Becoming an HOA Manager After Other Careers
So, considering a career change to a Homeowners Association (HOA) Manager? Here’s a little of my story and hopefully it will help you in your consideration of both the career and which company you choose to work for if you feel it is the right path for you.
For the second time in my life, I was at a career crossroads. After a successful 20 years as a Chef and then again, another 16 years as a Conference Service Manager, I was looking at working less hours in a less stressful industry. Please do not get me wrong, Hospitality is a great career for the young and restless and there is a great satisfaction of getting paid to help people all day but with that comes the price of long, strange hours and incredible stress.
Approaching my golden years, I thought that I needed an end game that was not going to give me a heart attack. So, I diligently searched the want ads for not just another job, but a different career that I could apply my skills to. I arrived at Aperion Management Group, who, by all accounts, was the best HOA Management Company for me to have ended up in. The culture at Aperion is perfect and their goal is to retain their managers through training and work load management.
True story – my first winter as an HOA Manager, in one day there was accumulated 24 inches of snow in 24 hours! The insanity this caused in snow removal alone was intense. I can very much say that I have never felt so supported by my coworkers and owners.
Parallels - In many ways the work itself is very much the same as my Conference Services Management responsibilities. Both careers require that you manage large groups in many various ways. You help with:
Differences - a few of the differences are:
I cannot tell you how many homeowners are so surprised to learn that the issue being discussed between us is not actually made up by the management company, but by the documents established when the community was finished being built or by the Board of Directors.
All said and done, I have been here now for 10 months, have met some great people and learned a ton of new information. It really is great work!
Chris Bellardi, CMCA
Aperion Management Group
For the second time in my life, I was at a career crossroads. After a successful 20 years as a Chef and then again, another 16 years as a Conference Service Manager, I was looking at working less hours in a less stressful industry. Please do not get me wrong, Hospitality is a great career for the young and restless and there is a great satisfaction of getting paid to help people all day but with that comes the price of long, strange hours and incredible stress.
Approaching my golden years, I thought that I needed an end game that was not going to give me a heart attack. So, I diligently searched the want ads for not just another job, but a different career that I could apply my skills to. I arrived at Aperion Management Group, who, by all accounts, was the best HOA Management Company for me to have ended up in. The culture at Aperion is perfect and their goal is to retain their managers through training and work load management.
True story – my first winter as an HOA Manager, in one day there was accumulated 24 inches of snow in 24 hours! The insanity this caused in snow removal alone was intense. I can very much say that I have never felt so supported by my coworkers and owners.
Parallels - In many ways the work itself is very much the same as my Conference Services Management responsibilities. Both careers require that you manage large groups in many various ways. You help with:
- budgets
- personalities
- complaints
- compliance
- scheduling
- some upset people, some happy people and all in between.
- There are many opportunities to assist in project development, delivery and deadlines.
Differences - a few of the differences are:
- Instead of Meeting Planners as your partners, Boards of Directors are now the ones who decide what happens.
- Becoming very versed in Roberts Rules of Order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%27s_Rules_of_Order and learning how to run a board meeting by those rules has become very important.
- Instead of upholding your resorts rules and regulations; managing the rules that were established by the owners themselves is the new way.
I cannot tell you how many homeowners are so surprised to learn that the issue being discussed between us is not actually made up by the management company, but by the documents established when the community was finished being built or by the Board of Directors.
All said and done, I have been here now for 10 months, have met some great people and learned a ton of new information. It really is great work!
Chris Bellardi, CMCA
Aperion Management Group