phone call so you’re not wasting time interviewing people who aren’t qualified for the position. 4. Have a two- to three-step interview process. During the interview process, delve into the applicant’s life story. Learn about their thought process and see whether their core values align with yours. It doesn’t hurt to do a behavioral profile either—something like a basic DISC assessment that highlights their personality traits. Finally, check their references, and then ask those references if they know anyone else who could also be a reference for the candidate. This way, you can talk to the people they didn’t give you in addition to the people they did to see whether they’re truly the right fit and can help take your business to the next level. If you have questions about this guide or would like a copy of our position agreements or job ads, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.