Allison S. Weiss

Allison S. Weiss has launched CRE Recruiting Inc., a talent recruitment firm specializing in the commercial real estate market. CRE Recruiting partners with businesses across the industry, from brokerage to development and mortgage banking, to strategically place talent that will fuel business growth. Finding and retaining talent has become the biggest challenge for companies large and small today, and Weiss saw an opportunity to make a significant impact on the market.

"A common theme in my daily conversations with industry colleagues was that their biggest challenge in scaling their businesses was identifying, attracting, and recruiting the right talent," Weiss, principal and founder of the firm, tells GlobeSt.com. "By starting my own firm, I knew I could help more people and companies grow while also leveraging the strong relationships I've built, and the industry and market knowledge I've gained over the course of my career.  My experience working inside large firms and collaborating with executives and market leaders to grow companies is rare—most recruiters working in this industry learned it from the outside and haven't lived it every day the way that I have."

Right now, this is a candidate-driven market, according to Weiss. Low unemployment, record economic growth and consolidation have all driven the candidate market. "JLL's acquisition of HFF is the most recent example," explains Weiss. "In any M&A scenario, there are bound to be adjustments, whether to the firm's culture, leadership and reporting structure, or business strategy and processes. Change is difficult and can cause even the most tenured professionals to consider other opportunities. I'm working with candidates of all experience levels who want to want to know what is out there and what their options might be whether this be with their competitors or in transitioning into other industry verticals like prop-tech."

However, using a recruiter, particularly one familiar with the industry, is a way to help secure talent. "One of the most valuable is access to real-time market and competitive intelligence, gleaned directly from daily conversations with candidates," says Weiss. "Understanding who is looking, why they're looking, and what they're looking for is powerful. This insider knowledge helps my clients be more effective not only in recruiting, but also when competing for business in the market at large."

Weiss takes several steps to help firms find the right fit. "The best scenario is when I'm able to work as a strategic partner through the iterative process of growing and scaling my client's business," she says. "I first seek to understand their firm's mission, existing strategy to achieve that mission, and the challenges they're facing to reach those specific objectives.  From there, I help them uncover their unique value proposition as an employer and understand how they fit into the larger competitive landscape.  This allows us to co-create an individualized plan to attract the best talent for their distinct needs, and execute effectively together."

In addition to finding the right candidate, companies are also looking to create more diversity. "Diversity and inclusion may be newer initiatives for our industry, but I believe they will be table stakes in the near future," says Weiss. "It's one thing to have a corporate inclusion program to "check the box" and quite another to have diverse representation at all levels of an organization up to and including the board of directors.  Now more than ever, clients expect diversity, and the companies who position themselves as proven leaders in this area will attract the industry's top talent."

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