Building a Future-Ready Workforce in Financial Services: Insights and Solutions from Industry Experts

Transforming Financial Services HR with the Mortgage Bankers Association

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is a top advocate for the real estate finance industry, representing mortgage companies, commercial banks, and residential homes. They focus on promoting fair and equitable mortgage lending practices and supporting the development of a robust housing market.

Lawrence emphasized the importance of trust and relationships in the industry. The MBA facilitates diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies to elevate the industry, evaluate what's working, and develop strategic plans for the future.

She starts with three pillars:

Pillar 1: Expanding diverse pools of candidate entering the industry and retaining employees to progress into leadership positions

Pillar 2: Lenders to promote and access financial education for underrepresented borrowers and expand the pool of diverse and qualified homebuyers through financial literacy

Pillar 3: Promoting supplier diversity in the industry

This industry thrives off of relationships and it’s necessary to have a workforce and leaders that all communities can relate to. You have to get to know the people you serve to best help them: “The work that we do is people-centered and trust-centered,” she reminded us.

Addressing Challenges and Opportunities in Financial Services

Lawrence identified the main challenges in financial services as:

Challenges:

• Adapting to remote work: People buying homes and working from home has impacted commercial real estate and the workforce as well

• Cyclical nature of the industry: People are leaving or retiring from the industry and taking with them knowledge and skills, leading to volatility in workforce needs

• Perceptions of the industry: Organizations need to actively work to dispel myths and preconceived notions about mortgage banking institutions, what a job is like in the industry, and more

To address these challenges, she suggested:

• Creating awareness about the industry among younger generations, starting as young as elementary school

• Implementing specialized training and education programs to capitalize on the skills that are coming into the workforce and helping reskill current employees for future needs

• Fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging by implementing DE&I initiatives that truly listen to the needs of your employees and implement that feedback

“Being prepared to learn that there are things that aren’t effective to staff” and then being willing to address them, is key because it ensures that “employees trust that their voices and contributions matter,” she said. One area, however, where Lawrence cautions companies from rolling back efforts simply because it’s challenging is DE&I. She then took the opportunity to highlight several organizations that are inspiring change and leading workforce diversity: Radian and Fifth Third.

Key Takeaways

Lawrence suggests that leaders in the financial services space evaluate these three takeaways in their own organization:

1. Technology doesn’t replace relationships: Interpersonal skills remain essential, even in our digital age

2. Don't roll back DE&I: Canceling or resetting DE&I initiatives can disrupt the culture you’ve built

3. Education is paramount: You can build passion by reinforcing the people aspect of the job

How Regions Bank Reinvented Their Talent Experience

Regions Bank, a leading regional bank headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, has significantly transformed their talent acquisition approach. Regions' Ryan King, EVP and Head of Talent Acquisition shared insights on their journey to transform their talent experience, starting with their challenges:

• Lack of a centralized talent acquisition team: How can they create efficiency through TA tech?

• Limited employer brand visibility: Their career site consisted of pictures and links only, providing a lackluster candidate experience that wasn’t measurable, able to capture leads, or engage and communicate with candidates.

• Inefficient recruitment and retention processes: Recruiters didn’t have a talent CRM which prevented effective internal and external engagement, the sourcing and building of better talent pipelines and the critical insights needed to inform more meaningful conversations with candidates.

Regions turned to Phenom, implementing Candidate Experience, Employee Experience,
Hosted Apply, Automated Interview Scheduling, Career Site, Chatbot, and more.

Having a holistic solution that would grow with them helped the team immensely by:

• Creating a comprehensive yet flexible HR tech stack

• Revitalizing their career site for a seamless, personalized candidate experience

• Leveraging AI and automation to streamline recruitment and retention processes

King noted: "We now have a completely reconstructed and rebranded dynamic internal and external career site that we also own creative authority over."

What Regions is Achieving with Phenom:

• Increased career site visits to 808,000 per month

• 31% improved applicant flow (16,000 to 21,000 per month)

• Reduced time to fill to 53 days

• Recognition from American Banker for advancements in employer branding

Leveraging Technology for Financial Services Talent Acquisition

So, how can AI and automation help financial services companies overcome hiring and retention challenges?

Through:

• AI-driven chatbots for seamless candidate screening and assessment

• Automated interview scheduling to expedite the hiring process

• Mobile-first experiences for employee onboarding and development

• Skills-based matching for improved internal mobility and career pathing

Responsible AI adoption is paramount, especially since “skills are specializing far faster than in other industries, and the pace at which technology has to evolve… is absolutely exceeding any pace of change we’ve seen before,” said Lindsay Moreau, VP of Strategy at Phenom.

What Financial Services HR Leaders Should Take Away

1. Embrace technology to streamline recruitment processes and enhance candidate experience

2. Prioritize building trust and relationships in talent acquisition strategies

3. Implement ongoing DEI initiatives that are integrated into the organization's culture

4. Leverage AI responsibly, with a focus on transparency and compliance

5. Invest in upskilling and reskilling programs to address evolving skill requirements

By staying informed and proactive, financial services companies can ensure their talent strategies not only survive but thrive in today's competitive environment.

Learn more about Phenom for Financial Services right here.