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Ask any experienced business owner to outline the challenges they’ve faced in growing a successful brokerage and recruitment will no doubt come up in conversation.
Advertising, identifying prospects and selecting new staff who add tangible value to the business is a time-consuming process. There are plenty of risks involved and a bad hire can feel like a game of snakes and ladders, sending business owners backwards.
Eighteen months ago, LMG brought together a team of interstate specialists to take the time and stress out of recruitment for business owners. The team, TalentForce, has since added a new dimension to Loan Market and LMG Partner businesses. And, uniquely, it’s a complimentary, value-adding proposition for the network.
For several years, BrokerForce – LMG's offshore, in-sourced support network – has helped brokers with data validation, file processing, lodgement and other support tasks so they can focus on spending more time finding and meeting clients. BrokerForce specialists can be permanently attached to a business or can bolt-on to a business as-needed.
TalentForce is different: firstly, it sources onshore staff and, secondly, its responsibility extends to loan writers and other roles for businesses. In fact, over the last financial year, TalentForce helped Loan Market and LMG Partner businesses attract:
- 329 Customer Service Managers;
- 126 Loan Writers.
TalentForce’s role in adding more than 450 people across the network over the last year has contributed to Loan Market and LMG Partner brokers becoming the most productive in the industry.
Head of TalentForce Tim McKenzie said the specialist division was part of LMG’s commitment to help Loan Market and LMG Partner businesses ‘grow through people’.
TalentForce works hand-in-hand with LMG's Broker Success Managers (BSMs) in their service offering.
“The BSMs have one-on-ones with Loan Market and LMG Partner businesses on a monthly basis, reviewing key metrics and actions to accelerate growth,” said Mr McKenzie.
“As part of that ongoing support, the BSMs and business owners review whether additional staff are needed to achieve growth. If so, they’ll identify the intended outcomes of bringing an addition into the business.
“That’s when TalentForce are engaged, working with both the BSM and the business owner to shape a position description, skills set and qualifications to deliver that outcome and then finding the talent that best aligns with the goal.”
Use of the service has grown every quarter since it was launched and so have the recruitment requests - credit analysts, onboarding specialists, settlement officers, asset finance specialists and more.
A large contingent of loan writers who joined businesses are ex-bankers. Joining as loan writers has proven to be an effective way of making the transition from bank to brokerage, with business owners benefiting from their expertise in lending and assessment.
TalentForce can also help business owners determine the employment structure of new hires - salaries, contractor, commission splits etc - and adherence to employment legislation.
Connor Summers is the owner of Loan Market Neo on the Gold Coast. Over the last 12 months, he’s engaged Talentforce to fill five positions within his business across the roles of credit analysis, CSMs and a broker.
“TalentForce pre-screens all the candidates before we see them, which cuts 80% of the applicants out and ensures we're just talking to individuals who are appropriate for the role,” he said.
“The management on the back-end is almost like having your own resource, managing all your HR from an onboarding perspective. TalentForce manages all the marketing, the ads, screens the candidates and only pass over the most appropriate candidates for us to meet.”
When recruitment agencies routinely charge circa $5,000 for an equivalent CSM hire, Mr Summers said the free service was of great value.
“But as much as agency fees might be $5,000, if we were out of the business for two weeks trying to fill the next CSM role or credit analyst, we’d be losing a lot more than an agency fee.”
LMG National Director of Growth Suzi Trajanovski said recruitment of quality talent underpinned productivity for businesses.
“It’s clear that the best performing businesses are those where the brokers can focus on what really brings the greatest benefits to the business, and that’s delivering the industry’s best customer experience,” said Ms Trajanovski. “This can only be achieved when brokers have the confidence that the people they hand over a file to are skilled, efficient and reliable.
“TalentForce takes the pain out of finding the right people for businesses making the journey to growth as seamless as possible.”
TalentForce - How it works
1. The business owner and Broker Success Manager decides on what role is needed to take the business to the next level. The size and structure of the operation is considered in the decision.
2. TalentForce touches base with the business owner and they complete a template for a position description.
3. TalentForce completes a job briefing for sign-off by the business owner.
4. TalentForce goes to market, short-lists and pre-screen applicants.
5. The business owner selects the pre-screened applicants.
At LMG, we want every broker to have the tools and training to thrive and build a smarter business. To find out more about the depth and innovation in LMG’s training program, contact LMG today.
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