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Special Reports
Recruiting And Training
No Change in People Focus at MortgageIT, Exec Says
By Bonnie Sinnock
MortgageIT has maintained a strong recruiting-focused culture based on
its motto of "people and opportunity" as it has gone through a number of transitions. And its president,
Gary Bierfriend, said the latest one it is facing - its pending merger with Deutsche Bank - is no exception. "We
never changed our culture, even when we went public," he said.
Even under the pressure of investor accountability, Mr. Bierfriend said he has stood firm in his belief that he'd
"rather make 10% less and be happy than make 20% more and be miserable" by compromising the company's
ideal of hiring only recruits "deemed to be people of like-minded character and integrity [that have] chemistry
with the rest of the team."
This approach has literally paid off, he indicated. "By not compromising our intangible needs in terms of
a person's chemistry [we found] that we didn't make 10% less. In fact, we made 20% more and we were happy because
of the synergy and camaraderie of the whole team gelled and came together," Mr. Bierfriend said, adding that
he believes "a lot of people in a lot of companies really don't deeply consider [this factor] when they're
looking for a candidate."
He said the company's interest in a team dynamic has led them to sometimes prioritize that over individual accomplishments.
"We've passed on many candidates over the years that by industry standards are considered great people and
who accomplished great things but we didn't think that they were the right fit for our puzzle," Mr. Bierfriend
said.
While MortgageIT's ideal recruiting concepts have remained constant, the executive indicated that circumstances
can affect their applicability. "Of course you have to be fortunate enough to have enough different candidates
to be selected from and create ... interest from many different people [so that] you can pick and choose who you
want to be with and not just [be hiring] somebody out of desperation to keep the doors open," he said. "So
[when it comes to] people and opportunity, it's [about] finding the right people ... and [finding] mutual opportunity
that works out at the right time. There are a lot of great people out there but are they always available when
you need them or when your company's right for them?"
Market conditions may make it difficult to match "people" and "opportunity," Mr. Bierfriend
said, noting that that occurred when the company had to shut its national subprime wholesale operation down. "The
market turned on us," he said.
When "people" and "opportunity" don't match up but the company nevertheless has identified
a recruit that its team would otherwise find is a good fit, MortgageIT retains a rapport with that person in case
a mutual opportunity ever does arise, Mr. Bierfriend said.
In cases where the company is going through change, communication is key, he said. And in some cases, it is most
effective when done in person, according to Mr. Bierfriend. "I'll make the exact same presentation that we
did over our national conference call or that we had communicated in e-mail. But there's nothing like the personal
touch where I could sit face-to-face and explain why the change was good for our company ... and how we're all
going to benefit."
The pending addition of merger partner Deutsche Bank's resources has been seen as beneficial by recruits, Mr. Bierfriend
said, noting, "People are contacting us consistently for positions and opportunities, whereas in years past
- six or seven years ago - it was very difficult [because] we were an unproven entity."
He said the Wall Street firm is slated to provide "incredible access to both capital and capital markets"
to MortgageIT when the deal closes on or around Jan. 1, 2007.
Mr. Bierfriend said that the access to capital was attractive to MortgageIT in the deal because it will enable
the company to be more "nimble" and "innovative" and make employees' work easier and more productive.
He added, given that a number of investment banks have bought originators lately and that the former's influence
has grown as the government-sponsored enterprises' has waned, many mortgage market recruits have come to share
MortgageIT's belief that the best strategy today is being aligned with a Wall Street firm.
Among the opportunities the lack of capital constraints could open up are some new divisions more specialized by
product such as the home-equity line of credit and reverse mortgage areas, the MortgageIT executive said.
The only staffing concern in terms of overlap between the two companies' operations is in the correspondent area,
and even there he said are "more complements than conflicts," Mr. Bierfriend said. He said MortgageIT
would not have considered a deal with wider staff overlap due to the priority it places on its people resources.
He said he makes sure the company doesn't lose sight of that priority by spending more than half his time on the
road, visiting branches and meeting with employees. He said he also finds establishing a presence and regional
and state trade shows are helpful to that end. "When you're not out there in the field you really don't know
how the rubber hits the road anymore and your people are upset because they know that you're not listening to them,"
he said. "[If] you're not actually there talking through the issues with them and working through the problems,
that's when you start really hurting your corporate culture."
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