Are You Recruiting or Repelling?

As an independent search firm for 27 years representing over a dozen high quality companies in the Mortgage and Real Estate space, it still fascinates me to observe how truly transactional, un-evolved and ineffective companies remain with their internal recruitment efforts of highly coveted Loan Officers, the absolute lifeblood of the mortgage business.

Making things worse, companies believe they are saving money by not paying outside agency fees to recruit for them when in reality it's costing them much more through misfires, attrition and generally hiring lower caliber performers that are easier to attract by a less skilled internal person. Attracting salaried support staff can in part be handled via technology applications unless the demand becomes too great such as the refi boom we experienced in recent years. But, when it comes to hiring good salespeople who bring real business relationships, technology recruitment applications tend to fail miserably.

The same way a good Loan Officer has relationships with referral partners so does a good Recruiter with Loan Officers. If you expect results from your internal recruiting staff who merely post Loan Officer job openings online and then sip coffee while staring at the inbox expecting to land a top performer, you are dreaming. Good Loan Officers are not surfing job boards for better places to originate loans. In fact, if you are contacted that way by a Loan Officer, look for the smoke and you will find the fire. That is probably not going to work out well for your organization.

Good Loan Officers are NOT proactive when it comes to their careers for a few reasons.

1. Timing - Buying season, low rates, clogged pipeline, etc. Unless street pricing is abysmal or some other pressing reason such as mass exodus, buyout, etc. there are a few select months that are better for Loan Officers to make job changes depending on geographic locations.
2. Success - Experiencing success at some level. No real pain.
3. Demand - Many can walk across the street to a competitor and start working within a few days if they want. They know they are in demand and therefore there is little to no panic about job security.

Much like coaches tell amateur athletes who want to be discovered, there is an old saying, "if you are good enough - they'll find you" and it is so true. Loan Officers know the calls will come and they often do. Loan Officers tell us at first they are exciting calls to take until every call begins to sound the exact same way. Eventually it just becomes a distraction. Recruiters calling incessantly sounding like robots and very obviously reading scripts full of drivel (we have great service, we have great products, yada yada yada).

The differential today is about quality of communication and trust building.

Good recruiters today are more authentic, more transparent. A good recruiter is not concerned about slamming a one-call close and moving people immediately into interviews. Recruiting is about attracting but sadly many have turned it into repelling, which makes our job harder. Sadly, Recruiters are lumped into one category regardless of experience or skill. That's for another article though. Today recruiting good Loan Officers is not about hard selling someone into a job change. Any telemarketer can do that and get hung up on. We must instead be consultative in nature. To do that, we must seek to educate ourselves and know our stuff. The best recruiters today have become students of the industry and are more informed than ever before. When we call and talk to salespeople we engage and offer them key advice or industry information. Perhaps it's something happening in the industry, a new tool or technology, a forecast, market rumor, etc. We actively price loans for them with our client pricing to help make comparisons, we break down their compensation plans and analyze their current situations to make sure they are maximizing value and trajectory. Good recruiters seek to advise, counsel and give something of value while expecting nothing in return. When the time is right to explore opportunities, these trusted folks will undoubtedly turn to us as their career advisor and it will be our honor to assist. Talk about job satisfaction!

Recruiting Loan Officers isn't all that difficult once you remove the uncomfortable sleazy sales pitches. Recruiting is about the relationships we create with the right caliber of athlete, being a resource for them, building trust and authenticity and after that, it's just about timing.