Recruitment review

When the going gets tough, the tough get going

Pete Gwilliam

owner, Virtus Search

The well-documented socioeconomic and political issues that the UK currently faces mean the mortgage sector is at a tipping point. Following the record lending volumes of 2021, many operating models started this year focussed on a business plan that is no longer deliverable, bringing cost-income ratios into sharp focus.

Moreover, market conditions are really going to test the working capital and funding commitments of any start-up, which may well have been planned based on indicators and projections from the outlook present in 2021.

After a significant amount of movement over the last three years, there is now a very big additional reason why businesses will find it difficult to attract and recruit the skills and experience they want. The importance of feeling secure inevitably weighs more heavily when there is market turbulence, which means the number of candidates who can be enticed to consider change will diminish, until the tipping point arrives at which individuals are inclined or forced to actively seek change owing to the pressures they feel in their current world.

Of course, there are still many who recall the significant cuts in the sector in the credit crunch era, and there are aspects of that cycle that will offer perspective on what this means to the jobs market and career planning now. There is one significant difference now from the landscape of late 2007 onwards, however, and that is that lenders and distributors were nowhere near as advanced in the development of telephony, digital, and technology enabled solutions.

This is important because during the pandemic there was an enforced pivot of working models, and it has now been a year since COVID restrictions were lifted. Businesses can now readily assess the impact of face-to-face relationship development and thereby evaluate their sales acquisition and distribution strategies and identify who is completely integral to working through the more challenging times ahead.

None of this has meant recruitment activity has dried up completely, but what is very apparent is the laser-like focus on what needs to be delivered through bringing in a new hire.

From a candidate viewpoint, it is understandable that being assured about the resilience of any business is now a top priority. Whereas previously the calculus candidates would undertake may have weighed up the financial return vs the potential risks attached, there are now far more considerations at play.

To illustrate the point, in the month of July I had consultations initiated by 15 individuals, 14 of whom came from the nonbank lending sector. The two predominant concerns were that 1) after an H1 performance that fell below expectations, the change in management style was jarring to some; and 2) the economic turbulence and challenges facing the capital markets have given them reason to enquire into opportunities with deposit-taking lenders.

The main emphasis I have noted in recruitment instructions is the desire of lenders to nurture and deepen their relationships with key distribution partners, which has meant that strong knowledge of and good relationships with corporate accounts (networks/clubs), specialist distributors, and new build have given candidates strong leverage in discussions about the next steps in their careers.

There will be some who have yet to experience the implications of a downturn, and there is no easy way to sweeten the pill of what this might mean. But, as Billy Ocean once opined, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” – and resilience and agility are going to be required more now, by businesses and individuals alike, than in benign market conditions.

When I’m asked what can be done to develop a career when mortgage volume is contracting, my advice remains as it was through the last two years of change: keep investing in and developing your network, knowledge, and value.

In simple terms, this both offers protection against being deemed surplus to requirements should any downsizing ensue, and also creates the best chance of making you desirable to a firm that might have a progressive role in mind. M I

Whereas previously the calculus candidates would undertake may have weighed up the financial return vs the potential risks attached, there are now far more considerations at play