600 jobs available at area banks

Mortgage positions in demand but experience a requirement.

Approximately 600 jobs are open at the region’s biggest banks.

Most openings are for tellers, private bankers, consumer and mortgage loan officers and servicers, and operation jobs such as call center positions.

Banks employ tellers more than any other single job, an entry level position with promotion opportunities.

“We do a lot of promotion within, that’s the way we prefer to do it. So typically our openings are at the teller level,” said Andy Irick, senior vice president of retail banking at Security National Bank, which has four teller openings.

But the most challenging jobs to fill right now are in mortgage banking, especially mortgage underwriters that evaluate the risk of loans, said Shawn Harter, director of talent acquisition for Fifth Third Bank.

Applicants for mortgage banking jobs need experience in mortgage lending.

“Quite frankly in some of these mortgage roles right now, if that supply was out there, we’d capitalize on it,” Harter said.

“All these banks are competing for the exact same people,” Harter added.

Fifth Third has an estimated 140 job openings in the Cincinnati-Springfield region at more than 150 branches, headquarters and other operations.

In direct response to demand created by low interest rates and a slowly improving economy, U.S. Bank said it’s beefing up staff to go after business in home loan refinancing, new home loans and consumer loans. Consumer loans include auto, boat and student loans, for example.

Foreclosures are still high, making up more than four percent of all home loans in the Springfield region in April, said CoreLogic.

At the same time, home sales have reached their highest levels in two years since the first time homebuyer tax credit was available in 2010, according to data from boards of realtors.

Area unemployment rates are dropping.

“Our ability to hire follows the opportunity in the market,” said Michael Prescott, Cincinnati market president for U.S. Bank.

U.S. Bank said it has more than 230 area job openings, up 50 percent from the same time last year.

The Minneapolis, Minn.-based banking company has gained market share in the region in recent years, as the No. 1 bank by deposits in Cincinnati and No. 11 in Springfield.

“U.S. Bank has definitely been growing in the Southwest Ohio market and obviously when you’re growing, you need to add to your team,” Prescott said.

PNC’s Miamisburg mortgage center is hiring mortgage collectors, credit quality analysts and specialists to monitor and process foreclosures, according to online job listings. PNC has a total 45 job listings in the Dayton area, most of which are for the mortgage business, according to a company spokesman.

Finance is a major industry in Southwest Ohio, claiming the headquarters of Fifth Third and First Financial Bank. Fifth Third also has call center, card production and mortgage banking operations located in Madisonville. U.S. Bank operates a major call center in Cincinnati, and other top headquarter functions.

Business and financial operations jobs, such as compliance officers, financial analysts and loan officers, comprised more than three percent of the Springfield metro region’s total employment in 2010, according to the most recent figures on occupations and wages by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That equals 1,600 jobs with an average hourly wage of $27.52, not including management, according to labor statistics.

The Dayton metro region has another 18,000 of the same jobs with an average hourly wage of $32.06, according to the labor department.

Fifth Third, Security National Bank and U.S. Bank employ a combined 10,700 people in the region of Northern Kentucky to Springfield, according to the companies. PNC did not disclose its employment figures for the area.

Irick, of Springfield’s largest bank, Security National, said job openings are cyclical.

“That’s a low point for us. Just thinking back, we might see as many as 10 or 12 positions available. It kind of comes and goes,” he said.

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