There are an estimated 11,000 new residential property management (RPM) jobs every year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. These jobs require talented new hires, which is why the National Apartment Association Education Institute (NAAEI) works to inform the public about RPM job opportunities and the great benefits of an RPM career.
We need to continue getting the word out to college-educated millennials, to people with experience in the retail, hospitality, or restaurant industries, to military spouses and veterans, and beyond.
We do that through this website, social media and other digital channels, and partnerships with colleges and organizations. But we also reach these audiences, and the general public, with “media tours.”
During one media tour, conduced on a single day in May 2017, former NAAEI President Stephanie Puryear Helling was interviewed by 19 radio stations and networks. Helling, who is senior director of operations and real estate strategic services at Greystar, used those five- to 10- minute interviews to highlight the benefits of working in the growing RPM industry.
These interviews aired more than 1,400 times on radio stations and networks with a combined audience of 47 million. (Listen to Blog Talk Radio’s “Life Lessons” to hear one of these placements.)
In July, we scheduled an internet media tour, lining up for interview for Helling and Jeremy Lawson, an NAAEI board member and the reputation manager for Fogelman Properties. This blitz generated more than 2,000 placements in online, radio, and TV outlets with a combined audience exceeding 158 million. (Examples of these placements include an online article in Inquisitr, which averages more than 1 million visitors a day, and in Farmington Patch, a hyperlocal platform in Michigan.)
As important as the exposure is what listeners and readers learned. The media tours emphasized these key facts:
- The number of apartment community residents has sharply increased over the past decade, and all signs point to the boom continuing – providing job opportunities and job security.
- In the U.S., nearly 39 million people live in a total of 20 million apartment homes.
- Lifestyle trends, homeownership patterns, and changing demographics point to demand for 4.6 million new apartments by 2030.
- The industry generates about 11,000 new property management positions every year.
- NAAEI provides training for people who want to join the industry and continuing education for people looking to grow in their RPM careers.
As Helling said in her interview with “Life Lessons,” RPM companies “hire for attitude, train for skill – so we’ve got a little something for everyone.” Part of NAAEI’s job is to make sure everyone gets the message.
