How to craft an effective real estate resume?

People experience unparalleled stress when buying and selling their homes, and many people find the complicated process an uphill battle they simply don’t want to partake in. This is where real estate agents come in. Streamlining the process, a real estate agent takes a lot of the stress out of selling a home.

However, showing how you’re the right real estate agent for a potential office can be difficult. You’ll need to sell yourself as well as your accomplishments on no more than two pages. Agencies also tend to receive a fair number of applications. To land a position, you’ll need to build a resume that stands out. Read on to learn how to create the perfect real estate agent resume potential employers will love.

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Hired by: AAA Apartment Staffing

Hired by: AAA Apartment Staffing

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1. Make you real estate professional summary stand out

Real estate firms know you want the job, but they don’t know why you’re the right fit for the position. Your summary is an elevator pitch of your skills, experience and accomplishments for hiring managers, so you’ll want to craft a summary that stands out and makes people realize they should consider you for their team. With the proper summary, firm managers will want to read the rest of your resume.

A real estate agent summary will include the agent’s licensing, experience, key expertise and accomplishments in no more than four sentences. Look for keywords the firm you’re applying for is looking for. So, for example, if they want an agent with experience in commercial sales, make sure to lead with that information.

Your summary should begin with something like, “California licensed commercial realtor with 14 years of experience.” With that one sentence, firms know what you specialize in, where you’re licensed and how many years of experience you have.

Follow that lead up with some of your skills and accomplishments, such as your excellent negotiating and marketing skills as well as how much you increased your last firm’s acquisition rate by. You don’t need to prove your accomplishments yet, but your summary sets the stage for the rest of your resume.

2. Make your work experience section shine with achievements

Let’s be honest; your experience is where you’ll excel, and you’ll want to make it stand out as much as possible. Far too often, we see real estate agent resumes simply list off job responsibilities. When firms look at your work experience section, they don’t learn anything if you simply put, “regularly negotiated” or “advised sellers on how to improve home.”

While these skills are definitely utilized by real estate agents, you need to show exactly how you used these skills to help your firm. Instead of providing vague terminology, use measurable data to show exactly how you accomplished what you’re talking about.

For example, closing on 25 homes a year or increasing the average home’s selling price by 10% with staging tells firms exactly how you can make them money. Finally, look for non-measurable accomplishments as well.

So, if you helped your fellow agents by teaching them how to properly utilize Instagram or Facebook, make sure to include that information as well. Remember, your employers will (usually) care more about what you completed at your last job, so list most of your accomplishments at your last job, cutting down how much you include with past job listings.

Real estate agents are movers and shakers, and their resumes should reflect that. Put yourself directly back into the action by using verbs. When describing your work experience or skill set, make sure to include words like “negotiate,” “persuade,” “sell” or “prepare.” By using action verbs in your resume, you’re showcasing how your can-do attitude rather than seeming passive.

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3. Add your academic achievements to your education section

Your education and licensing show what you’re able to do at your job, so make sure to include all of your relevant educational experience. Many people go into real estate with a degree in another field, and unfortunately, many agents don’t know how to make this experience work for them.

Instead of simply listing your school, dates attended and degree obtained, look to see how you can use that experience to prove why you’re the right fit. For example, if you majored in communication or business, take your experiences and achievements from the program and how it helped your real estate career.

While you don’t need to put everything you did in school in this section, spending time on the Dean’s List and leading your school’s varsity sports team can push your resume over the edge from those with similar work experience as you.

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4. Include effective real estate skills in your resume

We’ll start by pointing out that real estate agents utilize a large skill set in their career, and it can be tempting to want to list everything you do. However, the ideal skill section includes 8-12 separate entries. How do you narrow it down? To begin, list out your hard and soft skills. Your list may look something like this:

After listing down your skills, look at the job listing. Are they looking for someone with knowledge on commercial real estate laws and expert customer service skills? Make sure to include these skills in your skills section to show why you’re the right fit for the job. Don’t be afraid to include other relevant skills as well. Including only skills listed in the job listing will make the firm feel like you’re simply trying to appease them rather than actually having the skillset they’re looking for.

Crafting the perfect real estate agent resume doesn’t need to be an uphill battle. By including thorough summary, work experience, education and skill set sections (with plenty of action verbs) you’ll make your resume stand out from rest and will make hiring managers want to call you sooner rather than later. Start seeing those job offers come pouring in and get to work building your resume today.