A top real estate industry coach and auctioneer has called off a job interview with a young man after just 12 minutes – telling the applicant, ‘this is not for you’.
Tom Panos, the founder of the Real Estate Gym, spoke out about why he called off the interview with the young man in a video shared to social media earlier this month.
‘So I wasted 15 minutes today in an interview, interviewing an associate to join one of the real estate teams,’ Mr Panos said.
‘The guy’s never worked in real estate before, early 20s, asked me what commissions he’d be paid, asked me what hours he’s expected to be there, asked me what days he’d have off during the week.
‘He went on to say – this is the one, this is the question – ‘give me three reasons why I should pick this employer versus someone else’.
Mr Panos continued, ‘I just said to the guy, ‘I can’t think of one’. I said, “mate, let’s just finish this off — this is not for you, this is not for me, this is not for us”.’
The veteran auctioneer, who sold the winning home in the 2022 season of The Block, captioned the video: ‘Get in line. Stay in line. Getting sick of these punks. I just terminated the meeting after 12 minutes.’
However, many Aussies on social media argued that the applicant’s questions had been justified.
‘Yeah you did right to get rid of him. He sounds like he has integrity!’ one said.
‘If you as an employer can’t even provide ONE reason why you’re a good company to work for, then you seriously need to take a step back and reassess,’ a second wrote.
‘Those are all really good questions to ask in an interview. Smart kid,’ a third agreed.
‘Sounds like he dodged a bullet. Good for him. Hope he finds the job he deserves and a non-toxic boss,’ a fourth added.
Another said: ‘Old cats are used to being worked to the bone, they can’t fathom why younger people [are] only wanting to work what they’re essentially hired for.’
Only a small few defended Mr Panos.
‘It’s like he has to sell his company to get an unskilled worker. Usually, it’s the employee saying what they can offer the company,’ another said.
‘An employee must have credentials to prove worth. This kid sounds like he had demands,’ a third said.
In response to the backlash, Mr Panos told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday: ‘I totally respect that people have to ask these questions’.
The veteran auctioneer, pictured with The Block winners Omar and Oz, said the applicant asked what hours he would be working and ‘what days he’d have off during the week’
‘But it can be disheartening to see people leave a stable job and come into real estate and make the worst mistake of their life.’
The agent, who has worked in the industry for 37 years, said people don’t realise that real estate agents usually earn well under $100k a year.
‘It’s the highest paid hard work and the lowest paid easy work,’ he said.
Mr Panos explained that he would rather let people know up front that the job might not be for them, than see them waste six months of their lives trying.
‘Everyone thinks they’re going to be a superstar. They see agents driving luxury cars and get attracted to it. But it’s not Million Dollar Listing,’ he said.
‘They need to serve their time. You have to be prepared to work nights and during the weekends. You need high levels of 24 hours, there’s big highs and big lows.’
Tom Panos is the founder of the Real Estate Gym, where he teaches upcoming agents, and the co-host of podcast Million Dollar Agent
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk