Interview guide for Trainee Mortgage Advisors
Here at Premier Jobs UK, one of our most popular enquiries are for Trainee Mortgage Advisor positions. These vacancies are excellent opportunities to get started in mortgage advice, and they give the opportunity to work at some amazing firms.
These are typically, very competitive roles due to how great of an opportunity they are. However, following the tips in this guide can help you to stand out! We have placed many successful candidates who have used these tips and tricks to ace their trainee Mortgage Advisor interview!
Writing A Business Plan
If the Trainee Mortgage Advisor position you are interviewing for is self-employed, an important part of your interview process will be your business plan. This is a common stage in the interview process, as the firm needs to know that you are prepared to be a self-employed Advisor and you have plans in place to generate a suitable level of business.
One of the most important points you are likely to cover is lead generation. You should detail in your business plan how you plan on sourcing leads e.g. networking or social media. We have a detailed blog all about how Mortgage Advisors can generate leads, this could be a great resource to check out before your interview. You should also give an estimate of how much lead support you will need alongside your self-gen. It is important that you don’t under exaggerate this as you could find yourself in a role that is out of your depth.
There are lots of Mortgage Advisor business plans available online which could help you to devise yours. The following is the structure we personally recommend to all of our candidates.
Mortgage Advisor Business Plan Template:
Executive Summary – This is the introduction of your business plan, which sets out what you aim to achieve; details about your current business; where you are right now; your motivations and an overview of how you plan to grow your business.
Opportunity – Within this section, you should describe the service and products you will offer to clients; how you will utilise a gap within the current market. Also it should describe your target audience including:
- What will prompt clients to use your services?
- What factors help clients choose which business to use?
- What potential customers do you know / can access?
- Who could you encourage clients to recommend your services?
Execution – Now that you have a clear idea of what your opportunities are, it’s time to get specific and understand how you are going to make your ideas a reality! You should include details of your marketing and sales plan and how you will measure your efforts. SMART targets are useful tools within the execution.
Financial Plan – To give you the highest chance of success, it is beneficial to have a financial plan in place to keep track of your business finances. You could include: Sales Forecast, Personal Survival Budget and Cash Flow Statement.
Sales Forecast – A sales forecast analyses data to predict future sales within your business. Most companies will use a sales forecast to predict both short term and long term sales performance. Adding a sales forecast into your business plan will help you to manage your predicted sales and costs.
Personal Survival Budget – This tool reviews your monthly expenditure versus estimated income. As a Mortgage Advisor you will soon become familiar with this exercise.
Cash Flow Statement – This is a financial statement that provides data on money in versus money out. This will be updated as you progress in your role. Remember to allow time to build up your pipeline, before seeing the income start to be received.
Short Term Plan – This helps identify your initial actions and objectives, to provide structure during the early part of your journey as a self employed Mortgage Advisor. This can often be viewed as your ‘90 day’ plan.
Long Term Plan – So that you continue to grow and develop your business, it is beneficial to identify your long term aims and objectives, providing continued direction.
Appendix – This is your opportunity to include any further information you feel is necessary or any images or ideas!
Researching The Company
It is important you go into your trainee interview having researched the company you are interviewing for. Turning up to an interview without having researched the company risks translating to the interviewer a blase attitude and that is not attractive to an employer. Especially, considering the typically competitive nature of trainee Mortgage Advisor roles, as they are so attractive to aspiring Mortgage Advisors. Firms taking on Trainees are also putting a lot of faith into whoever they decide to onboard, and trainee roles require lots of patience, training and potential risk for the firm. Due to this, firms want to make sure the person they are investing in has shown dedication and effort at the interview stage, by researching their company thoroughly.
When researching the company, check all their social media! Many firms have social media accounts like Youtube, Twitter and Instagrams. Perhaps the most important social media channel to check however, is Linkedin. Many firms will regularly post about their services, employees and any team events etc so this can be a great research tool. From Linkedin you can also find the people interviewing you, this is useful so you can establish their role within the firm. We also recommend thoroughly going through the firms website, taking care to look at their ‘about us’ section especially. It is also common that firms will have information about the products and services they use which is definitely useful for you to know. For example, find out if the company is tied or whole of market, if they’re on a panel, and what providers are on their panel? These are all worthwhile things to keep in mind whilst you research. If you want to really impress them, research further into those particular products so you have a good knowledge of them before your interview.
If the firm you are looking to join is part of a network, for example Openwork or SJP, we recommend you research the network too. Firms that are part of a network often have different onboarding processes than directly authorised firms e.g they may have entrance exams or training courses that differ from other firms. They may also offer different services due to being a part of said network.
Researching the firm also puts you in a better position to ask more informed questions at the interview stage. Here at Premier Jobs UK, your recruiter will let you know if there are any specific areas you should research! Some firms are particularly proud of their Google reviews or Trustpilot, if this is the case your recruiter will advise you to have a look.
Questions To Ask At Interview
After your research you may find things about the firm that you want to learn about further. If so, jot them down so you can ask them at the interview. If the firm is part of a network, this can be a good area to ask questions regarding them as well, for example you could ask questions surrounding their history with the network, the services they use and if their network has any specific training that the Advisors or other staff have to complete.
As you are interviewing for a trainee position, a really important question to ask is about the training you will be provided. You should leave the interview feeling informed on the level of training and mentoring support that you will be given if successful. It is also useful to ask questions around the timing of the training e.g ‘Will all my training have finished before I start advising or will I do them alongside one another?’.
If the trainee role is employed, there are often bonus structures, pensions and salary raise opportunities that would be valuable for you to learn more about. For both employed and self-employed it is important you leave your interview, aware of the level of business expected of you to write. You may also want to ask how many cases you will be expected to write before you achieve CAS status. If the role you are interviewing for is self-employed, you should find out what split of leads you will have provided vs self-generated.
Compelling Reasons Why
It’s important you know why this firm should hire you. As mentioned earlier, trainee positions are often really competitive so you should have clear justifications for why you would be the best fit for this role. It is also good for your own confidence, to enter an interview knowing you have multiple reasons as to why you would be great for the job.
If you’re struggling to think of any reasons, there’s some things you can do to help. Write down all of your strengths, then try to think of ways they will benefit you if you were to get the job. If you are still struggling, after you have written down your strengths try to think of specific scenarios where these have helped you achieve something before, this could be in a previous job role, education or even your personal life. It is sometimes hard to think of our own strengths but writing things down and visualising scenarios can make it much easier.
You also want to think about what makes you stand out in comparison to other candidates. Do you have any experience or achievements that could make you an especially good candidate? Are you particularly creative, pragmatic, personable etc? Due to the ‘trainee’ status of the role, commonly firms will want someone independent and self-driven but also eager to learn and be trained. At Premier Jobs UK, when being submitted for any role out recruiters will make it clear to you the sort of candidate that the firm is looking for and which qualities will be desirable.
How to dress for your trainee Mortgage Advisor Interview
So, you are prepared for your interview now and feel confident… what next?
The next important step before your interview is to make sure you have an outfit! You want to present yourselves to the interviewer as someone professional and committed and this can be translated through what you wear.
Here at Premier Jobs UK, all the firms we work with want candidates to interview in business professional. Even if the office is business casual, we believe it is always better to be overdressed for an interview then under. If you find a job through us, one of our consultants will talk you through the dress code and can advise you on what’s appropriate.
Next Steps
Following our advice should help you enter your Trainee Mortgage Advisor interviews more prepared. Good luck!
We have multiple, excellent trainee vacancies here at Premier jobs UK. Contact us today to have a free, no pressure chat with one of our experts!
Tel: 0208 0044 154
Mail: [email protected]
Linkedin: Premier Jobs UK