PHOENIX—Alliance Residential has teamed with the Institute of Real Estate Management to offer two of the industry's real estate management credentials available to Alliance associates through its learning management platform, Alliance University. This is a first-of-its-kind partnership, in which Alliance houses and subscribes to the IREM online content through Alliance University, and its associates complete necessary coursework as part of the company's Professional Development Program to earn IREM's Certified Property Manager designation and Accredited Residential Manager certification. Alliance associates who pursue these designations within the program will also have the opportunity to qualify for full reimbursement from the company.

Tina Mortera, Alliance's senior vice president of performance, tells GlobeSt.com about the genesis of the program: “Alliance has experienced rapid growth within the past five years which, when combined with an increasingly competitive job market, has brought our process for training and onboarding talent into focus. We not only want to develop existing Alliance talent for leadership roles, we want to attract talent from other industries. As a result, leadership development was prioritized in 2015 in order to facilitate succession for our business managers and regional managers while simultaneously opening the door to talent from other industries. As one aspect of our leadership development strategy, our partnership with IREM gives our associates easy access to the IREM CPM and ARM curriculum—these courses provide a strong foundation for growth into leadership roles, and allow talented individuals from other industries to acclimate and understand our business at a faster pace. Hosting the IREM curriculum on our internal learning management system, Alliance University, ensures the IREM courses can be used for rapid knowledge retention and makes it easy for our associates to track their progress toward an ARM or CPM designation. Leveraging IREM materials also allows Alliance to focus internal resources on custom leadership programs, such as coaching and onboarding processes that are specific to our core values and job competencies. Finally, making the IREM designations fully reimbursable through our professional development/tuition reimbursement program supports our strong commitment to our associates' professional development.”

Mortera adds, “There have been many articles about a projected talent shortfall and lack of bench strength in our industry. Meanwhile, our upgraded operating systems are highly sophisticated, our workforce is increasingly litigious and our customer base is more demanding—all of which makes equipping our associates more challenging. We don't have years to promote them through the ranks; we need the new talent ready now. The implication of the Alliance partnership with IREM is faster, easier access to the knowledge and skills associates need today to ensure they are ready for future growth and success tomorrow.”