Attention loan officers who may be looking for their next gig: one of the nation’s largest lenders is now hiring…big-time.
loanDepot announced this week that it is launching a hiring spree that will see the company add more than 1,300 new loan officers to its roster by the end of the year.
Overall, the massive hiring push will see the company bring on nearly 1,400 new employees by the end of 2019.
According to loanDepot, it plans to add roughly 1,000 “experienced” loan officers in and around its five direct lending offices, which are located in Orange County, California; Scottsdale, Arizona; Dallas; Detroit; and Nashville.
Additionally, the company is adding approximately 300 LOs to its network of local retail branches, which includes more than 200 locations nationwide.
According to loanDepot, the company expects several hundred of the new LOs joining its direct lending team will come through its LO training program, which it calls “ACES,” for Accelerated Career in Effective Sales.
The ACES program offers company-provided education for entry-level candidates who are seeking a career in financial services. The program also offers the opportunity for “paid mortgage apprenticeship” with the company.
According to loanDepot, the company is expanding this program and plans to accept an additional 450 ACES candidates in Orange County, Phoenix, Nashville and Dallas through Sept. 1. 2019.
“Thanks to our proprietary technology and fully digital end-to-end mello smartloan loan process, loanDepot is entering a period of unprecedented growth and opportunity,” said TJ Freeborn, loanDepot’s senior vice president of customer experience.
“To ensure we can continue to serve our customers exceptionally well during this period of dynamic growth, we are adding top-level talent to our team, and, one of the key ways we will do this is via our ACES program,” Freeborn continued.” ACES allows us to give really talented, customer-focused individuals an opportunity to have an exceptionally rewarding career in the exciting world of fintech, even if they have no prior experience, all while helping customers achieve the American dream of homeownership.”
Beyond that, the company is offering LOs the opportunity to participate in an Uber-type program that it calls “DirectFlex,” which the company rolled out late last year.
Through the DirectFlex program, LOs can “instantly connect and work anytime, anywhere, on their own schedule and terms and creates a virtual alternative to traditional brick and mortar financial services employment.”
According to the company, the DirectFlex program is designed to “bridge the gap between career satisfaction, personal performance and work/life integration.”
As part of this hiring push, the company is expanding the DirectFlex program to include “those in locations near the company’s five direct lending national campus sites.”
According to Freeborn, the program allows LOs to close loans and make money without being tied to a desk all week long.
“loanDepot has long been known as an innovator. Experienced sales professionals are certainly the core of our business model and our industry. That being said, our vision of the industry and customer behavior is futuristic and expansive. In order to deliver service at the proper levels, we must think about things differently,” Freeborn said.
“DirectFlex is a perfect example of that innovative thinking. Not everyone can be tied to an office and a 40-hour a week job,” Freeborn continued. “But Uber doesn’t have the market cornered on the gig economy – with DirectFlex, we've created a model wherein someone can work where and when it makes sense for them, receiving leads and warm transfers each day, while making a great living along the way.”
Beyond that, the company plans to bring on new employees in its joint venture and wholesale channels or in corporate infrastructure roles.
