How to Recruit the Best Loan Officer Talent

So, you’re in the market to recruit a loan officer. You want to expand your team, but you also want to recruit the best talent for your business. It’s a bit of a juggling act, and it can be a truly stressful time.

We all know that recruiting loan officers is no longer about placing an ad, waiting for resumes, and picking the one with the best skills and experience. There are hundreds of candidates out there, from ones with the best qualifications to others who may not fit at all.

But where do you start?

Now look, we don’t want to bore you with a list of tips to recruit the best loan officers. It’s a bit boring and, frankly, there are already a lot of lists out there. So let’s rather play a game. A board game. You know how everyone loves board games!

We have a colorful board and our game piece. There are no dice, no passing start for $200, and definitely no get out of jail free cards. Our board has a range of tiles across the board and the rules are simple.

You follow the tiles from the start to the beginning. On every tile, you have something to do and you can only move to the next tile once that’s done. Every few tiles we have a bigger colored tile. This means we’ve reached a milestone.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s play Recruit the Best Loan Officer.

MILESTONE 1

Of we go, let’s start and see if we can reach milestone 1.

On the first tile, you have to know what your core values are. If you do, move on to the second where you have to know what you’re vision is, both for now and for the future. If you know this move on to the third tile. Here you have to know what your culture is. If you do, you can move to the first milestone. Congratulations! You’ve not established what your brand is.

By why is this important to ultimately succeed in Recruit the Best Loan Officer?

By knowing your brand, you’ll know what type of candidates will fit is. Your brand should be authentic and not something that sounds good and you think would attract good candidates. You should thus not pay lip service to your brand, but it should be how you work day by day.

For your brand, you should not only look at your business but at your employees too. Are they on board with your values, vision, and culture?

MILESTONE 2

We can now be on our way to milestone 2. Do you know what you have to do to reach the next milestone? No? You have to plan the process. So every tile on your way to milestone 2, has something you need to plan. Once everything is planned you’ll reach it.

You can’t just skip this step and move on to milestone 3. This milestone is crucial to your success in Recruit the Best Loan Officer. You have to ask yourself certain questions. What are your business needs? When do you want the loan officer to start? What will you pay the loan officer? How will the hiring process work?

The answers to all these questions will plan out the whole process. Like they always say, proper planning prevents poor performance. And nothing is more true when hiring new talent.

MILESTONE 3

Once done with milestone 2, we’re ready to move to milestone 3. See, we’re moving through these milestones at a rapid pace.

On your way to milestone 3, there are a few tiles. Each tile requires one place to find the best talent. On the first, we have online job boards. Compared to the past, these make it easier than ever to find talent. It enables thousands of prospective hires to see your job post.

On the second tile, we have LinkedIn. With it, you’ll be able to see candidates with the right skills and experience. But by looking at their profiles, you’ll also get an idea of whether their values and culture align with those of your business. LinkedIn also allows you to build relationships, rapport, and a compelling message which will attract talent to you.

The third tile is referrals. Don’t underestimate these. Referrals can bring the best talent to you without much effort. By acting on referrals from other loan officers, businesses, or even customers you are fairly certain of a loan officer’s caliber.

MILESTONE 4

Done with Milestone 3? Did you put the word out that you want to recruit the best loan officer talent? If so, you can start the journey to milestone 4. On each of the tiles on the way to it, you have to show your brand to any prospective candidates. Show them your vision, values, and culture.

Candidates must be able to decide if they will be a good fit for your business. For candidates that don’t fit, this will filter out candidates who are not a good match.

THE FINAL MILESTONE

We’re almost there! Moving to the final milestone will also take the longest of the bunch. It will take a while to move there, but it will be worth it. But why?

It’s simple. Don’t rush a hire. Never. This may be one of the most important parts of the game.

It’s easy to find talent with the best qualifications, but it’s harder to find talent who fits with your business. Here you may apply the airport test. Wait, what is the airport test? It’s simple. Irrespective of candidate qualifications, ask yourself whether you would want to be stuck at the airport with the candidate. If not, the candidate may not be a good fit.

To make it easier, we recommend splitting the recruitment process into a few stages. In this way, several role players at your company can assess the candidate on both skills and whether they would be a good fit. Even if it takes longer than expected, remember the goal here is to choose the right candidate. If there isn’t a match, you’ll only end up with an unhappy employee and you’ll have to hire again.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There you are, you’ve reached the final milestone in Recruit the Best Loan Officers and you’ve done well. Along the way, you learned our top tips for finding the best loan officer talent for your business.

Following these tips will go a long way in helping you recruit the best loan officer talent.