In Defense of the Personality Hire
AI can handle the basic tasks. But it can't entertain your residents.
Back when I was first looking for a job (which was not so long ago, thankyouverymuch), I made sure to list every single skill I had on my resume.
Like proficiency with Microsoft Word.
Let that sink in.
Microsoft Word.
Who didn’t have that skill? Maybe I should have also listed the fact that I can read.
At the time, it was important to show you were skilled in every aspect of the potential job. Even for entry-level positions, hiring managers wanted to see that you could be dropped right into the work and pick things up. The learning curve was essentially expected to be flat. And patience for new employees was pretty limited.
But now there’s AI. Suddenly, technology can do all the basic tasks that new and entry-level employees previously had to tackle. And it can do it faster, and in a more streamlined way. Sure, someone still has to check AI’s output (for now, anyway), but that can be one person instead of a few.
Enter: The personality hire.
A personality hire might not have all the technical skills required for a job position, but is someone who is hired because they are fun, extroverted or bring a certain je ne sais quoi. Think of reality TV. For example, look at Below Deck, a show that follows different yacht crews every season. While we can appreciate the bosun who knows how to tie a perfect knot, it’s much more fun to watch the messy team member who can’t figure out how to run a load of laundry but will don full neon and teased hair for the ’80s theme night. (And, let me just say, let those who have not Housewife-ed or Bachelor-ed cast the first stone when it comes to taste in television shows.)
And for the multifamily industry, jobs such as leasing agent, property manager, or other resident- or prospective renter-facing positions, might benefit from the personality hire. AI can help with many aspects of the apartment business, such as renewals, keeping track of maintenance requests and many other areas of operation and marketing. But it can’t lead the karaoke of “Sweet Caroline” during a resident party or bake gluten-free chocolate chip cookies for the front desk.
As AI continues to advance and take over the boring, technical and repetitive tasks at an apartment community, it’ll be less important for people to have those skills when you’re looking for new employees. Those skills can be taught, anyway. But you can’t teach how to be the life of the party. Now’s when those intangible aspects will become even more important when looking for potential teammates.
Even if they don’t know how to use Microsoft Word.
Do you still hire specifically for skillset, or are you starting to pay more attention to a candidate’s personality? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Send a tweet to @MHNOnline, or send me a message on LinkedIn.
