Last week on my Lykken on Lending radio show, we discussed some ideas on recruiting and touched on some of the strange ways companies have of attracting younger talent. Many technology companies, in particular, will offer employees video game consoles, a casual dress environment, and even napping rooms. In the mortgage industry, these ideas seem strange to us. They seem unprofessional and, when I see things like this, I can't help but think, "This just wouldn't fly when I was starting out in the industry!"
But regardless of how you feel about any particular kind of perk (you may draw the line at napping at work), it is a good idea to be open-minded about what drives this new generation. When we're creating the mortgage organizations of the future, we want to have the fresh perspectives of millennials—and we need to do whatever it takes to attract them. Why? Because, more and more, millennials account for a greater percentage of the customers we're trying to reach. If our customers are from the younger generation, we need employees from the younger generation to understand them.
That being said, we cannot discount the importance of experience. Building a team with a mix of generations is the best bet. The older generation can learn how the world is changing from the younger generation. And, likewise, the younger generation can learn from older generation where the world has been. It's only when we have both of these dynamics in our organizations that we'll be able to gain the necessary insight to be successful. Proven experience plus fresh ideas: that sounds like a winning equation to me.
David Lykken is 40-year mortgage industry veteran who has been an owner operator in three mortgage banking companies and a software company. As a former business owner/operator, today David loves helping C-Level executives and business owners achieve extraordinary results via consulting, coaching and communications, with the objective of eliminating corporate dysfunction, establishing and communicating a clear corporate strategy while focusing on process improvement and operational efficiencies resulting in increased profitability. David has been a regular contributor on CNBC and Fox Business News and currently hosts a successful weekly radio program, “Lykken on Lending,” that is heard each Monday at noon (Central Standard Time) by thousands of mortgage professionals. He produces a daily one-minute video called “Today’s Mortgage Minute” that appears on hundreds of television, radio and newspaper Web sites across America. He may be reached by phone at (512) 501-2810 or by e-mail at [email protected].
