MoxiWorks Blends Diverse Recruitment and Self-Improvement Methodologies to Encourage Creative Growth
How can a technology company stand apart from the competition in a high-stakes, innovation-hungry world? For MoxiWorks, the solution is simple. In fact, it all boils down to diversity as a recruiting strategy and a deep-seated drive to self-improve and give back to the community, helping to attract and retain talent, as well as encouraging the creative growth that’s produced many of the tech company’s real estate tools, widely utilized by today’s top brokerages.
Proud of what the company has achieved, York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks, says the success can be attributed to a diverse staff and the continuous integration of a young workforce that exhibits intellectual curiosity.
“What we have now is a magical blend of people who are new in their career—who have a beginner’s perspective and are very open-minded—blended with people who have the experience to prevent disaster and to help each other,” says Baur, stating that young employees typically “want to push the boundaries and improve themselves, and have the drive to do that all the time.”
The key to a productive workforce regardless of the wide range of experience? A collective effort to help the business flourish by continuously working toward self-improvement and helping fellow team members thrive.
Marc Chouaniere, the company’s vice president of Marketing, has frequently witnessed this camaraderie since he first joined MoxiWorks last year.
“We’re quite fortunate to be attracting some of the best and brightest, as it’s quite competitive in the Seattle market,” says Chouaniere, who also believes that young talent is key to appealing to a young audience.
“Young talent tends to have a new perspective in the way they tackle problems,” explains Chouaniere. “It’s made for a much more dynamic culture here, where younger folks are applying a new level of thinking.”
Of course, the reciprocal relationship between these young recruits and veteran staff is what churns out the best technological ideas, a result of core values that firmly stand by helping each other regardless of experience.
“Our senior-level employees sometimes have a ‘Lunch and Learn’ for some of our junior employees—something that wasn’t implemented, but just started happening,” says Chouaniere. “This way, the junior employee ramps up much faster and doesn’t drive off cliffs, and the senior employee gets the energy and is reinvigorated, forced to rethink things they thought they knew.”
The theme of self-improvement isn’t interwoven solely within hiring practices either; it’s a foundational pillar across the board for MoxiWorks, tying into the company’s product roadmap.
“While we move our assets around and invest in new product areas, we also continuously enhance all of the products we have,” says Baur, who emphasizes that MoxiWorks doesn’t leave products for dead. “We have a continuous improvement philosophy here, both for our employees and our products.”
For example, this past year, the company reinvested in MoxiMarketing, adding a next-level capability that not only allows agents to engage in advertising to promote themselves, but also allows brokerages to advertise listings centrally in a fully automated way—a first for the industry. Baur believes this methodology for continuous development will lead to more tech advances in the future.
Also rooted in the company’s core values is a commitment to the community. According to Baur, the desire to participate in charitable events was born organically. Although a fledgling effort when he started, there was already a volunteer team that worked to raise money for the local community.
“I’ve had a few comments from my team, members of which were looking for a way to give back to the community,” says Chouaniere. “There’s a perception that millennials don’t really care about [community involvement], but overwhelmingly, the response was, ‘Thank you for raising awareness.’ We spurred that thought in their heads.”
While MoxiFund, the company’s charitable arm, has thrived regardless of age-specific participation, Baur has found that young participants provide an “energy, optimism, fresh perspective and creativity regarding fundraising.”
And the charitable spirit of MoxiWorks, generated naturally by the company’s diverse hiring practices and a cooperative drive to advance, has led to a free-flowing exchange of ideas in which “the best idea wins”—a philosophy Chouaniere has committed to throughout his career that also rings true for MoxiWorks, leading to continued growth and a constant focus on what matters most.
“The fundamentals of the industry, in my belief, will never change,” emphasizes Baur. “This is a human business. We’re not here to replace humans, but rather, we’re here to help humans through technology. We’re about helping the consumer, and we hire to that profile.”
For more information, please visit www.moxiworks.com.
Liz Dominguez is RISMedia’s associate content editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at ldominguez@rismedia.com.
