Real Estate Recruiter Review

This isn’t what you’re thinking. This is a real estate blog from a different perspective. Think of this as a ‘through the keyhole’ insight into what life is like at Dubai’s number one real estate agent but not from an agent’s point of view, or even the owners. This is my view of life inside Allsopp & Allsopp, as head of recruitment. So, buckle up and get ready for the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Still with me? Let’s get going then.

A bit about me…

I started working for Allsopp & Allsopp in April 2016 and I moved to Dubai almost two years to the day later on April 6th 2018. You might be thinking “why did you leave the UK, your settled, well-paying job, with your home comforts, family, friends, local pub, and familiarity to up sticks and move to Dubai?” That’s just it, familiarity, normality, I just found boring. I had a sudden realisation one day that there was more to life than traditional high street estate agency (there’s nothing wrong with it, I just felt I’d outgrown it) and so, I applied online, expecting an interview and of course got the job - I was bound for the recruitment train, for Allsopp & Allsopp. I have never looked back, not even slightly! The thought of going backwards in my career scares me and whilst I’m an adversary for all things British and love nothing more than indulging in fish and chips or a pint in my local when I’m on vacation, I’m just not cut out for the UK; high income tax, the obscure benefits system, increasing crime rates, the weather. How ironic then, that I find myself stuck in England due to the lockdown procedures, 3,500 miles away from my wife and dog, feeling like I’ve wound back 13 years to live back at home with my mum!

For me (usually) the middle east is the future. Just look at how far Dubai has come in 48 years – mind-blowing. I’ll chat more about this in future blog entries. For now, let’s get down to business, the Allsopp & Allsopp way.

You’ll likely know who Allsopp & Allsopp are but here’s an insight for those that don’t and for those that want to be reminded of where it all began. Two brothers from Coventry identified a business opportunity in Dubai, at what has been described as the worst economic downturn Dubai has ever seen, in 2008. Growing from a small villa with 5 staff, to the grandiose premises you see today, as the business has grown exponentially. Countless awards, more than 250 staff, office locations across Dubai and England and we’re only 11 years in. Imagine the next 11! You can read more about the history of our business by clicking here.

So now for the first quarter. What. A. Quarter! Not only have we had the pleasure of coming back to our brand new, completely refurbished HQ - and when I say completely refurbished, I mean COMPLETELY. Among other things, we have a brand new industrial look which is far lighter and brighter, we have more desks and workspaces as well as a training suite – exciting times not just for our current staff (me included!) but also our new starters. We also broke our company record, seeing almost 1,000,000 AED go onto the board for one single deal. Yes, you are reading that correctly and what makes the story even nicer (besides teamwork and hard graft) is that one of the two employees involved in the deal celebrated her 1-year anniversary in January, it was her birthday and her parents came to visit – They say things come in threes!

In other news, I’ve added to my recruitment team with the addition of Joe Lennon, a name you may be familiar with, given he used to work in our leasing department. Joe is living proof that the grass isn’t always greener as he left for pastures new around nine months ago, before coming back and joining my team. I’m thrilled to have him back and so far, we seem to be onto a good thing, with applications up 40% from the quarter before and approximately 23% up year on year. As the saying goes ‘let’s make hay whilst the sun shines’ and that’s exactly what we are doing, attending 174 interviews for the quarter and welcoming 38 new staff to the Allsopp & Allsopp family. Our recruitment events also proved extremely successful in March where Jo and I met with some amazing people who will be joining us over the next few months. We were lucky enough to host the events and visit our teams in the UK before the lockdown procedures came into force and we’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to come and meet with us.

I mean it when I say that sitting here writing this blog, thinking of the buzz of the office, it’s needless to say I’m missing it, especially when considering the world is working from home right now and the office is electric. So many times, I hear people (not from Allsopp & Allsopp I might hastily add) complain of their workplace: it’s dirty, it’s loud, the people aren’t nice, it’s so quiet, nothing’s going on – If something is so bad, make a change. There’s a whole lot of world out there and as I write the closing sentences of my first ever blog, I ask you, are you truly happy where you are? Do you look forward to the working week, rather than the weekend? (we all love the weekends, but you know what I mean.) Are you earning what you want? If you cannot confidently answer those questions with a positive, then isn’t it time you made a change?

I’ll be back in a month’s time with another insight and round-up of April, you can keep up to date with me on the following social channels in between time and feel free check out www.allsoppandallsopp.com/careers for information on current vacancies and to apply.