New staff, training and learning the MIH way!

Training and learning the MIH way. When I started MIH in November 2016, I knew the kind of service I wanted to offer but wasn’t quite sure that there was enough demand for what I wanted to supply. Happily, nearly 20 months later I has become “WE” and both Shauna and I have been overwhelmed by demand. In order to cope with the demand, we had to look for further assistance, which has not come without its problems.

As first-time employers, we knew the kind of people we wanted to employ as property managers, and how we wanted them to represent MIH. We wanted to employ people new to the industry who could bring a fresh approach and enthusiasm to the role but at the same time be trained to work in the MIH way.

A recruiting headache

Naively, we thought this would be an easy task but after sifting through countless CVs from trusted recruitment agents, thank you, Stuart, of Jackson Sims and Alice of Block Recruit, for sitting through multiple interviews, putting out offers, only to be told the candidate had changed their mind we finally settled on Sharan and latterly Savannah. (Yes we have considered that we could be seen as unfairly recruiting on the basis that your name starts with an “S” particularly as Shauna runs our accounts department.)

It’s all in the training

With the trials of the recruitment process being over I thought it would all be a piece of cake. Not so, the hard work really begins with the training of our staff. As a near perfectionist- I say this as I wouldn’t want anyone to see the state of my wardrobe- I knew that I wanted my staff to be as passionate about property management as I am and that is not always as easy to impart as you think.

You may recall, if you follow my blogs that I did write a blog on Training Vs Experience some time ago, and with the new starters at MIH, both mine and Shauna’s feelings about this have crystallized even more. For us, training staff is not simply sending them on training courses or asking them to read “dry” textbooks/training manuals but is about giving them the same “on the job” training that we received.

Jumping in the deep end

Rather like the strong swimming reflex that babies have in their first six months of life, we look to do the same with our staff, except we do offer a rubber ring or perhaps one armband.

As an open plan office all staff are able to hear conversations of senior staff and are copied in on all emails so that whether they are experienced or not. In this way we hope that they will absorb all the different scenarios that being a property manager can be placed in and bank the knowledge for the future! We also feel that this gives an ingenue an introduction to how much fun and how exciting property management can be, and no we are not joking about that!

It’s a learning curve

At the same time, for us as managers, it proves a learning curve, as listening to our staff on the telephone, writing emails or researching Leases acts as a refresher and also reminds us of how far we have come. We are able to understand what is and isn’t going right and ensure that we can give one to one training when it is needed.

It is a long time since we considered why we send out a Section 20 Notice out and how we collect funds against it (we don’t, as funds are collected in accordance with the Service Charge and Reserve provisions, and Section 20 Notices are in respect of “Works” only) or for that matter why demands must include the “Summary of Rights” and what they mean. Both have become part of our everyday life. Indeed, more than a learning curve, we have been able to remember what it is like to be a leaseholder and the benefit of explaining everything in simple terms. We are confident that with this approach our staff will sail through the IRPM Qualifications once they are eligible to take these and will then be able to boast the benefit of training and experience!

We are happy to say that the combination of our talents means that working at MIH is a dynamic and stimulating place to work with everyone who works here committed to delivering the best service to our clients and thinking up ways in which we can continually look to exceed not only our client’s expectations but our own too.

We are very excited to have a fun office, where no day is the same and where we are constantly bouncing ideas of each other, and perhaps, more importantly, we are looking forward to our newest recruit starting in October, whose will go against our recruitment policy of only taking on staff whose name begins with an S. We got around that one as there is an S in their surname.

If you would like your property to be managed by a forward-thinking, enthusiastic team whose goal is always to Make it Happen then please do get in touch with us.

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