DS News - U.S. Bank

62 of the industry has contracted, the remaining companies have naturally looked to consolidate their workforces. When consolidation happens, two related phenomena occur: fewer growth opportunities exist because senior employment positions are consolidated, and those remaining positions tend to be filled by older employees. Positions are consolidated to save money, and older workers fill them because seniority or experience often tends to be the leading criteria for placement." is leads to a few serious side effects, Robinson explains, "Employees are much more portable than in previous generations," Robinson says. "Folks don't wait around indefinitely for career growth opportunities to present themselves. If positions are consolidated, and fewer opportunities for advancement are available, younger workers tend to move on to other companies or even other careers." "One of the biggest challenges for the mortgage industry is bringing in new blood for valuation," says Curtis Knuth, President and CEO, National Credit-reporting System, Inc. (NCS), citing a 2017 National Association of Realtors survey of appraisers. Of the more than 2,200 appraisers surveyed, the average length of time they had worked in the field was 21.7 years. Additionally, fewer than one in five said they trained new appraisers to move them into the field. "It will be interesting to see if technology, such as automated valuation models (AVMs), can close the gap quickly enough to lessen the chances for a critical valuation shortage from veteran appraisers retiring and technology becoming acceptably predictive and reliable," Knuth said. "ere is a clear trend in the demographics of our workforce that we have to address," says Amy Keyser, VP of Human Resources for Arch Mortgage Insurance Company (Arch MI). "People who are newer to the workforce these days tend to work in a different way than people have historically. ey're more flexible; they move more frequently. is also isn't an industry that always comes to people's top of mind, in terms of where they want to work. It's not one of those industries that people think of right when they're coming out of school." "ere's a lot of press out there that millennials and the younger generations, they don't care about benefits, they don't care about pay, but I don't think that's true," Keyser continued. "ere's a point in everybody's life where they value other things more than that. e flip side of that is, having seen the whole financial debacle, I do think our younger generations realize what financial instability looks like. at's why I always say; I think they do value good pay and good benefits. But maybe not just right away." "e people I have interacted with both within Fiserv and at mortgage conferences have overwhelmingly been on the older side," says Gary Yeh, a Business Analyst at Fiserv. "From that, however, there is an excitement that comes from meeting younger people in the industry— almost an immediate camaraderie." Yeh adds that he likes working in an industry filled with workforce veterans. "Being on the younger side, it is encouraging to be able to learn from those that have been in this industry for decades and to gain perspective on how mortgages and tech have changed over time." Regardless of how widespread a problem it may be within mortgage and housing's universe, the shifting demographics as the Boomers and Generation X move into retirement ages can't be denied. e question then becomes how the industry adapts to attract new blood and set the foundations for the decades to come. "ere is a fixed mindset around how a business culture must be by many later generation leaders," said Louis Efron, the author of 'Purpose Meets Execution: How Winning Organizations Accelerate Engagement and Drive Profits.' "ey simply believe the reported statistics that millennials and younger generations will only stay at companies and in jobs for a short period. Rather, they should be thinking about how they can create a culture that attracts and retains the best of the next generations." ATTRACTING THE NEXT GENERATION "Younger recruits are bringing new ideas and solutions to the table every day," Five Brothers' Badalamenti-Kalas says. "ey have grown up on technology, so if an application or process is not intuitive, they can almost instantly provide feedback for improvements. ey are also extremely proficient at using technology to enhance communication and relationships with our partners, contractors, and clients, thus delivering a better and more transparent user experience." "It's not like Field of Dreams where you build it and they will come," says Keyser. With so many industries and companies competing for the attentions of qualified young workers, companies have to figure out how to attract those workers, and how to communicate the benefits of working within this industry. "ey believe it is an 'us versus them' battle," "We strive to attract, develop, motivate, and retain the most talented people we can find, regardless of age— people who care about customers and each other, and who work together as partners across business units and functions." - Perry Hilzendeger, Head of Home Lending Retail, Wells Fargo

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