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More brokerages could benefit from hiring and developing more women to play leading roles in their businesses, according to Mortgage Choice franchise owner Deslie Taylor.
Taylor (pictured above) said brokerages often wanted to hire people to launch into a sales role immediately, which often appealed more to male candidates, even if those applicants only “tick a few of the required boxes”.
She said women were more likely to succeed if they were allowed to develop through the ranks, and also often “want to tick all the boxes”, so they end up developing into holistic, highly professional brokers.
The MFAA’s Industry Intelligence Service Report 15th edition, supported by research from Comparator, revealed that women’s mortgage industry participation had declined to 25.4%.
Taylor said the research showed that brokerages were passing up the value that women could bring to their businesses.
She said women who were developed and nurtured by a brokerage were likely to show longer-term loyalty to that business, supporting sustainable growth over the longer term.
“If businesses are willing to get women in, mentor them, nurture them and really build them up, they will turn into absolutely amazing sales people,” Taylor said. “They will be ready to run - and they will be yours for life, in my experience. That’s because they will be thankful that they have been given the opportunity.”
Mortgage Choice launched its first ever women-focused broker recruitment campaign in May, which is now being delivered to the public through digital channels including social media.
Growing out of the group’s Aspire program, which was launched in 2020 to support women in the Mortgage Choice network, it aims to expand broader women’s participation in the industry.
“Since Mortgage Choice launched its Aspire program, our focus has been to support and connect the women in our broker network through unique events and learning and development opportunities,” said Sally Chadwick, executive manager corporate communications, events and franchise marketing.
Chadwick said the new campaign was about “crossing the next frontier”. “We’re also proud to be looking beyond our own network to tackle women’s representation in the broking industry,” she said.
Taylor said she suspected many brokerages feared a female candidate might need to take time off in future to have children, so they would be “training someone who is going to leave anyway”
However, she said that these broker businesses would be missing out on the loyalty that came with those women who sought opportunities to develop their career in the broking industry.
“If you work with women in your team and build those women up and be patient during those times where they may be raising a family, you will have amazing loyal women and amazing brokers.”
Taylor added that women appealed to many customers making property buying and mortgage decisions, due to their ability to provide customer service with “empathy, care, understanding and compassion”.
“We are finding more and more people coming to us feel like they want that level of a bit more care. When people are making the biggest decision of life, they often want a comfort and care factor.”
Taylor left banking to purchase her Mortgage Choice franchise in Ormeau on the Gold Coast 16 years ago, and remembers how overwhelming it can be to start out in a “very male dominated industry”.
“You can start to second guess yourself, and question if you are really capable of doing it. You are asking yourself, ‘Am I good enough, I’ve got children who are still young. Do I have to conform to play in the sandpit with the boys? All of those types of questions come up,” she said.
Taylor said she realised the answer was that she could approach being a broker in her own way, and that joining the Mortgage Choice franchise provided a good support network for doing that.
“Joining Mortgage Choice at the time made me feel as though I wasn’t out there all on my own. It was very family-oriented, and very inclusive – at the time it felt like a big warm hug.”
She found the franchise environment also provided strong support for growing a business as a newly self-employed person, including in areas such as marketing, compliance and team support.
Taylor said that after 16 years she believed broking was a great career for women to consider.
“It is a career where you have the flexibility to structure your business and your time around things like family if you have the capacity to do that,” she said.
“In my experience clients are very understanding – far more than you give them credit for. As long as they know that you are working in their best interests, they will work with you.”
