Mortgage pros ponder next career move

Eve Tahmincioglu • Profile • E-mail

"Betty" has been working in mortgage lending for 24 years. At age 61, this senior underwriter has survived the last few housing crashes, but just barely.

This time she may not make it.

The California-based mortgage company she works for has laid off two people, and more layoffs are expected.

"I am relatively new here so thought I would be gone already but not so far," explains Betty, who didn’t want her real name used for fear of expediting her pink slip. "If things get much worse, I think it will be inevitable. I have many friends that are also underwriters — only four of us are still employed. The others have been unemployed from one month to over a year with no hope in sight."

Employees in the mortgage sector have been going through an out-of-control roller-coaster ride of job insecurity thanks to the housing slump and the subprime lending mess. To date, approximately 40,000 jobs have been lost, and economists expect more fallout in the months ahead.

It’s a major turnaround for an industry that was deemed a job mecca for years. People were clamoring to get in on the housing boom, taking jobs in the sector that promised riches for all. Now many workers are wondering if they can hold onto their jobs, if they haven’t lost them already. And many are realizing they may have to change industries.

Indeed, Betty is worried. “The problem is that it is not a general field," she says. "It is very specific, and people that do it have been in the business of doing it for years. You don't go to college to learn this industry, unless you count the University of Hard Knocks.”

It may not be an insurmountable problem, however. The many talents that Betty and others in the mortgage industry possess — risk assessors, good communicators, computer literate — are actually highly transferable to other industries. Now might be a good time for career mortgage folks to think about trying something new.

Some possibilities:

You can stay close to financial services and find a job that’s more closely related to what you’ve done. While there isn’t a lot of growth in the banking sector, there are some opportunities at credit unions and savings and loans, says Karla Robertson, a business coach and president of Shifting Gears.

Life insurance firms, such as Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and New York Life, are also targeting people from the mortgage industry.

If you’re willing to try a whole new industry, the hot ones include pharmaceuticals and health care, Robertson adds.

Franchising is also an option, especially for operations that have a real estate focus. Many of the franchisees of HomeVestors of America, better known as the “We Buy Ugly Houses” franchise, are former mortgage and real estate employees, says Monica Feid, a company spokeswoman.

The possibilities are endless, so stop walking around like a zombie!

“Stop thinking this is what I’ve done and defining yourself in the confines of this industry,” Robertson advises. Think of yourself as a “breath of fresh air” for a hiring manager in a new industry who is looking for someone unencumbered by a how-things-have-always-been-done attitude.

“Sometimes the lack of experience can be a plus,” she says. If you can make it clear that you already have the talents and skills that are perfect for your newfound industry — ambition, a strong work ethic, the ability to change, a strong financial background — then you’re golden.

Many workers who were dumped en masse from the telecommunications industry several years ago thought there was no place for them to go, Robertson points out. But there was life after telecom, and people found work in everything from consulting to web development. “One guy I knew became an artist,” she adds.

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