Some said they love working with amazing people or the fact that every day comes with new challenges. Others said they enjoyed the chance to have a positive impact on other people's lives by helping them find a place to call home.
The reasons people enjoy their residential property management (RPM) careers are as diverse as the people working in the industry. Hundreds of them took to Twitter during February's annual Residential Property Management Month to share their enthusiasm for working in the industry using the hashtag #RPMCareers as part of a marketing campaign organized by the NAA Education Institute (NAAEI) to promote industry careers.
NAAEI conducted a hashtag campaign in February that encouraged people to take pictures of themselves holding a placard saying what they loved most about working in residential property management and to share that picture on Facebook and Twitter using the #RPMCareers hashtag. In February alone, 232 people shared posts using the hashtag. Sixty-nine percent of the conversation took place on Twitter with 30 percent occurring on Facebook.
"The level of participation in our RPM Careers Month hashtag campaign shows that people are proud about working in residential property management, and they are helping us attract new applicants to build our teams," says Maureen Lambe, CAE, NAAEI Executive Vice President. "They are also helping us spread the word about RPMCareers.org, which is our new website designed to bring qualified candidates to rewarding careers in residential property management."
Sarah Levine, NAAEI Director of Workforce Development, says conducting a hashtag campaign provided a fun and easy way for people to get involved, as many members already rely on social media to promote their communities and their companies. The campaign also offered a way to engage Millennials, who are an important target audience for NAAEI's career outreach efforts.
"I think what I loved most about the campaign was the encouragement industry leaders provided colleagues and members to post selfies and to be part of something that entire companies were doing," she says. "I saw a whole lot of smiling going on related to RPM careers!"
Local Affiliates Help the Cause
The Triangle Apartment Association (TAA) in Raleigh, N.C., was just one of many groups supporting RPM Careers Month and the hashtag campaign. It encouraged its members to participate and offered $50 gift cards throughout the month to members posting selfies with the #RPMCareers hashtag. Winners included Alex Stallings (The Villages of Chapel Hill, Greystar); Shaunte Johnson (The Point at Chapel Hill, Greystar); Matt Morrison (Park Ridge Estates, PRG Real Estate Management, Inc.); Landmark at Eagle Landing's Team (Landmark Apartment Trust); and Hope Joyner (South Square Townhomes, PRG Real Estate Management, Inc.).
"We feel it is important to promote RPM Careers Month and careers in the industry because we are able to continue to provide a resource for our members and help people in the community start a new career," says Kim Snyder, TAA Communications and Community Outreach Coordinator. "Unemployment is still a factor, and our industry has job opportunities available."
Snyder says that when TAA first started attending local career fairs, job seekers did not know who they were or what a career in the apartment industry meant. She has started seeing more and more job seekers consider a career in the industry because of the continued push to promote RPM careers in the Research Triangle and the branding done by TAA and NAAEI.
"During the past six to 12 months, we have had more people come to us at career fairs interested in learning more about the industry and having already done their research," she says. "We have gone from people asking 'what's that' to 'I want to be a part of this vibrant and ever-changing industry.'"
Promoting Industry Year-Round
TAA offers its members different ways to get involved in promoting industry careers not only during RPM Careers Month but all year round, Snyder says. Its Career Canvas volunteers represent TAA at local career fairs. TAA plans to attend eight local university career fairs this year and typically receives 50 to 60 rŽsumŽs at each career fair from students and job-seekers looking for both part-time and full-time work. TAA also hosted its first in-house career fair in 2014 and is planning two more this year.
WinnCompanies put together a team to help promote the #RPMCareers hashtag campaign both internally using its intranet, as well as through the company's social media channels. The team included WinnResidential Marketing Coordinator Nicole Stone, WinnResidential Military Housing Services Operations Support Specialist Kristin Miller and WinnResidential Corporate Marketing Manager Whitney Pulsifer.
"We found that by using social media channels and the placard, we were able to attract potential new hires and candidates, who reached out to us through the channel or via our website," Pulsifer says.
As a company, she says, Winn understands the impact its team members-both onsite and in the corporate arena-make in the lives of residents. By promoting RPM Careers Month, the company hoped to not only increase the awareness of the RPM profession but also to further improve the support provided to its communities and residents.
"Simply put, the more talent we can attract to the industry the better the result for our residents overall," she says.
Visit the new RPMCareers.org website to learn more about working in the residential property management industry.
Mark Evans is a freelance reporter for OnPoint Communications.