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Allison Weiss, the principal and founder of CRE Recruiting, shares her journey in the commercial real estate industry and her experience as a digital nomad.

She discusses the challenges of moving around frequently as a child and how it shaped her ability to connect with people.

Allison also highlights the need for innovation in the commercial real estate industry and the importance of work-life integration. She shares her passion for helping people navigate their career transitions and create fulfilling lives.

Allison offers opportunities for candidates and companies looking to grow in the industry.

“If the first two years in the business coincide with a rocky economy, you may just not stick it out,” Weiss said. “Our industry isn’t replacing the junior talent like we are the retirees.”

“I do see marketing teams and budgets being slashed across the country,” CRE Recruiting founder Allison Weiss said. “Companies think that this is one area where they can cut costs and expenditures and not have an immediate impact to their core businesses.”

“I feel like we’re in The Upside Down [of Stranger Things],” Weiss said. She expects the typical burst of hiring that happens at the beginning of the year to be very muted in 2024, as firms maintain a holding pattern. “There’s no real understanding of what it should be like anymore.”

To view the full 2023 CREi LinkedIn Influencer list, click here

To view the full 2023 CREi Instagram Influencer list, click here

“Some of the passion, enthusiasm and focus has been lost,” CRE Recruiting founder Allison Weiss said. “And people are so afraid of stepping on a land mine, they’re thinking of other ways of pursuing this that aren’t as risk averse; they look at Budweiser, and public examples of taking a principled stance on diversity.” 

“I frequently tell small and midsized companies that may not have a budget to, say, participate in an on-campus recruiting program to build strong relationships with the heads of diverse student business organizations and clubs,” she said.  “Just got directly to club leadership and say you’d like to engage with them. There are people I’m placing today that I spoke to their undergrad class. That’s really rewarding, and people remember that…you can’t put a dollar value on someone seeing you consistently.”

"With the current economic climate and the corporate world’s need for immediate ROI and results, we’re in danger of sacrificing the long-term health of our industry for minimal, short-term cost savings,"

"I fear that turning over affirmative action gives those already looking for reasons to set aside DEI efforts a 'get out of jail free' card."

"Employees subject to noncompete or nonsolicitation agreements can affect the employability of a person, especially if one company is known for being litigious," Weiss told CoStar News."It could put off another company thinking about the legal exposure. It's hard to quantify the financial impact of what that could be. It's almost a priceless thing not to have the psychological barrier or fear of being taken to court for switching jobs."

“If you're in your early career or midcareer, you feel like you have to abide by these things, even if it’s technically not enforceable in your state,” she said. “It's one of those mechanisms that people may leave our industry over. And we really need to retain people as much as possible, because we're not recruiting people at the rate that they're retiring or leaving the business due to downturns and market volatility.”

You’ve heard the phrase, “If you keep doing the same thing, you’ll get the same results”, right? In this episode, Allison S. Weiss & Kyle Inserra discuss how you can begin to attract your ideal candidates by taking a slightly unique approach to the recruiting and hiring process.

Has the approaching end of the year got you thinking about where your career is headed? Are you longing for a predictable career in this time and age of uncertainty?

The pandemic, rumors of recession layoffs, and freeze hiring, not to mention the continuous rising of inflation…may lead is to feel the sting of uncertain which may make us feel ANXIOUS!

“Big firms call these roles ‘cost-cutters,’” Weiss said. “As transactional volume slows down, you don't need more transaction coordinators, you need fewer assistants, you need fewer folks in marketing, you need fewer folks in recruiting because you're not bringing new people into the business. The teams on the front line, attached to brokers but not actually brokers, see their roles more at risk.”

Bisnow: If you weren’t in real estate, what path would your career have taken?

Weiss: A travel writer and photographer. In October of 2020, I gave up my apartment, 95% of my possessions and embarked on a full-time digital nomad journey — I’ve spent a lot of my free time exploring and documenting as I go. I’ve been to over 20 states in the last two years and will be spending this Thanksgiving in Paris and Barcelona!

“Perks are difficult to remove once people have gotten used to them,” Allison S. Weiss, principal and founder of CRE Recruiting, said. “Maybe the pendulum has shifted from a candidate-driven market to an employer-driven market again.”

“Perks are helpful. But I think at the end of the day if you don’t have a company culture that is productive and encourages people to want to participate in the office environment, it doesn’t matter how many pizza parties you throw or how much kombucha you have on tap,”

“I’m always advising people to be stronger advocates for themselves, especially if they’re staying at one firm, since they’re not getting the larger bumps in compensation that you get when you move every two or four years,”