Hire Talent Now

Although much of the mortgage industry is disappearing, you may be bucking the tide and having a good year. Or you may be holding your own, unlike your competitors who are closing up their shops. If you have any plans to be around at the next up part of the cycle, now is the time to hire the talent that is flooding the streets.

Although wages and commissions may be the most costly part of your overhead, if you don’t have the best people working for you, you will never get ahead. Now you have the time to be choosy. You have time to read the resumes, interview the candidates, and check references. You are not desperate to just get bodies in the office, talking to customers. In addition to the hard skills that you always ask for (ability to bring in lots of new loans or strong processing experience), you can now look at how your newest employees will fit into your organization and how likeable they are.

Don’t hire people who seem desperate to get any job. They will leave you when the good times come. And that will cost you in company morale and training costs. You will uncover some excellent talent in a slow job market so wait until the hidden gems emerge. And snatch them up. They will help you move into the next profitable business cycle.

How to Hire Good Mortgage Professionals

When the 1003s were pouring in and your main concern was getting bodies in your office to get the loans closed, did you pay any attention to who you were hiring?

Unless you are bucking the current trend (and congratulations to you if you are), you probably have plenty of time now to review the qualifications of who you hired and draw up a plan of how to hire the best mortgage professionals as you need them.

Know whom you are hiring. Get written authorization from your prospective employees to conduct extensive checks on them. Check references if you can (although many large companies will not give out any information other than name and dates of employment), do background checks (some states require them, do them even if your state does not require them), do court history checks, regulatory agency checks, and credit checks.

Double verify all information that you receive and document your results. Interview your prospective employees face-to-face. Watch out for body language that contradicts what is being said. Ask pointed questions about knowledge of RESPA, prior office policies regarding statements made to customers, ability to work with supervisors, attitudes, and any prior customer complaints to regulatory agencies and customer lawsuits. Find out about the goals of your prospective employee - do they match your company’s goals?

If you have any hesitation that the prospective employee will meet the highest standards of ethical behavior, do not hire this person. If any reference hesitates before answering any questions about the prospective employee, that is a red flag and should probably disqualify your hiring of this person. Yes, the reference may have a grudge or be stating incorrect information, but unless you have strong indications otherwise, why hire a potential headache? Your prospective employee will inevitably have an explanation for the bad information you are getting about him/her – whom do you believe? Is there a reason to even take a chance on this person? Remember if your guess turns out to be wrong, this person could cost you thousands of dollars in lawsuits or fines from the banking department. Never forget that bad apples move around from company to company, state to state until they are caught. You don’t want them to be caught in your company. Don’t pay attention only to the number of loans they will bring to you. They still can cost more than they earn for you. They can cost you your company.