I recently had coffee with a branch manager who is associated with a local retail mortgage bank.  He met with me to discuss originator recruiting strategies.
 
Here's how the opening dialogue went:
 
Me:  “So how do you currently go about looking for loan officers?  Do you have a recruiting strategy?”
 
Branch Manager: “My strategy is to find experienced loan officers who generate loans”.
 
Me:  “You and everyone else want to do that. Why would a top producer join your company? What’s so special about your operation?  Your approach sounds like a pipe dream, not a strategy.” 
 
Branch Manager:  “Well, we have good processing and a well furnished office.”
 
Me:  “Ok, without a recruiting strategy, you’ll be cycling people through your shop like McDonalds does.”
 
One of the major job responsibilities of a branch manager is to locate and hire loan officers.  Recruiting is not easy and it takes time to find, recruit, and sign up effective loan officers.  A successful branch manager will develop a recruiting strategy and may spend up to 20% or more of their time on it.  Let’s look at a few key components of a strategy.

1. Define the professional profile of the loan originator you are looking to recruit.  What are the key characteristics you are looking for in a loan officer?  Take a look at one of your star originators and note what characteristics make him or her a top producer.  These attributes may include: a focus on realtor based originations, use of technology to market and process loans, high quality loan production, professional image, educated knowledge base, etc.  

2. Locate the top loan officers in your geographical foot print and develop relationships with them.   Use realtors and title reps to find the top loan officers.  Attend local industry events to meet these people and/or use social networks to connect to them. The best loan officers are probably not looking to make a change, so your initial discussions should be focused on relationship building.

3. Create a list of recruiting prospects and track your progress.  Recruiting productive loan officers will take time and may take several attempts before you get an actual appointment to pitch them.  Ping them by phone, email, notes, etc to show them you are really interested in their services.

4. Develop a professionally written value pitch for your initial interview.  You need to ask the questions: Why would someone join my branch / company?  What differentiates me, the branch and the company? Your pitch needs to address all the value propositions you, the branch, and the company have to offer.  For example, if applicable, start by communicating that your operation is a mortgage bank which funds it's own loans and streamlines the origination process using upgraded technology.

While this all sounds somewhat remedial, you would be surprised by the number of branch managers who have yet to implement a properly developed recruiting strategy.