Mortgage Industry Job Losses Offer Recruiters More Candidates

The mortgage industry suffered massive layoffs during 2007, leading the way in job reduction among all industries with more than 100,000 job cuts. While word of job elimination is generally unwelcome news, the recent worker reductions in the cyclical mortgage industry may provide an opportunity for talent-hungry recruiters entering 2008 with positions to fill and approved hiring budgets.

The mortgage industry job cuts were unevenly dispersed by geographic region and by skill level, according to a recent analysis conducted by MortgageDaily.com. In some cases, the job losses detailed in the report mirror the volume of sub-prime loans written in the region, or the location of the sub-prime lender’s main processing offices and employment base. While job elimination most widely affected staff that support mortgage processing functions, companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase added sales staff to bolster sales of new mortgages and actually ended up with a gain of 4,465 jobs during 2007.

A spokesperson at MortgageDaily.com stated that most of the layoffs occurred as a result of companies within the industry reshuffling personnel or closing down entirely. In addition to sales staff, loan servicing personnel are being increased in many organizations to help collect loan payments and stay on top of potential delinquencies.

Opportunistic recruiters will find a large pool of available candidates coming from non-sales related positions such as loan underwriters, processors, and staff who support mortgage origination activities. These charts detail the areas where candidates may be in greater supply due to layoffs:

Partial Table of 2007 net job gains or losses by state:

Companies with largest decline in employees in 2007:

MortgageDaily.com analyzed layoffs and hirings involving at least 50 people at 205 mortgage companies during 2007. Included among the layoffs were employees from companies that have collapsed or closed down.