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A perception that mortgage broking is a less "glamorous" career than real estate is one of the chief reasons the industry struggles to attract new talent.
Following recent industry claims that the third-party channel could learn a lot about recruitment from their counterparts in real estate, Daniel Gonsalves, general manager of Real Estate Career Developers in Sydney, said one of the prime reasons the broking industry fails to attract recruits is because it doesn't have the "sexy" appeal that real estate offers.
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"The common perception of real estate agents is that they wear nice suits, drive nice cars and own decent houses, but that's not how it really is," he said.
"The reason so many people want to get into real estate is because it has got a bit of a 'sexy' image, but the reality of the hard work involved is probably lost on a few people that are thinking of making the career move to real estate."
Joel Barbuto from Gough Recruitment, a specialist real estate recruiter, agreed that broking appeared less attractive than real estate to candidates looking for a career in the property sector.
"There is a perception that people can get rich quicker selling houses than in mortgage broking, but I definitely think mortgage broking can be more lucrative in some cases when you build your book," he said.
"Selling houses has just always been Australia's obsession."
However, Mr Gonsalves said the perception of real estate is much different to reality, and new recruits soon learn that.
"While there are a lot of people saying that they want to get into the industry – and we'll get dozens and dozens of CVs a week – those that actually make it through those first few months are few and far between," he said.
"The reality of the hard work involved is lost on a few people that are thinking of making the career move to real estate."
For the broking industry to increase its recruitment and attrition rates, Mr Gonsalves recommended using similar channels to real estate but to paint the profession as a viable alternative.
"I think there are quite a lot of upsides to the broking industry – it's just a case of how you market them to candidates," he said.
"Perhaps the work/ life balance is something for the industry to promote. The ability to build up something substantial from trail commissions rather than relying solely on cracking new deals could be a good selling point in attracting new recruits."
Mr Barbuto added that the third-party channel should look to recruit from outside the industry and should ensure 'red tape' for new recruits is kept to a minimum.
"Recruiting people from outside the industry is something worth focusing on, as well as making it cost-effective and easy to access for those new recruits [to become mortgage brokers]," he said.
[Related: Where will new brokers come from?]
