Jack Roberts took on a new role at NewDay Mortgage Lending to gain experience in personnel recruitment and mortgage loan processing.
Why did you choose this internship?
I started working for NewDay in the winter of 2022 in another role. I first started working in the Processing Department as a Credit Analyst processing the paperwork for our loans. After developing an understanding of our mortgage process, I wanted to learn more about other roles at the company. This internship experience gave me the opportunity to try something new. Over the last few months I have been able to learn about our recruiting, training, and secondary market departments. I started the summer working in the recruiting and training departments before I was presented the opportunity to work in the secondary market department, where they package loans and sell them to large banks.
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
This summer I learned how to locate and screen quality candidates. I conducted interviews that allowed candidates to express who they are to see if their goals align with the company's culture. In addition to sourcing candidates through LinkedIn, word of mouth, and digital marketing, I was also participating in multiple training programs. This training enhanced my communication skills over the phone and taught me more about the company and the mortgage industry. This industry insight provided me with a better understanding of the type of people to recruit to make the company successful.
What is one lesson you learned from this internship?
The communication skills that I have refined this summer could be transferable to any industry. This includes cold calling customers, giving tours of our office, and following up with recruits. I learned my interests are not in dealing with consumers and that a future in sales is not for me. Currently, I am training in the secondary department that sells loans to banks as mortgage backed securities. This new position has required me to learn new software such as Sequel and Excel, which I am more excited about.
What was your favorite or most satisfying part of your internship?
The most satisfying part of my internship was working hard and feeling that I accomplished something. For example, my training week in Florida was the hardest I have pushed myself this summer. Every night I went home having learned new material on securitizing our loans when we sell them to large banks, ensuring the companies profits, and hedging our bets. I also felt satisfaction when my first candidate got hired, and I met him in person.
What did you find challenging about your internship?
Early on in my internship, I got sick and was hospitalized twice over the following two weeks. Recovering from that and getting back in the office was the most challenging time of my internship and summer. Re-engaging with my co-workers and picking up where I left off two weeks behind forced me to prioritize my internship in order to be successful. I rescheduled all of my pilot training to September and flew down to Florida to continue my training once I was better. While all of this was going on, I prescreened over 100 candidates over the phone leading to one getting hired.
What is the impact of your internship experience?
My internship has allowed me to learn about every department of our company and their business processes from start to finish. This includes directing callers, processing or gathering required documentation, and selling the loans on the secondary market after we fund them. This well-rounded experience has provided me with a big picture of how the mortgage industry works and where our company operates within the industry. This industry knowledge could support me in expanding my responsibilities in a promotion at my company and made me more marketable for opportunities at other mortgage companies.