Industry Changes Challenge New Hirings.(Ron Vaimberg-Ron Vaimberg International)

TARRYTOWN, NY -- Hiring has become more challenging in today's market environment, according to Ron Vaimberg, president of Ron Vaimberg International here.

But understanding the challenges is where "great opportunity" lies, he said.

The mortgage industry is not "the industry to be in" anymore, now that the wave has slowed down and this has "definitely made recruiting more of a challenge," said Mr. Vaimberg. He said recruiting is "harder now than it has been for many years."

Companies are being "a little more frugal in their decisions" and "not giving away the store." In contrast to times in the past when commissions have been "outrageous," today the market is "starting to see commission splits declining a little bit," said Mr. Vaimberg, whose company provides training in the wholesale and retail mortgage industries for LOs, managers and account executives.

He said loan officers today are moving from company to company in a way that they did not during the previous refinancing boom. During the boom, "nobody moved. Nobody wanted to give up their pipeline," said Mr. Vaimberg.

Today, LOs are moving and some, who maintain that it's the company's fault that they're now not producing rather than their own, are "bringing their bad habits with them" that didn't show up during the refi wave, he said. "Unfortunately," he said, the same frugality that affects commissions means many companies "don't have the budgets for proper training" which adds to the challenges in the market where new training may be needed because "traditional marketing concepts are not nearly as effective as they used to be."

Mr. Vaimberg said he has a three-step plan for addressing the challenges in this marketing environment and building an effective sales team.