ibr Search Team Prepares for The 2015 ASHA (American Seniors Housing Association) Annual Meeting

ibr Search team will be attending The 2015 ASHA (American Seniors Housing Association) Annual Meeting in Dana Pointe, CA on January 25-27th, 2015.  With much anticipation and preparation heading into the kick-off to the 2015 conference season, Brian Shuppe (Sr. Director, Research & CIO at ibr Search) and Butch Edlinger (Director at ibr Search ) have been studying Seniors Housing and where this current housing need is headed.  Our team has an interesting point of view being in the industry as a Real Estate Executive Recruiter and working within the Seniors Housing sector.  Both Brian and Butch are looking forward to enjoying networking opportunities during The Annual Meeting and further discussing with you the trends evolving in development, operations and services within Seniors Housing.

Click on the link to read Brian's recent post: Hiring an Athlete
Hiring an Athlete
By: Brian Shuppe 

Click on the link to read Butch's recent post: The next 39 Years...and Seniors Housing
The next 39 Years...and Seniors Housing
By: Butch Edlinger 

Finding the Missing Piece to Your Leadership Puzzle

After graduating from high school, I did not attend college to get a B.S. in Headhunting or Real Estate.  I went to college to obtain a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.  When I graduated I thought I would solve some of the greatest problems facing the automotive industry.  

However, I graduated three months after the 9/11 tragedy and saw the automotive industry laying people off rather than hiring new talent.

Struggling to find an industry where I fit, I ended up taking a position working in the office for a small, local recruiting firm.  I never thought that the headhunter industry could be a fit for an engineer, but the first company that hired me in recruiting hired me because of my engineering degree   Later, I found out they liked individuals with engineering degrees because of their analytical thinking ability.  At the time I didn't fully understand what that meant because I thought executive recruiting was putting "butts in seats".

Several years into my headhunting career, I connected with Wes Easly.  Wes is the Managing Principal here at ibrSearch.  Working with him helped me finally understand how I could use my engineering thought process to solve business problems.  The problems we solve today are helping companies find that missing piece to their leadership puzzle.

 

Growing up in Columbus, OH made it easy to become a fan of college football.  Most people think I should have been a fan of Ohio State, but instead I went to the "dark side" and rooted for Michigan.  Being a Michigan fan in the 80's and 90's was a great time, but the 2000's were a different story.  Since then, Michigan has been lacking the leadership puzzle piece that they had in the 80's and 90's.  This was not because they hired the wrong head coach, but rather because they hired the wrong coach for their organization.  You can hire one of the best leaders/coaches in your industry, but if there is no "buy in" from the organization it will fail. Michigan saw this with the hiring of Rich Rodriguez who did not receive the support he needed to be successful with that team.  He is now with the University of Arizona and seeing a lot of success due to his new organization "buying in" to his vision. 

You can also hire a person who says all the right things and has the right "buy in" from the organization, but if that person does not have the right leadership skills to move the organization forward, he/she will fail.  Michigan and its fans have seen this play out over the last four years.  After many years of struggle, Michigan has finally got it right with the hiring of Jim Harbaugh.  Harbaugh not only has a proven track record, but also has the necessary "buy in" from the organization.  It might take a few years to see how this plays out, but I believe this could be a match made in football heaven.

When it comes to recruiting executives in real estate, you have to hire the right person who can be the piece that solves your leadership puzzle.  That is where my passion for identifying and recruiting the best possible candidate comes in.  There is nothing better than getting a call from a client 6 months after filling a position saying how much the candidate we helped place grew their company.  That client call always proves to me that engineers really can make it in the real estate headhunting industry.

If you are heading to the ASHA event in January I would love to hear about your career journey. 

Written by: Brian Shuppe Sr. Director, Research & CIO at ibr Search

Why Hotel & Hospitality Executive Hiring is HOT right now

With over 16 years in the executive search and focusing principally the investment real estate space, I’ve dabbled in recruiting for middle and senior level hospitality positions with a few investor clients here and there – but not with the commitment and steadiness of what our company has experienced for the past two years.

And when I say “commitment,” I refer to the true definition of the word, emphasizing the “CO” prefix.  It’s a two-way street!  My team has remained dedicated to filling several very senior level positions on both the development and construction side.  One is for a large, well known, hospitality REIT and the other for a privately held global developer of luxury hotel properties.  In both cases, due to investment tides that sometimes take the hiring team away from the candidate pursuit (and causes delays) or internal soul searching by the executive teams in order to find the right “fit,” have caused the searches to drag-on for close to a year.  And in other cases, my hospitality clients have taken a very “long view” approach to building their mid and senior management teams to be careful of incumbents’ ability to grow & learn as well as identify traits that allow for new hires to complement the existing skills – this means a slower, more methodical hiring approach.  Long story short, major hospitality owners are committed to getting their leadership formula right and in turn, my recruiting team is right there with them!

Why and why now?  As stated in my previous post, “Hospitality Rising” the reasons are obvious.  Limited inventory and supply, increased demand exasperated by other industries that are growing leaps and bounds in an increasingly global economy that has caused a dramatic shortage of professional talent at the 8-15 year level of experience.  Likewise, the long-view approach reflects a generally more optimistic and long term horizon for hotel investors – not simply a “cash grab” for the current economic swing.  Hotel owners and operators seem to be confident that their economic upswing will far outpace the general real estate market, which most experts say is due for a leveling off in 24-36 months.

I’m hoping to catch-up with many of you during the upcoming ALIS Conference in Los Angeles on January, 26-28.  I look forward to seeing you then, but do not hesitate to contact me in advance so that we can schedule 5-10 minutes together.  Until then, Wes

Written by: Wes Easly

Founder and Managing Principal at ibr Search

Seniors Housing Developments and Insights for 2015

With a very successful 24th Annual NIC National Conference we should expect nothing less from the 2015 Annual ASHA event.  Seniors housing development is going strong but what is the plan to operate all the new facilities?  We have been very busy servicing the seniors housing industry in 2014.  It will be good to catch up with everyone at ASHA (American Seniors Housing Association) to share our findings.  What do you think the topics will be of the sidebar conversations?

Since this will be my first trip to an ASHA event I was looking for information regarding other people’s experiences at ASHA’s Annual meeting.  I came across this short video and Steve Monroe’s article on why he always attends the Annual ASHA Meeting.  I found his testimonial to be compelling and a similar interest of my very own.  He states the ASHA conference is "Not just the deals and financings they are doing, but what they think about the business, about the changes will be coming, about what changes should be coming but may not be for one reason or another, and about the people running the companies."  I was also excited to hear the conference is still small enough to network and engage with peers to discuss similar topics on trends and operational impacts within Seniors Housing.  If you or others in your company have not made the decision on whether to attend ASHA, I encourage you to hear from Steve his experience and reasons he continues to attend each year.  It sure has been beneficial for first time attendees like myself.  Steve Monroe is the Partner and Managing Editor of The SeniorCare Investor. 

Additionally, I am looking forward to the Capital Markets: 2015 panel moderated by Arnold Whitman the Co-Founder and Chairman of Formation Capital.  It will be exciting to hear where seniors housing investment will go in 2015 and beyond.  If you are attending I would enjoy exchanging thoughts after the presentation.

What are some of the other ASHA discussion panels you are looking forward to? There seem to be several opportunities and benefits presented such as networking and connecting with peers while attending the 2015 ASHA Annual Meeting in Dana Point, CA on January 25th-27th.  In the meantime, let's get connected and begin the conversations as we prepare for another great year at AHSA!  You can find me on Linkedin here: Brian Shuppe

Written by: Brian Shuppe 

Sr. Director Research and CIO ibr Search 

Senior Housing Recruiting Mythbusters: 8 Executive Recruiting Myths Debunked

“I thought you were calling to sell me on skilled nursing or executive directors.”

As an executive recruiter, that’s a common reaction I receive when I’m networking with seniors housing executives.  However, in my activities leading the seniors housing recruiting practice for ibr Search – that couldn’t be further from my reality. Below are 8 executive recruiting myths debunked to help you better understand the facts behind our approach to executive recruitment. 

MYTH #1: ibr Search has captive candidates that we are calling to discuss and share with you

                REALITY:  Every search we perform is based on a careful understanding of your exact hiring scenario, the internal stakeholders in your firm and ibrSearch matching this against a competitive analysis of your peers in the industry and our ability to source the appropriate candidates from those firms.  Each search is crafted from a scratch understanding of these drivers and then articulated to you in a search plan with time-sensitive deliverables that we must live up to.  A typical engagement nets a qualified slate of presentable candidates for consideration/interview in 3-4 weeks from the launch of the search.

MYTH #2: there’s no reason to take our call or counsel with us if you do not currently have a hiring need

                REALTIY:  Success at this level of search is highly dependent on a deep understanding of what sets your seniors housing firm apart culturally and capabilities from your peers.  In the nearly 20 years of experience of our leadership team, we’ve found that in all but the rarest instances, it can take, on average, 9-12 months to form a relationship to which successfully launch our first search together.  We are more than willing to commit to that path with you – we want to gain your trust and that does take time.

MYTH #3: “I already know all the recruiters in the Seniors Housing space.”

                REALITY:  You may.  However, from our experience, the majority of recruiters in the space are based on the very lucrative, high-churn nursing and skilled-medical staff that makes up over 90% of the employee-base in seniors housing.  ibr Search is a boutique recruiter only focusing on senior management and executive leadership positions that possess a strong real estate, development, design/construction, finance and marketing concentration.

MYTH #4: “I presume the reason you are calling or attempting to meet is that you are out looking for candidates.”

                REALITY:  The general purpose for our initial outreach, be it by phone or to arrange a meeting during our extensive in-market travel, is to plant the seed of mutual understanding and a hopeful relationship.

MYTH #5: “We’re not a good prospect for your recruiting services, we only hire one or two executives every couple of years.”

                REALITY:  In fact, most of our client use our services, on average, for one to two critical searches every 16 months.  Due to the highly-specialized nature of our relationship with you – we consider this client volume a quality (not quantity) relationship!

MYTH #6:  “We have a relationship with a recruiter already.”

                REALITY:  We respect that.  That doesn’t always mean they are the specific tool for the search at hand.  Ibr Search does not seek to be your exclusive recruiter – only the one that focuses on specific positions.  Further, we are a boutique with a full recruitng staff, team leads (specialists) and a research department.  Many, would-be competitors, are sole pracitioners with limited capabilities.

MYTH #7:  “Most of our middle and senior leadership is stable and has been with us for years.”

                REALITY:  We respect that response and candidly, you sound like the type of company we’d be proud to represent.  However, now is the time to consider succession planning (internal) and external pools of talent for diversifying and enriching your tehnical skill-set.  Ibr Search, during our relationship building phase (which can take months, if not years), is happy to casually discuss and brainstorm where you can begin to consider talent options that might not be required until years from now.

MYTH #8:  “You’re based in Pittsburgh.  How can you be effective when you are hundreds, if not thousands of miles away?”

                REALITY:  For nearly 20 years, our leadership team has been effectively networking coast-to-coast and building trusted relationships with industry executives that form the backbone of our referral network to potential candidates.  In addition to all available electronic and telephonic means, our search principals, on average, travel 6-8 days each month to most major markets, nationally.

Written by:

Wesley P. Easly, Managing Principal 

Brian P. Shuppe, Sr. Director Research & CIO 

Real Estate Gold Rush

As a recruiter I’m exposed to many markets, product types, personalities and cultures. We all know Austin Texas is the progressive Mecca of Development. Young and seasoned professionals alike are flocking in droves. Candidly, it’s a great place to be. What other city could possibly be on the same level of growth? Well, it’s not a just a city! It’s the 3rd largest and most populous state in the Nation; California. The West Coast, in general, possesses a progressive forward thinking mentality. Ultra-luxury goods and need for high-amenities has long been the norm in the West Coast. Recently, I had the opportunity of recruiting and placing a head of construction and development for a several billion dollar real estate fund. Between acquisition /rehab and new development that group alone has $500 million under construction, just in SoCal.

I’m not sure if the real-estate industry is simply overlooked on the West Coast or it’s a well kept secret hidden by the people and its real-estate tycoons of the West. My guess is the latter. It occurred to me the other day that most development /construction companies in California generally stay relatively secluded to the West Coast market. Very rarely do you see outside developers penetrating this market as well. Is this because of the stringent zoning regulations or are local companies land-banking and keeping pay dirt for themselves?

One thing is certain, development is alive and well on the West Coast. Traditionally, real-estate goes through a predictable cycle. Old school thinking would put the current market at the beginning of the “4th quarter” to quote a sports analogy. I have a hunch this market has its eyes set on overtime. There’s no reason for real-estate companies to be hiring executive level construction and development positions this late in the cycle, right? You would think there would be an increase in say, Asset Managers? Wrong! This past quarter we have seen a surge in demand for executive level development positions. To piggy-back off of that trend, I recently placed a President of Construction in the West – all for new product that is still early in the design phase and a huge pipeline still in the early stages of development. This group historically has developed throughout California for several decades. They decided to bring construction in house and capitalize on the high demand for reputable GC’s by pure development companies.

Long story short, the West Coast is alive and well. If you are a professional practicing real estate there – enjoy! If you want to recreate the “Gold Rush of ‘49” – head West!

-Ian

Q4 2014: Corporate & Personal Growth Analysis

What makes you different?

Through the course of each week I speak with a great number of executives in the Affordable Housing Industry. Development, Management, Lenders and Syndicators alike are all stating the same thing – “We are growing”. It’s true, many organizations and the people within them are growing; growing the organization’s geographical footprint, growing strategically by way of opportunistic deals or hires. Many refer to this as “Planned Growth”.

Often, the point that I offer is that everyone can’t grow because the balloon can only hold so much air before it will burst. So what allows some groups to grow as opposed to others? The answer is not always simple, but there is always an answer. Many times, the personal drive that fuels growth is hidden in catchy words like – luck, effort, strong work ethic, determination and even being opportunistic. In reality, it is a combination of each of those things as well as talent. Talent in the form of good people working for a good organization (with others) that possess strong work ethic, great effort, determination, being opportunistic and of course some luck along the way.

As an executive recruiter, focused on both the high-growth affordable housing industry and the people that make it spin on its axis each day, my job is to identify the companies that do this well and find ways to help them do it better. Conversely, when I find companies that are unable, for whatever reason, to not grow or succeed – my job then becomes one of helping the people there who are capable of growing get introduced to other companies that can indeed facilitate their personal growth.

The Fourth Quarter is always a great time for everyone, CEO’s and Board Members to take stock of corporate growth and success and likewise, mid and senior level employees to assess their career growth. Just as organizations take-on careful review and planning, one should also pull out paper and do this for your career.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss further by phone either angle mentioned above (corporate or personal). Further, I will be at the AHF Live Conference in Chicago, November 19-21, 2014 and would be happy to further the conversation in person.

- Butch