Recruiting a mortgage broker, whether you’re a small business, a mortgage franchise or a financial services company, is no easy feat. Getting the recruitment process right ultimately means the difference between hours of wasted time, energy and resources, and a worthy investment into bringing a great candidate on who will help grow your business in the long run. If you’ve gotten this wrong in the past, you’ll know how much time, money and stress it can cause.
Finding, attracting and hiring an excellent mortgage broker in today’s candidate landscape requires a strategic approach. Times have changed since the GFC, when opportunities in mortgage broking were so tough to secure that candidates would almost throw themselves at employers just to get a job. Now, it can be difficult to attract and retain high quality talent – that is, people who will thrive and succeed, and in turn, benefit your business. The reality is that the best candidates are spoilt for choice. Because of this, you need to ensure you can get their attention and inspire them to join you. Getting this right is so important, and having an effective recruitment strategy will make it easier and more cost-effective for you in growing your business.
Here are our top 5 tips for hiring a mortgage broker:
1. Build an attractive offering
Can your business offer a great candidate something special and unique? An attractive remuneration model, a supportive culture, a sound business model and an opportunity to develop skills and excel? Being able to offer something truly attractive is key to finding and securing the best mortgage brokers. That doesn’t just mean writing up a snappy position description, and letting that do the rounds for the next five years. The market is always changing, so you need to review your offering regularly.
It’s important to be aware of what else is being offered in the market, otherwise you’ll be left behind. You can do this by speaking with other individuals and businesses in the industry, doing some online research, or speaking with a specialist mortgage broking recruitment agency.
Don’t overlook the importance of what you have to offer. It should be attractive, competitive and lasting, so you can not only recruit but also keep the best mortgage brokers in your business.
2. Communicate a clear vision
Where is your business going? All people want to be part of an organised, well structured business, and will be excited by your plans for the future – as long as you can communicate what that is. So, ensure you can engage candidates on who you are and where you’re going. Clearly communicating your vision will inspire candidates to join you and succeed along with you. Vision connects with people emotionally, and this will often be more appealing than money and other aspects of the job.
3. Be proactive
It’s time to face it: the days of filling job openings by posting an ad online are over. The best mortgage brokers for your business may not necessarily by actively looking on Seek or job websites, and may not even know they’d be attracted to your business or what you have to offer. They will likely be quite content, successful and well paid in their current job. In most cases, the managers of great mortgage brokers know that other businesses will look to poach their high achievers, so keep them happy by providing a flexible work environment so they’re relaxed and continue performing.
These are great candidates who aren’t actively looking! And because they’re so successful, these are actually the people you want to speak with, not the candidates trawling Seek.
It’s crucial to have a proactive strategy to engage your target candidates. That may mean allocating time every week to speaking with a certain number of successful mortgage brokers or loan processors. Or, it could involve going to networking events to meet new people. If you’re really serious, it may mean partnering with a specialist mortgage broker recruitment agency to help you locate and start conversations with the right people.
4. Find your ‘secret sauce’
Think like your successful competitors:
- How are they attracting great talent?
- What are they doing to generate so much interest and buzz in the market?
- Why did that candidate take a job with them and not with your business?
- What is their marketing strategy doing to help them? Are they reaching people through social media? Google? Branding?
- What makes them so special?
Asking yourself these types of questions will help you learn about your own business’ gaps and how you can fill them by tweaking your own recruitment strategy or offering.
Finding your ‘secret sauce’ is so important when it comes to engaging and attracting great mortgage brokers, and this is what you need to perfect. Get your management or senior team together frequently to brainstorm your point of difference (both as a business and an employer) and what your vision is. Get this right, and you will never miss out on that great candidate ever again.
5. The ‘gut feel test’
If you are ever unsure about someone’s attitude, motivations or future aspirations, then it’s probably a safe call to just walk away. While it can be easy to start changing the role you’re offering to make it suit what may be the ‘best candidate of the bunch’, be very careful not to change what your business needs just to suit one person (UNLESS they are just that amazing – and this is rare). Otherwise this can cause more damage than good.
If you’re unsure about a candidate’s current skills, but are wowed by their attitude and ability to learn, then you’re better off investing in that type of individual. You’ll be able help them grow along with the business, and you’ll likely receive their loyalty in return. You have more you can offer this kind of individual from career development and training. You’ll also know that their motivations, aspirations and desires are aligned with what you can offer, and can be almost 100% confident in who they are and that they are the right fit for the position and the business.
We call this the ‘gut feel test’. Follow your gut every time, and if you have hesitations about a candidate, always walk away. The stress and workload involved in a bad hire is not worth it.
While it may seem like there are plenty of potential mortgage broker candidates on the market, remember that you don’t want to hire just anyone. Having a strategic, proven process when recruiting a mortgage broker or loan processor should be a major priority for your business, to ensure your ongoing success and growth. Outline this process in your operations manual, just like you would any other process in the business. And most importantly, be clear on what you can offer your candidates and what your business’ vision is. Remember, they are interviewing you too!
If you need help getting this process right or improving your offer, Platinum People Group can provide specialised advice on mortgage broking recruitment. We work with businesses and mortgage franchises to refine their business models and attract excellent candidates. Get in touch to discuss how we can help you by enquiring online or calling us on 03 9913 9642.
