Pros
You start off with a 40k base salary, an iPad, and if you make if a few months, benefits. Rich Tibbetts and Colleen Kelly are phenomenal managers, and the company is very lucky to have them. In general, everyone is willing to help you learn and wants you to succeed. The building is brand new and they supply you with literally everything you'll need for the job. The company is investing heavily in a national television ad campaign in hopes that the ad campaign will grow the business. The TV ads are a big reason why they are always hiring. That, and the high turnover rate. If the ad campaign works, you're easily in a position to make a 6 figure income in year 2. You're also genuinely helping veterans. Finally, there is a strong potential to make 6 figures in your second year. The first year you can expect around 50k. You earn your stripes in the first year. The required hours are: Mon. 9:30-8pm Tues. 9:30-8:30pm Weds. 9:30-8:30pm Thurs. 9:30-6pm Friday 9:30-6pm and 9:30 to 1:30. (alternates every other week) If you work 9:30 to 1:30 on Friday, you work from 10-4pm on Saturday or 12-6pm on Saturday (your choice). These hours are the bare minimum. If you want to get ahead, or you're not producing, you can easily be there until 9:30 at night, and you definitely won't be the only one still there. There are a lot of people at NewDay with the drive to be successful... working late is what it takes, and it pays off. If you're not prepared to work hard, don't take the job. Negativity is contagious, and while sometimes it's impossible, try to keep negativity to yourself. Newday's not the place for someone who wants to leave right away when the day is over or mope around when things aren't going well. The entire day, minus lunch and a few breaks, is spent at your cube. You're either making or receiving phone calls, working on files, or reading the news. This can get pretty monotonous at times. It's great when you're busy, but can be pretty stressful when you're not. Like any sales job, there are a lot of emotional ups and downs. Management wants to see a good attitude, a strong work ethic, and production. (Understandable). A negative attitude is probably the biggest reason to be fired. That said, there is a constant fear of being fired: if you have no production that week, and especially two weeks or more, you're afraid for your job. A lot of production is completely out of your control: you can have a lot of bad leads (i.e. disconnected numbers, already refinanced, no longer live there), borrowers who are not interested, or borrowers who don't qualify. Interest rates can also rise, which makes it harder to sell. And if you're in a more senior division that receives only inbound calls, higher interest rates could mean you're not getting as many phone calls. Working harder and longer, and practicing your skills helps to offset the uncertainties of your success. The hardest workers are often the most successful. My training class of 11 people started in July 2013, by mid October 2013, 7 of us were left. 2 were fired within the first month out of training (serious wake-up call), and 2 quit. In addition, the original group of about 30 people who were in the GPS division when I arrived, 3 other people were fired and 2 others quit. So 21 of the original 30 were there after just 4 months... 5 fired, 4 quit. This turnover rate is common with new hires. GPS or Green Planet is the division all of the new guys (at least while I was there) started in if you were in Maryland. You're helping veterans get out of Adjustable Rate mortgages and into Fixed Rate mortgages for a company Newday is partnered with called Green Planet Servicing (GPS). You're PRIMARILY making outbound calls. It shouldn't be uncommon for you to make 100 calls a day. Definitely over 40 or 50 calls a day. Management knows how many calls you make, receive, and how long you're on the phone for, everyday. All of your production is analyzed and compared amongst your peers. You know where you stand, which is a pro. Unless they send out mail to prospective borrowers, you're likely not to receive a single inbound call a day from a new borrower.
Cons
You DO, however, receive new leads every week. Generally about 40 people a week (Old ones expire and disappear). When I left, you could expect an average 8 of those numbers to be disconnected, or already refinanced. I also never received a "fresh" lead my entire time there. Meaning, every lead they gave me to call, someone else in the GPS/Green Planet division had already had the lead prior to me. In other words, I was NEVER the first person from Newday to be calling that borrower. In addition, every person who you contact is in an adjustable rate LOWER than than the fixed rate NewDay offers. Generally the veteran is at 3%, (will likely adjust to a 2.5%), while we're offering 4.25% and adding on average $5,000 onto the loan balance. Not an easy sell, but it can be done. Some veterans are eager to do so. To be fair, just because someone had the lead prior to you, doesn't mean they got the borrower on the phone, or the borrower hasn't had a change of heart, or the rate we were offering before wasn't higher. In fact, you can easily expect to average over 1 person being interested enough to get all the paperwork back each week in GPS. If you don't get any people to send paperwork that week, you're freaking out in a bad way, if you get 3 or more people to send you paperwork, you feel like the man (or woman). GPS is where you earn your stripes. If you work your butt off, keep a positive attitude, and develop your skills, you WILL be rewarded. Everyone in the company knows who is doing really well. Top level talent in GPS is often in the division for less than a year before being promoted to a division where they have a chance to make a lot more money. So if you enjoy the work... keep your head down, stay positive, and good things will happen. When I left, there was a major push in the GPS division to get as many veterans to refinance into a fixed rate as possible. Newday made a commitment to Green Planet/GPS that they are having a hard to reaching. Maybe Newday reaches the commitment, maybe they don't. I don't know if GPS will be around longer after that deadline either way, which is sometime in November. If it's not around in a few months, maybe new hires DON'T make outbound calls. I'd use LinkedIn to find new Account Executives at NewDay, ask for their number in a message, and talk to them about the job. They'll be honest with you. New hires in sales/Account Executives, are at least 90% 22-28 year-old white males by the way. I'm not sure why that is. A large part of the mortgage industry is dependent on rates. Newday rode a huge wave of refinancing as rates fell. I believe they made a ton of money as a result. However, rates are projected to steadily rise over the next few years, and have already started to do so. Major mortgage lenders have already reduced/fired huge percentages of their mortgage originators (or account executives as Newday calls them) in the last 2 months. Newday has saved enough money to launch a national television ad campaign that they hope will generate enough new business to offset the business they've lost due to higher rates. A large part Newday isn't as susceptible to higher rates as the GPS division is. The reason they aren't quite as susceptible, is because a large part of what Newday does is help veterans in bad financial situations consolidate their credit card debt, or debt, into a single mortgage payment. You're also helping veterans to take equity out of their home (giving them cash back). There will always be a need for that sort of thing, and mortgage rates will almost always be lower than credit card rates, so there will always be a demand. If the TV ad campaign doesn't succeed, a large part of Newday will have to be let go. That's my opinion, but very likely it's a fact. But the campaign could go great, and that's what upper level management is betting on. I hope it goes great. Upper level management never really delved into the analytics as to the likelihood or variables that would determine the commercials' success. The commercials do look great though.