The community was officially launched at the first Rising Talent session, which brought together industry leaders and those earlier in their careers to share practical advice on building relationships, finding mentors, developing a personal brand, growing in confidence and making the most of industry events.
Hosting the session, Harrison Avery, regional sales manager at Primis Mortgage Network, explained that the aim is not to reinvent the wheel, but to make existing opportunities easier to access and create somewhere people can learn from each other, build connections, ask questions and potentially open doors. Crucially, he said, this is not intended to be a community built for rising talent, but one built with them.
There is, after all, no single route to a successful career in mortgages. Some people arrive with a carefully considered plan, while many more fall into the industry almost by accident, but whatever the starting point, building a career takes more than simply doing your day job well.
Build relationships, not a contact list
Stephanie Charman, chief executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), acknowledged that the word ‘networking’ can fill people with dread, conjuring up images of walking into a room full of strangers, making forced small talk and wondering afterwards whether you made the right impression.
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Her advice was to take the pressure off and concentrate instead on building genuine professional relationships, starting by being curious. Rather than worrying about making an impression, ask people what they are working on, what brought them into the industry and what changes they are seeing, and then listen properly to the answers.
The second ‘ingredient’ is being useful. If somebody mentions a problem and you know someone who could help, make an introduction, or if you later read something relevant to a conversation, send it to them. Charman also stressed that people relatively new to the industry should not assume they have less to offer, as useful connections and different perspectives can come from people at every stage of their career.
Finally, she advised people to be consistent, rather than having a great conversation, adding somebody on LinkedIn and never interacting with them again.
Charman said: “Your network isn’t the number of people sat in your LinkedIn connections. It’s about a broader community.”
Vikki Jefferies, market development director at Legal & General (L&G) Retail, believes mentoring can add another dimension to that community. Mentors have made a significant difference to her own career, but she stressed that mentoring is not simply about finding a senior person who can tell you how to progress.
A mentor can help with confidence, speaking up in meetings, growing a network or working through difficult decisions, while the learning does not necessarily have to flow in one direction. Jefferies has benefitted from reverse mentoring from people with less experience but different perspectives and believes people can have something valuable to offer as a mentor even if they have only been in the industry for a relatively short time.
Finding the right relationship can take time and people should not be discouraged if the first mentor they approach is not the right fit.
She added: “You might go through two or three different people before you get to the right relationship. And that’s okay.”
Reputation, confidence and opportunity
Tracie Burton, senior corporate account manager at HSBC, encouraged people to think carefully about their personal brand, which she said is about far more than LinkedIn followers, social media visibility or how somebody presents themselves online.
“For me, it’s a lot simpler. It’s what people actually say about you when you’re not in the room,” she said.
Everything contributes to that reputation, from how you enter a room and introduce yourself to whether you have prepared properly for a meeting, the emails you send, how engaged you appear on Teams and what somebody discovers when they look you up online.
Burton suggested choosing three words you would like somebody to use to describe you after meeting you, then considering whether the way you present yourself is actually creating that impression. She also stressed the importance of preparation, researching the people you are likely to meet and thinking about what you want them to remember about you.
Preparation was also central to the advice from Charlotte Nixon, head of strategic accounts at Aviva, on building career confidence. Nixon urged people not to think of their career as a ladder, with success measured by the next job title or pay rise, but instead to view it as a journey and ask: “What can I learn next?”
Projects, secondments and cross-functional opportunities can all help to broaden knowledge and build confidence, while asking for feedback can help identify both existing strengths and the skills that need further development.
Confidence, Nixon said, is “built by doing”, which sometimes means saying yes to an opportunity before you feel completely ready for it. It also means resisting the temptation to compare your progress with somebody else’s and concentrating instead on your own contribution, achievements and development.
Make the room work for you
Industry events can be an important part of building a career, but Danielle Moore, managing director of AE3 Media, pointed out that simply turning up isn’t enough. Walking into a conference or dinner where everybody appears to know one another can be intimidating, but the people who look completely comfortable networking generally have simply had more practice.
Moore recommended approaching events with a plan and deciding beforehand what would make attending worthwhile. That could mean identifying somebody you want to meet, a speaker you would like to introduce yourself to or something you particularly want to learn, while checking the attendee list, agenda or table plan in advance can make approaching people much easier.
Once there, she advised resisting the temptation to spend every break with colleagues or people you already know and instead setting a manageable target, perhaps speaking to three new people over the course of the event.
Moore said: “You don’t need a brilliant opening line. You just need to be interested. Be interested, as opposed to worrying about being interesting.”
The same approach should continue after the event, when a LinkedIn connection accompanied by a personal message reminding someone where you met and what you discussed can help turn an introduction into an ongoing relationship.
Harrison readily admitted this was advice he needed to follow himself, saying: “I’ve not been going to events with a plan, so certainly going forward I will be.”
That willingness to acknowledge that career development never really stops was an important theme throughout the session. More than half of attendees had less than five years’ experience, but almost a third described themselves as established in the industry and still keen to develop, while a second poll showed a broad spread of priorities ranging from building networks and accessing mentors to developing new skills and becoming more confident and visible.
Some of the most succinct advice came from the rising talent the community has been created to support. Johnny Graham, lender relationship manager at Connells Group, advised people to be themselves because “ultimately, that’s how you build trust with people”, while Eshar Gill, mortgage partner at Capital Private Finance, urged people to be brave and say yes to opportunities.
“You don’t know what doors they could open for you, what things you could find out, and if you don’t throw yourself in the deep end, nobody else is going to,” Gill said.
Avery added a piece of advice from an old sports coach that he still uses when nerves strike: “Pressure is only present when opportunity arises.” Whether the challenge is an interview, asking for a pay rise, giving a presentation or hosting a webinar, he suggested that feeling pressure is often a sign that you are putting yourself in a position where something positive could follow.
That is perhaps a fitting message with which to launch the Rising Talent Community. Nobody needs to know exactly where their career will take them from the outset, but continuing to learn, building genuine relationships, asking questions and occasionally being brave enough to step into uncomfortable situations can all help create opportunities along the way.
As Graham said in closing, this session was only the start. The Rising Talent Community will be shaped by the people it was created to support, giving those building their careers the chance not only to learn from established industry figures, but from one another.
Anyone interested in joining the community, getting involved in future activities or sharing ideas about what they would like it to offer is encouraged to get in touch.
Tracie Burton would welcome feedback, suggestions and thoughts from across the industry and can be contacted directly via LinkedIn or by emailing: rising.talent.community@noexternalmail.hsbc.com.
Click here to watch the full recording of this session.
