July 13, 2005
Finding Good Managers
Over the past few months I have heard a common complaint from CEO's of community association management firms about how hard it is to find and retain good managers. From my perspective the problem seems to revolve around the fact that, outside of the industry, community association management (CAM)is not seen as a profession, and is lumped in with other types of property management. There is no real criteria for entering the job market and all training occurs after a person has been hired, either through the company or through one of the national or local industry associations, at a significant cost to the employers.
As management is part of a growth market, the demand for managers is going to continue increasing into the foreseeable future. If you ask around about where the new managers will come from, you get a wide variety of answers, ranging from the hospitality industry to commercial property management to a shrug of the shoulders.
In fact what often happens is that companies simply raid each other for managers. This may be passive, just putting the word out and waiting for dissatisfied or underpaid manager from a competitor to hear and apply, or it may be more aggressive, by actively seeking out people who have already been trained by others. In either case, it leads to hard feelings and counter-actions.
For the good of the community association industry as a whole, this needs to change. Other professionals have to take courses BEFORE they actually enter a field and get paid. It should be the same for CAM's. With our economy moving more and more towards the service sector, there will be a number of people who will be available to be re-trained. But right now, they have no way of entering this field. A few years ago, the California Association of Community Managers tried a program through Cal State - Long Beach, but couldn't get the attendance needed. But I'm wondering if the situation hasn't changed enough to try something like this again?
It's time to consider creating a national or state curriculum that would result in an associate degree from a local community college. The benefits would be obvious: Creating a pool of available and trained talent; reducing the cost of after-hire training; gaining recognition as a profession outside the industry; and creating standards for the skills that are needed to be a CAM.
If you're having problems finding and keeping good managers, maybe its time to push the local and national trade groups a little, or talk to the other management firms in your area and see if it wouldn't make sense to do something like this jointly.
Posted by joewest at 11:20 AM