Hiring: Back To Attitude

You can’t motivate someone who doesn’t want to be

Insider

Contributing Writer

When I started the “Inside the Glass House” series this spring, I started with the topic of attitude. Believe it or not, we soon will see an increase in retail production because mortgage rates will be coming down — finally. That means we will be hiring more loan officers — whether you have an on-line focus, are part of a bank/credit union, on the street, or inside a real estate office/builder site. Thus, it is time to remind managers around the industry that a person’s attitude is the most important trait that they can hire for.

You can’t change a person’s attitude. I know, because I have hired many 50-year-old experienced loan officers. Their attitudes are set. You can send them to a motivational session, and they will get pumped up with the rest of the attendees — but when they get back, this uplift will last about 48 hours. I say this with all deference to my fellow speakers within the industry. We teach that someone can only motivate themselves. Therefore, you must hire motivated employees. Hiring “slugs” and then trying to motivate them is next to impossible.

Here is the good news — you can find out plenty about someone’s attitude BEFORE you hire them. Stop hiring on W-2s and dreams of W-2s and dig down and find out about the person. You can do so with pointed questions in the interview process, as well as reference checking throughout the industry. Yes, you need to check references and not only their best friends which they gave you. Try talking to their title/settlement company and see how their closings go and how they act when things go wrong:

Do they hide?
Do they kick, yell, and scream?
Do they act as a leader and guide everyone through the crisis?

I can give twenty more examples, but I believe from this one you get what I mean. Attitude is more than being motivated. It is working as part of a team. Do processors fight to work for them, or do they run and hide when a file originated by them comes in the door (remember when we used to call them files?). Do they take business for granted or do they appreciate their customers and their referral sources? Do they work hard to make sure that the business they close results in more referrals because they are so appreciative to serve?

Bring On The Best

I have always been an advocate of hiring the best person — not the most experienced or the highest producer. When I look back — I realize that my first job in this industry happened because my boss knew me from the racquetball courts, not from experience. I was working for the government on Capitol Hill in a Congressional Office. Yet, I closed 600 loans in my first 18 months of closings. I can honestly say that nobody knew — including me — that I would do that much business. Picking up the mortgage business was the easiest part of the equation. That is why I created a mortgage school years later.

Hire the best person — not the most experienced or the highest producer.

And back to being a loan officer inside a real estate office — again I remind you that the need for a great attitude is even more pronounced. Sitting in a real estate office, a poor or even average attitude will stick out like a sore thumb. Your job is to lift the attitudes of the agents around you. You can’t do that from below. You need to be the example.

Yes, it starts with attitude. And there are plenty of competent people with great attitudes out there. Let’s give them a chance during the coming refinance boom. ICE says that a great portion of homeowners now have interest rates above 5%. The longer rates stay high, the stronger the refinance market will be on the other side.