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The real estate talent squeeze: why the industry must rebuild career pathways

As offshoring and automation rise, Nick Boyd warns of a growing talent gap the industry canโ€™t afford to ignore.

Offshoring and automation have delivered short-term relief for real estate businesses facing rising costs and shrinking margins. But Belle Property CEO Nick Boyd warns thereโ€™s a long-term consequence to this cost-cutting that the industry is only beginning to confront: the disappearance of junior roles and the erosion of the talent pipeline.

While Nick is not opposed to offshoring in principle, he believes its unchecked expansion has created a structural weakness.

โ€œIโ€™m not completely anti-offshoring,โ€ he says. โ€œBut itโ€™s become a fundamental response to margin pressure. Personnel is the largest cost in most businesses, and reducing that cost is understandably tempting.โ€

However, the trade-off is stark. As more junior, entry-level roles are moved offshore or absorbed by AI, the local industry is left with fewer opportunities for new agents to gain foundational experience.

โ€œFast forward five years, and many businesses will be left with only a hyper-experienced workforce,โ€ Nick says.

โ€œBut when those people move on, whoโ€™s stepping in? Weโ€™ve outsourced all the learning.โ€

This is a problem thatโ€™s already taking shape. He argues that the industry is widening the gap between top performers and everyone else, in part because fewer agents are being developed from the ground up.

โ€œLook at the high-performing agents right now. That old 80/20 rule appliesโ€”the top 20 per cent are doing 80 per cent of the business,โ€ he says.

โ€œAnd that gap is getting bigger because weโ€™re not bringing enough junior talent through meaningful career pathways.โ€

Nick sees the effects of this trend across every department, from sales to property management to BDM.

Many of the foundational tasks – data entry, CRM management, administrative input – have quietly disappeared from local job descriptions.

โ€œIn sales, a lot of the data input and CRM work is being offshored,โ€ he explains. โ€œThat might seem like a smart decision now, but itโ€™s those very tasks that teach people how the system actually works.โ€

He draws a distinction between having data and understanding it.

โ€œYou can be given a database of perfectly categorised contacts, but unless youโ€™ve built it yourself – making calls, entering ownership records, doing the follow-up – you donโ€™t really know how to use it. And thatโ€™s what creates capable agents.โ€

The same applies in property management. While AI products are increasingly capable of reading and auto-populating information from agency agreements, Nick questions what happens when those efficiencies come at the expense of hands-on learning.

โ€œI get that AI is changing the game,โ€ he says.

โ€œBut if weโ€™re building a workforce thatโ€™s only made up of experienced professionals, what happens when they retire?โ€

The consequences of a hollow middle

Beyond the loss of knowledge, Nick says the bigger issue is the lack of structured progression.

โ€œThe jump from entering the industry to becoming a $2 million writer is enormous. But thatโ€™s not where the focus should be. The key career leap is from $200,000 to $500,000. Thatโ€™s where people need the most support.โ€

He believes the industry has overlooked this middle ground, with damaging consequences.

โ€œIf we donโ€™t invest in that phase of an agentโ€™s development, weโ€™ll continue to see a few elite performers rise, and everyone else stagnate or leave.โ€

In practice, a clear and consistent career path can start with two simple KPIs for assistant agents: making 30 connects a day and adding 20 ownership records to the CRM each week.

โ€œDoing that for 10 months builds real momentum,โ€ he says.

โ€œYou end up with 800 records. At a 5 per cent conversion, thatโ€™s 40 potential deals. And along the way, theyโ€™re learning the systems, the workflow, and developing the consistency that underpins success.โ€

Why leadership is the linchpin

So how can businesses address the widening talent gap without sacrificing financial stability? Nick believes the answer lies in leadership; specifically, clarity and consistency around lead generation.

โ€œIf you ask most business owners what their lead generation process is, I donโ€™t think many could answer it clearly,โ€ he says.

โ€œBuying leads from a third party isnโ€™t a lead generation strategy – itโ€™s a sign you donโ€™t have one.โ€

He argues that every business should be able to articulate a defined system for generating and converting leads, which then becomes the foundation for onboarding and developing staff.

โ€œWhen someone joins a business, they should be able to see what the process is, where they fit in, and what their next two or three steps look like.โ€

That kind of structure doesnโ€™t just benefit the businessโ€”it sets the entire team up for long-term success.

โ€œWhen people can see their path, they stay longer, they invest more, and they grow faster.โ€

Looking ahead, Nick sees a future shaped by consolidation: fewer brands, fewer agents, but higher overall performance.

โ€œWeโ€™ve always said it: fewer, better people,โ€ he says. โ€œItโ€™s about doing more with less, and backing the ones who are all in.โ€

Super teams, such as EBUs with multiple support staff. will become increasingly standard.

โ€œIf a solo agent goes up against a team of three or four, the team will win nine times out of ten,โ€ he says.

โ€œMaybe not in the listing presentation, but definitely in the follow-up, speed to market, and client service.โ€

Still, he doesnโ€™t believe the door is closing on new entrants. Instead, he says the bar is simply getting higher.

โ€œItโ€™ll always be hard to make it in real estate. That wonโ€™t change. But we need to get better at helping those who want to succeed actually find a path forward.โ€

Rethinking admin and repurposing talent

The automation of administrative tasks is another pressure point for businesses, but also an opportunity. โ€œAdmin is a capital-heavy area. And with AI, itโ€™s going to change,โ€ Nick says.

โ€œBut instead of eliminating roles, we should be asking: how can we repurpose great admin people into customer experience and retention roles?โ€

He believes the brands that thrive in the future will be those that retain not just staff, but clients.

โ€œJust like families return to the same holiday spot every year, I think youโ€™ll see consumers start sticking with brands. Theyโ€™ll buy, sell, and maybe even holiday with the same companyโ€”if that company offers the right service.โ€

A practical talent strategy for the future

When asked what a sustainable talent strategy might look like, Nick returns to a concept he calls โ€œmoney makers and money savers.โ€

โ€œMoney makers are your hunters – the people who bring in business. Money savers are your gatherers – the ones who manage and protect whatโ€™s been brought in,โ€ he explains.

โ€œBoth are important. But high-performance cultures tend to have more hunters.โ€

To build the right mix, he recommends psychometric testing during recruitment.

โ€œItโ€™s not a perfect science, but it gives you insights. A great salesperson probably hates checklists. A property manager might hate being on the phone all day. That doesnโ€™t make either of them wrong, it just means we need to hire based on what the role demands, not bend the role around the person.โ€

Ultimately, Nick believes the industry needs to return to intentional, long-term thinking about people, pathways and performance.

โ€œIf we want the industry to be sustainable, we need more than just great agents at the top. We need to be building the next generation.โ€

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Catherine Nikas-Boulos

Catherine Nikas-Boulos is the Digital Editor at Elite Agent and has spent the last 20 years covering (and coveting) real estate around the country.