The timer starts the second a loan application is submitted. If you do not have a strong underwriting team working for your organization, your business will miss funding deadlines, and you will lose your best performing LO’s. You may also notice yourself questioning the risk level of your customers and if they are truly qualified for their loans.
To feel confident you are hiring an underwriter with the knowledge and experience needed to mitigate risk, it is important to conduct a situational interview with your underwriter candidates. During this interview, it is vital to assess their soft skills.
If your interviewee has all the underlying soft skills and work experience needed for your underwriter position, they will be a great addition to your team.
Screening for these 7 soft skills when interviewing candidates for your open underwriter position will ensure you are bringing a qualified and collaborative professional into your organization.
1. Organization
In your interview, inquire about how your underwriter applicants organize and prioritize their day, how long they have been practicing their method, and how strictly they follow it (daily, weekly, etc.). An underwriter who is inconsistent in their organization and is unable to quickly tell you the status of a file in their pipeline will cause your customers’ files to fall through the cracks.
Keep in mind, everyone has their own organizational system, but if their proposed process does not fit in with current company procedures, be sure to gauge how open they are to adopting alternate organizational methods. If they cannot adapt, then they may not be a good fit for your team.
2. Interpersonal Skills
3. Analytical
4. Problem Solver
5. Ethics
6. Goal-Oriented
7. Collaborative
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Conclusion
Currently, the talent pool is full of many experienced underwriters looking for work. But just because they have experience, does not automatically make them the right person to hire. Hiring the right person for your team starts at the interview. Even in times of high demand, it is critical to be selective on who you move through your interview process, and, ultimately, hire.
Underwriters who possess the 7 soft skills mentioned above, in our experience, excel in underwriting roles. By asking questions that drill down into these soft skills, you will be able to weed out unqualified applicants and feel confident about the quality of underwriters who move on to the final round of your interview process, and, ultimately, the underwriting professional to whom you extend a job offer.