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A top commercial business writer who also mentors new brokers is seeing an increasing trend of young people entering the industry straight from university.
Speaking to The Adviser, Marshall Condon of Neue Black pointed out that in his experience mentoring young finance professionals coming out of university, many are expressing an interest in obtaining a Certificate 4 in mortgage broking.
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“I’m seeing from that level that broking is now coming onto the radar as a career… it’s now seen as a viable career and a different option coming out of university,” he said. “So, I do think that there will probably be a younger generation coming through; the industry has come a long way.”
“I think it’s not seen as it was previously by the consumer, and the numbers point to that with [approximately] 52 per cent of loans being introduced via brokers now,” Mr Condon added.
However, Mr Condon pointed out there are still significantly less broker-originated loans in the commercial space.
“It’s much, much less, I think less than 20 per cent, and that’s just because the types of transactions are different in the business space,” he explained.
Mr Condon said that for young brokers in particular, the commercial space is a “harder market to crack” due to the nature of the clientele.
“Whether or not they'll crack into commercial or not is hard to say, but the positive thing is that we are getting some younger brokers coming in which is positive for the industry,” he concluded.
Establishing a network to break into commercial
Mr Condon, who started out in the industry straight out of high school, said that he learnt from a young age that when it comes to commercial broking, “building a network is very, very key”.
“To get those opportunities to do those deals, it’s about getting someone to trust you and like you and want to give you the opportunity,” he said.
Mr Condon says that starting out in the commercial space requires young brokers to “dig in and put in the work”.
“Build your network to get those opportunities because the needs of a business customer are much different to a home loan customer.
“Opportunities come for example when the client’s current bank can't give them what they’re after, so you need to be already in the client’s network or know someone within that network who they can refer to you from there.
“It's a very, very long game to get into unless you’re in that stage or have clients yourself, so you need to build a network,” he concluded.
[Related: Elite brokers share tips on education and mentorship]
