Mortgage Broker Broadcast

Finding the Right People: Why Values Trump Skills in Mortgage Broker Recruitment

• Craig Skelton • Season 6 • Episode 25

Share episode

Send us a text

The decision to bring someone new into your mortgage broking business isn't one to take lightly. When the pressure mounts—whether from unexpected staff departures or overwhelming workloads—the temptation to make quick hiring decisions becomes almost irresistible. But as this episode reveals, panic recruiting almost always leads to costly mistakes that can damage your reputation, drain your energy, and derail your growth plans.

At the heart of successful recruitment lies a crucial mindset shift. You'll never find another version of yourself—and that's actually a good thing. Too many broker-owners unconsciously search for clones when they should be looking for complementary skills and perspectives unified by shared values. The most successful teams don't mirror their leader; they expand capabilities while maintaining alignment on what truly matters: client service, ethical standards, and business vision.

Values alignment emerges as the non-negotiable foundation of smart hiring. While mortgage knowledge can be taught, core values rarely change. The podcast explores practical interview approaches that reveal a candidate's true priorities—including why those overly fixated on commission splits often make poor long-term team members. You'll discover why your intuition matters during recruitment and how to spot the subtle warning signs that someone isn't right for your business, regardless of their impressive CV. Most importantly, you'll learn why recruitment doesn't end when someone accepts your offer—it's just beginning. Proper onboarding and mentorship determine whether your investment in a new team member pays off or becomes another costly false start.

Ready to build a mortgage broker business that grows through careful, values-based recruitment rather than reactive hiring? Subscribe to The Mortgage Broker Broadcast, share with fellow brokers facing similar challenges, and visit craigskleton.co.uk to book a discovery call about taking your business to the next level. Remember—choose team members wisely, because they'll either multiply your effectiveness or drain your energy. There's no more important business decision you'll make.

Looking for one to one mentoring, visit my website to see how it works craigskelton.co.uk

#mortgagebroker #mortgagebrokers #mortgagebrokeruk #mortgagebrokercoaching #coaching #mortgagebrokerage #mortgagebrokerbusiness #mortgagebrokermarketing #mortgagebrokertips #mortgageadvisor #mortgageadviser #mortgagecoach #businesscoaching #successmentoring #selfemployed ...

Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome to this week's the Mortgage Broker broadcast, and today's episode is all about one of the probably the most important decisions you can make as a business owner. I'm talking about recruitment and, more specifically, why you should never panic buy when you're looking to fill a gap in your team or in your business. I'm your host, craig Skelton. I'm a mortgage broker, business owner and a coaching mentor to brokers and business owners across the industry. I create this podcast to help self-employed brokers like you grow their business with confidence, clarity and purpose. Before we get into the podcast, please don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, share it with other mortgage brokers. Your support helps us reach more brokers who are dealing with the same challenges that you are day in, day out. So in this episode, I want to talk about why panic recruiting rarely works out the mindset you need when you're bringing someone new into your business, and why you'll never find another version of yourself. So stop trying. So let's just get into the podcast.

Speaker 1:

Recruitment is. It's a tough one to get right. The thing is with as a broker, as a business owner, you could. You might have recruited before. You might have recruited administration support into business. You might have recruited brokers before. But the thing is, if you know that you want to grow your business and you know that you want to be recruiting brokers, you should never, ever stop looking for that right broker to join your business. So, because one of the biggest points I want to talk about today is when you're recruiting or looking to recruit just to plug a gap, or maybe someone left unexpectedly or the workload became too much, you know that recruiting in a rush can cause you so much more harm than it can cause good. So that's why you should never, ever stop recruiting. If growing your business is important to you, you should never, ever stop being aware of other brokers, knowing your competition, knowing that the good people out there that you would, who share your values and share what you're trying to create, you should never stop looking for those people, because there's never a right time to recruit in your business. You should always be looking to recruit. But this episode really is not just about that. This episode is about just a reminder to slow down when you're recruiting, trust your gut when you're recruiting and to recruit with purpose. Your gut when you're recruiting and to recruit with purpose.

Speaker 1:

So my first point is don't panic, buy. I've learned this mistake and it costs business owners so much time and so much effort and so much energy. When you do panic, buy, when someone leaves your business or you hit capacity and you've got too many leads coming in, it's easy to go out. It's easy to go into like firefighting mode and put a recruitment ad out there on LinkedIn or speak to recruitment advisor just to get someone in quickly, just to keep everything going. But if you do recruit in haste, you could end up spending more time fixing mistakes and managing misalignment or, even worse, undoing reputation damage caused by someone who doesn't share your standards. Short-term relief can lead to long-term headaches. You're building a business for long term, not just plugging holes in a sinking ship.

Speaker 1:

You always need to remind yourself when you're recruiting that you will never find another you. One of the biggest mistakes I see mortgage broker business owners making is, when they're looking to recruit, is expecting the new recruit to be a clone of themselves. So let me just be clear with that. You're never going to find someone with your experience, your passion, your mindset, your exact way of doing things, and that's all right, that is okay. What you're looking for is someone who can compliment you, not copy you. If you're trying to mould someone into your image, you're always going to be disappointed. Instead, look for someone who brings value and coachability to and alignment with yourself.

Speaker 1:

And when you are looking to recruit, and especially if this is the first time, you need to be asking yourself do you have the time to onboard them properly? And this is a huge one. If you're looking to recruit someone, you need to ask yourself honestly do I actually have time to show them how I want things to be done? If you don't, you'll end up with confusion, mistakes and then sometimes resentment on both sides of the fence. Recruitment doesn't stop after day one. It's your job to lead, to guide and support the person you bring in. So, before you recruit, build time into your diary, build time into your schedule for proper onboarding, mentoring and feedback. That investment now will pay off massively later.

Speaker 1:

And when you are looking at that recruit, you need to look at are they aligned with your values? Skills can be taught, but values can't. If someone doesn't share your values, how you treat clients, how you handle complaints and your work ethic, then it doesn't matter how good they are on advising or mortgages. Misalignment in values always leads to friction and during the recruitment process. Ask them about how they handle challenges, what matters to them in a business, how do they define success. These questions will reveal far more than the CV, because the CV is just a piece of paper. You need to be asking these kind of questions to lift that person to life and see, actually, is that true alignment there with you which then leads on to trusting your gut? This might sound a bit woolly or a bit fluffy, but actually it's not. Your instinct is one of the best recruitment tools that you have.

Speaker 1:

If something doesn't feel right. If the candidate says all the right things but something just doesn't feel right. If the candidate says all the right things but something just doesn't fit right, trust that it's easy to ignore that niggling dab because you're desperate to fill a role. But that little voice is usually right and better to wait than to bring in the wrong person when you're looking at the right person. Be cautious if all that they care about is commission splits, because, yes, commission matters absolutely. It's part of the deal and part of what's important. But if it's, the first thing that a candidate asks you about is about the splits and the second thing and the third thing about all about the commission splits. This is a real red flag because guess what, like the minute that another firm offers them five percent more, then they'll be gone.

Speaker 1:

You don't want people who are just coming in chasing the pound. You want team members. You want people in your business who buy into your vision, your culture and your way of working. Someone driven only by commission is rarely. They're just never loyal in the long run. So you know what your values are. Do you know what the recruits values are too? You need to flip this over. Don't just share your values. Ask them about theirs. What drives them? What do they look for in a business? What kind of culture and environment do they thrive in? And when you know their values, you can assess the alignment honestly. If those values don't fit with your business, it's better to know now, not in six months time, because you've wasted so much time, so much effort and so much money.

Speaker 1:

I just want to share an experience I had recently with a business owner that I work with who recruited quickly after our advisor left. The new recruit had a great CV, they've got a great background and they hit the ground running, but within two months there were complaints and compliance issues and poor communication. And why was that? Because they didn't share the business owner's client first approach. They were just focused on volume, not value, and the business owner had to let them go, which cost them time, money and a massive amount of stress. So what was the lesson with that? It's about taking your time, trusting your gut and recruit with values first.

Speaker 1:

So what to take from today's podcast? Well, the first thing is don't rush to recruit. Take your time, interview thoroughly, know what you're looking for, not just on paper but in attitude and values, and then prepare before they start. Have a plan, create time to train and onboard them. Set expectations early. That initial investment will help them succeed and save you so much stress. So, just to recap, we've talked today about why you should never panic recruit and why you'll never find another you and that is OK and why values, gut instinct and alignment matter far more than any CV or any commission split. So if this episode gave you clarity around recruitment strategy, please subscribe, please leave a review, share it with other brokers or business owners in your network.

Speaker 1:

Next week's episode, we've got jonathan needham back onto the podcast. He was on the podcast a few weeks ago, but I want to get jonathan back onto the podcast to talk about something that we're looking to do that will help self people who are looking to go self-employed as a mortgage broker and existing self-employed mortgage broker. So you do want to listen. Listen out to that next week. So thanks for listening. Thanks for tuning into this week's Mortgage Broker Broadcast. Keep leading with purpose, build with intention and remember the right recruit can transform your business, but the wrong one can cost you far more. And if you are thinking about becoming a self-employed mortgage broker or launching your own brand and business, or just ready to take your business to the next level, go to my website, craigskeltoncouk. Book a discovery call or just simply get in touch. Let's have a chat about how I can help you to achieve your goals. And remember, please don't forget to run your own race.