NEWPORT BEACH, CA—Significant jumps in base salary for each year of experience are leading top-performer real estate financial analysts to move from company to company in order to get ahead, according to a recent survey by RETS Associates. The recruiting firm find in its third-annual survey of real estate financial analysts that a clear progression in base salary for each year of professional experience is driving top financial analysts to job hop.

RETS polled more than 230 financial analysts with entry-level to senior-management experience from across the nation on their role, career advancement, qualifications for their position and more. Results showed an approximate $7,000-per-year increase during the first five to seven years in the field. This progression trend has led top-performing or opportunistic financial analysts to more frequently transition jobs, sometimes in as little as six months after accepting a position. Survey data indicated that 70% of respondents have actively pursued a new position (internally or externally) within the past year and have been on two or more interviews.

According to Kent Elliott, principal of RETS, “This is undoubtedly a candidate-driven job market for financial analysts, given the 'war for talent' for top performers and the consequential impact it has had on base-compensation levels. We have seen this market dynamic play out in our own work with unprecedented numbers of job searches for financial analysts in the past year.”

Elliott adds that as the real estate industry continues to improve, employers continue to hire financial analysts in large numbers. In the past year, his firm has seen an 80% increase in the number of financial-analyst searches that it has handled as compared to 2012-2013.

In addition, analysts who rate as “gurus” in Argus and Excel software programs are in especially high demand, leading firms to employ third-party recruiters to help them secure the top talent. In fact, candidates with these qualifications are such a rarity that firms are willing to pay them an average of $15,000 more per year.

Some more-experienced executives have told GlobeSt.com they feel that Millennials already have a tendency to job hop and that they lack a sense of loyalty to their employer. Since the findings indicate it would be better to job hop in order to advance their career, we asked Elliott how firms can engender loyalty in their younger employees. Elliott tells us, "Employers should acknowledge that Millennials have shorter tenure at companies than other generational groups, and in order to retain top Millennial talent they need to provide them with opportunities for career growth and commensurate compensation. The market is voraciously hiring, and other employers will impress candidates outside of their company by offering to promote or pay them more, regardless of whether their current employer believes the individual has the experience to take on growth or compensation boost."

As GlobeSt.com reported in October, another study by RETS showed that young candidates are behaving as if have the upper hand in today's robust market, the firm's principals Jana Turner and Elliott told GlobeSt.com. The study revealed that the majority is satisfied in their current position, but 71% say they've been actively pursuing a job.