Sales are up in many markets, and home builders are cautiously beginning to add to or improve their staff.

Land acquisition and development jobs have been popping up, and there have been a handful of senior sales management positions that have been filled by individuals recruited by the competition! There have even been some division presidents moving from one company to another in recent months.

Assuming that sales continue to improve, construction and other industry positions should inevitably follow. There won't be an abundance of jobs, but there will be jobs. And hiring managers and recruiters will only be looking for the cream of the crop.

If you're a job seeker, your resume is critical. It should be chronological, factual and honest. Brag a little, but don't be a legend in your own mind. For every job, there will be many qualified applicants. Do your homework, your due diligence. If you are granted an interview, make sure you are punctual and professionally dressed. Go easy on the cologne, perfume, and make up. Turn off your cell phone. Lose the chewing gum. And as Woody Allen once said "80% of success is showing up." So show up if you ever want to be considered by this recruiter or this home builder for jobs in the future.

If you're a hiring manager, you already know that many who lost their home builder jobs over the last few years have been absorbed into other industries and are no longer looking. Many talented others are still unemployed and may be willing to adjust their expectations of title and salary to get back into the industry. Those individuals who appear on paper to be over qualified have valuable experience. They worked for your competition. You could benefit from that experience to improve your team and your success. Think of the words of Andrew Carnegie when he said "My competitors can match me in a thousand ways, but if my people are better, I have a priceless advantage."

Hazel Hall is the President of The Hire Power, a recruitment firm dedicated to matching talent to jobs in the home building industry.

Green building and remodeling broke into mainstream culture in the past decade, leading to a changing home landscape across the nation.

As this landscape changes, trends are changing as well. So, just what are the trends to be on the lookout for in green housing?

Earth Advantage Institute, a free standing nonprofit organization acting as the Northwest's premier green building program, has identified 10 trends that you'll see in 2010.

The first of these is the smart grid and connecting home. This terminology means, simply, that energy usage now has some accountability. "The development of custom and web-based display panels that show real-time home energy use, and even real-time energy use broken out by individual appliance, will go a long way towards helping change homeowners' energy behavior and drive energy conservation," says Earth Advantage.

Recently we have conducted Competition Shops for many of our clients.

Our shopper have walked into the builders models and after looking around asked the sales person how they compared to the other builders in the community or area.

We are shocked to hear the responses.

Although many of the responses are professional, we have heard many sales people tell our shoppers that the other builder sells junk.

We have also heard the sales people tell our shoppers that if they like the competitors homes, they can build the exact same one for less money.

Yikes! Please let your sales people know that they will make more sales by talking about your strong points. It not the sales persons job to trash talk the competition.

The New Home Sales Connection works over 60 National and Regional builders, providing mystery shopping services, personalized sales training and consulting services to generate impressive sales results.

Jay Schulman, founder of The New Home Sales Connection, has spent his 25-year career in sales, management and training. Over the last few years, The New Home Sales Connection has shopped hundreds of new home sales professionals. Jay has provided team training and one-on-one coaching to hundreds of community sales professionals and managers as well as provided consulting services to numerous builders. His work with his clients in identifying needs, creating urgency, handling objections, closing the sale, and following up, has resulted in increased sales for their builders.

Contact us today!

1603 Edmondson Ave, Suite 200

Catonsville, MD 21228

443-341-6821