We have a large “Technology Committee” that meets every Friday to review and discuss all of our tech issues, opportunities, and solutions. 

During last Friday’s meeting, two of our newer team members went on at length about some new thingies they were looking at that would not only improve many of our old thingies but also replace many other thingies altogether.

I would have thought this was awesome, but I had no idea what they were talking about.

SO, I called Heejin into the meeting to help me figure it out, and she said… “you know, the thingie…” (which was super helpful).

I might add that much of our Tech Meetings are consumed by me forcing our team to “kid-splain” technology to me, and with me responding like this: “…wait a minute, you mean I can actually take photos with my phone? No way!”

I am being slightly facetious, but this illuminates why hiring tech-savvy “youngsters” is so extremely important!  

Our ability to evaluate and adopt technology at lightning speed is probably our biggest competitive edge right now.

And the youths on our Tech Committee are absolutely essential for exploiting that edge.

I am of course NOT advocating pushing out or nor hiring individuals with more experience – just to be clear. We definitely value our experienced people – and to be even clearer – we have never and will never replace experience with youth to save money or for any other reason.  

But – I am advocating hiring some young blood for the following reasons:

1. Tech-savvy. AI and technology in general are going to completely transform both the real estate and mortgage industries. As a result, every firm needs extremely tech-savvy individuals in the trenches who can best evaluate and adopt that technology. Firms without those individuals will not survive. We often work with firms that hire individuals who are either not in the trenches or who are not quite tech-savvy enough, and those individuals often end up being impediments more than anything else. B/c our younger team members have grown up embracing all aspects of technology, they tend to explore and adapt it with far more speed and confidence. In this day and age, nobody can afford to miss out on any “thingies.”
2. Understanding norms for culture and marketing. If anyone wants to see our Marketing Director cry, they need only to watch her react to some of my “Boomer” marketing ideas, which consist entirely of
   

   HUGE FONTS & BRIGHT COLORS!!!

   (and lots of exclamation points). Apparently, millennials are less than impressed with my marketing ideas, and I need to have millennials around to not only remind me but to also come up with a constant stream of millennial-approved marketing. The same goes for company culture. My idea of a great culture is to make everyone wrestle in the middle of the office for their bonuses, but apparently that is offensive – and I love having millennials and “Gen-Zers” around to remind me of that too.

3. No bad habits. We rarely hire anyone with even a modicum of experience in the mortgage industry, and one of the main reasons is that we don’t have to break them of any bad habits or preconceived notions. This was a huge issue for us years ago, and I suspect it still is for all too many firms.
4. More raw talent. B/c we do not look for experience, we can focus solely on raw talent (brain power, congeniality, academic skills, time-management skills, etc.) and get much more of it.
5. Cheaper. Hiring team members recently out of college is also a lot less expensive than hiring grizzled vets – for obvious reasons.

HOW TO ATTRACT, HIRE, AND TRAIN TOP TALENT 0-3 YEARS OUT OF COLLEGE

Attracting Candidates

We post our ads on Indeed for general applicants (we spend about $500 per month) and on Handshake for college students. Handshake is free and it allows you to access every major college.

Selling Culture, Vision and Upside

We could never attract the type of talent we do without focusing heavily on our culture, vision and upside. We will share the wealth whether we are just making a lot of money or if we ultimately sell to someone. In addition, we make it very clear how and why we are building a business that will last and offer tremendous professional growth.

Career Page/Ads/What We Look For

Readers can see our employment ads and what we tout on our Careers Page.

Training Program

If you hire someone with no experience, they need to be trained (obviously) and I am no fan of just “shadowing” b/c too many details are missed and it is too slow. We have an elaborate training program that has been twelve years in the making. But for those who don’t want to spend 12 years creating a customized program – there are many online. This HubSpot blog sets out several great options for real estate agents, and XINNIX is available for loan officers.

Interview Questions/Criteria

We have a long interview questionnaire that tests applicants for time-management skills as much as their knowledge. I am happy to share the questions along with the criteria that we evaluate if anyone is interested.

Jay Voorhees
Founder/Broker | JVM Lending
(855) 855-4491 | DRE# 1197176, NMLS# 310167