Role and industry
Mortgage Loan Officer, Credit Union or Community Bank Recruiters
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
Financial Headhunters: Hire a mortgage originator who grows your credit union membership through local relationship building and consistent portfolio lending.
This is what we do all day: recruit accounting, finance, banking and insurance professionals.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
- Controller
- CFO
- VP Finance
- FP&A Director
- Accounting Manager
- Director of Accounting
- Assistant Controller
- Tax Director
- Treasury Manager
- Internal Audit Director
- Senior Accountant
- Financial Analyst
- Head of Financial Reporting
- Commercial Lender
- Chief Credit Officer
- Business Systems Finance Lead
- No upfront fee
- Pay only if you hire
- Accounting, finance, banking and insurance
- We reach people who aren’t on job boards
- Replacement terms on standard searches
01
What does this hire really come down to?
Your mortgage team requires an originator who balances loan volume with the risk tolerance of your credit union. We look for candidates who prioritize documentation accuracy over rapid closing speeds to protect your balance sheet. Ask them to explain a loan that did not fit secondary market guidelines. If they cannot describe the specific bank-held or portfolio product they used to save the deal, they may not fit your internal lending strategy.
This person represents your institution to local real estate agents and borrowers. We ask about their specific referral sources over the last year. If their business comes from digital lead aggregators rather than repeat local contacts, they will struggle to represent your community brand. Their ability to explain complex financing to members is more important than their ability to close high-volume, low-quality loans.
Effective originators manage their files to avoid rework by your underwriting department. We look for those who proactively flag credit or appraisal issues during the application phase. We ask how they handle a file that requires extra documentation to meet your lending standards. A candidate who complains about these requirements will likely become a source of internal friction.
02
What do we check before you see anyone?
- 01Ask for their last three years of production data, segmented by self-generated referrals versus company-assigned leads.
- 02Confirm their knowledge of your LOS software by asking them to walk through a specific input error they fixed without asking for help.
- 03Review a sample of their past loan disclosures. We check if they identify missing tax returns or income discrepancies before the file hits your processor.
- 04Inquire about their process for telling a borrower that a loan is denied. We look for a focus on maintaining the member relationship even when the answer is no.
- 05Discuss specific portfolio products they have originated. We verify they know the differences between agency guidelines and your internal bank-held debt products.
- 06Request their average file pull-through rate and ask them to explain exactly why their last three cancelled files were rejected.
03
Where do we find them?
We contact originators at regional banks and credit unions who manage their own business pipelines daily. These individuals rarely apply to job boards because they are active in their local markets. We find candidates who hold long tenures in community-focused organizations rather than those who jump between aggressive, high-volume retail environments.
Candidates often consider new roles when their current employer mandates the use of corporate leads or forces them to use centralized call centers for member service. They switch jobs to regain control over their lending process and to find support for manual underwriting of portfolio products. We highlight your institution as a place where they keep a direct connection to their members.
To find originators, we monitor staff rosters at regional banks undergoing shifts toward centralized call center models. We identify loan officers who have recently lost autonomy over their underwriting process or have seen their portfolio product options reduced. When we speak with these professionals, we ask them to detail their previous access to internal loan committees and their current ability to offer exceptions for local borrowers. If a candidate indicates that they now must route all files through a generic national system regardless of the unique circumstances of their member, this suggests they are frustrated by the loss of direct lending control. We check if your institution can provide the specific underwriting authority they currently lack, as this change often provides the motivation to pursue a conversation about a potential move.
04
Which hiring mistakes should you watch for?
- 01Hiring a candidate solely on high production volume without checking how much of their business relies on corporate-purchased digital leads.
- 02Selecting someone from a high-pressure, internet-lending culture who will ignore your strict documentation requirements.
- 03Focusing on the candidate's personal charisma instead of their actual ability to self-source new business within your specific geography.
05
The search in three steps
- 01Define your specific risk profile and portfolio requirements so we can identify candidates with relevant loan experience.
- 02Conduct targeted outreach to originators at smaller institutions who currently work in your local market.
- 03Connect you with vetted candidates to discuss how they manage their daily pipeline and communicate with your underwriting staff.
06
Which related hiring decisions are worth comparing?
How your Mortgage Loan Officer search runs
How does The Six-Step Search work?
One sequence, from a well-defined seat to a shortlist you can judge.
Search Calibration
We start with a call about the seat, the books, the owners and the people the hire will work with. We learn what the role must fix in the first year and what would make a candidate wrong even if the resume looks right.
You get: A written search brief: scope, must-haves, deal-breakers and the pay range, agreed with you.
Market Mapping
We map the companies and institutions where the right people already work: similar size, similar ownership, similar complexity, in your market and in others.
You get: The target list of companies and institutions we will search, reviewed with you before outreach.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We find direct ways to reach the people on the map. Most are employed and not reading job boards, so reaching them takes real research.
You get: Direct routes to people who are not on job boards, researched for your search.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We call and write to people individually and follow up. Interest varies, so we discuss the actual opportunity rather than promising a particular response.
You get: One-to-one conversations about your actual role, followed up, never a mass email blast.
Live Candidate Qualification
We speak with every candidate before you do. We check scope, systems, reporting lines, compensation expectations, location and why they would move.
You get: Only candidates we have spoken with, checked on scope, systems, pay, location and motive.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You receive a short written brief on each finalist covering what they have done, where they are thin and what they want. Then we help with interviews, references and the offer.
You get: A short written brief on each finalist, plus help with interviews, references, counteroffer risk and the offer.
Questions people ask
What is your typical turnaround time for providing a shortlist of loan officers with local real estate partnerships?
We start our search based on your specific loan product needs. The timeline depends on how many qualified originators are currently active in your local area.
How do you determine if an originator's business model is a match for our credit union's portfolio products?
We examine their past loan files to see if they have successfully navigated portfolio lending. We look for experience managing local member relationships rather than processing commodity agency loans.
How do you manage the risk of a candidate being convinced to stay at their current bank?
We discuss their reasons for leaving early in the process. We prioritize candidates who want to escape automated systems rather than those merely looking for a salary increase.
How do we prevent word from getting out in the local market that we are hiring?
We manage all initial outreach confidentially to protect your brand. We do not disclose your specific identity to a candidate until they have passed our preliminary vetting.
Does your firm charge a retainer or is the fee entirely contingent on a successful hire?
Our fee is purely contingent. You are not billed unless you hire a candidate we introduce based on our signed contract terms.
What about counteroffers on a Mortgage Loan Officer hire?
We ask every Mortgage Loan Officer candidate early why they would move and what their employer might do to keep them. Counteroffer risk goes in the written brief before you make an offer.
What is your guarantee?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What don't you do?
We do not post your Mortgage Loan Officer job and forward whoever applies. We do not send stacks of unscreened resumes, and we do not recruit outside accounting, finance, banking and insurance.
Start a search
Tell us about the seat.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
Not ready to start a search?
Get a practical read on the talent market or the job description. No fee or obligation.