Dirk Broekema, CEO of On Call Employee Solutions, says mortgage industry employees need to look elsewhere for jobs. (photo/Jan McLane Rieger)

From a jobs perspective, San Diego’s slowing economy is perhaps treating harshest those in real estate lending. While overall unemployment remains a shaky low 4.8 percent, for those in the industry it can feel like 100 percent. Indeed, the state of California has applied for a $9 million National Emergency Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to retrain workers laid off in the mortgage and banking industry, where more than 6,000 layoffs have occurred since July alone.

Employment executive Dirk Broekema, who serves the industry, says the decline started in January 2006. “Our business, in terms of companies requesting personnel in that sector, fell then by 50 percent,” he says. “Then in July it dropped another 50 percent.”

Broekema, who spent 15 years in commercial and mortgage banking before moving into the staffing industry 12 years ago, is blunt about real estate job opportunities now and in the near future. “It is a pretty scary scene out there for all facets,” says On Call Employee Solutions’ chief executive.

A big issue is that the jobs remaining pay considerably less. Broekema says people were earning $70,000 to $80,000 for a $40,000 position. Managers were making well into the six figures. It seemed easy. “Individuals in that profession became accustomed to making what I consider to be above normal wages for those positions just because there was so much volume in those 2000 to 2005 years,” he says.

Displaced employees are having a hard time adjusting.

“They are just kind of in a daze,” he says. “They don’t want to accept reality yet. They don’t yet want to explore taking the skills they have into some kind of financial capacity in accounting, financial or insurance, because the same pay is not there.”

In most cases, Broekema urges people to prepare for a career transition and consider the services of an employment agency, in part because of what he calls the hidden benefit of training. “We are willing to invest in basic office skills that are necessary to transition into an office world,” he says.

Older workers need to get past the stigma they place on temporary staffing. “The younger generation tends to be a little bit more accepting of the need to change,” he says. “The longer you have been working in mortgages, the more you want to stay put and hunker down. People would be surprised with the wide array of opportunities we have.”

Phil Blair, the co-owner of Manpower in San Diego, expects continued declines in real estate employment. “See the writing on the wall,” Blair counsels. “If you think you have another month or two then start looking now. And don’t look for the same kind of job. That is what is evaporating. This is a time where you sit down with your career manager, and that is you, and you decide what other careers your skills are appropriate for.”

To help, Blair’s office offers an 85-page job search booklet called “Strategies For Success” that is nearing the printing of its 100,000th copy. It is available free at Manpower locations and can be downloaded at manpower-sd.com.

Blair suggests reviewing job descriptions and looking for matches in skills. “We want them to go to the Web site, see what jobs are open, then come back and say how what they were doing is relevant to that job. It helps us sell their skill set,” he says.

Coming to terms with changing industries is a big step for real estate professionals. Then the job search really begins. “Don’t be hard on yourself if you haven’t found the right job in two months,” Blair says. “The old adage is for every $10,000 you make it takes another month to find a job. And 50 percent of jobs are not posted. For many people networking is going to find you your new job. People get laid off and they don’t want to tell anybody. But people are anxious to help. They realize, ‘I could be laid off and looking to you. So I want to help you.’”

Still, Blair adds a note of caution, saying employers have slowed down hiring across the board while they see where the economy is heading. “Everybody is sort of in wait and watch mode,” he says.

— Tim McClain