BALTIMORE, Md. — While many institutions are laying off employees, merging, or closing their doors entirely, one credit union is expanding and actively hiring new employees.
"Our secret is a well-managed organization," said Joseli Wright, manager of sales for the $1.8-billion CU. "We never forget we are responsible for our members' money. We need to be very efficient on how we run our business."
The 18-branch State Employees Credit Union - which just added two of these branches in the past few months - is looking to add new staff members to many of its locations.
The challenge, however, is finding the right new employees. Because numerous people are looking for work, SECU is receiving applications from people ranging from those with years of financial institution experience to others with no experience in the field. "Right now we're getting a lot of people who are overqualified and a lot who are underqualified," said Rod Flowers, VP, human resources for SECU.
"The response has been overwhelming," Wright added. "We've had all walks of life, and all types of degrees."
But Flowers said SECU sees that as a "good problem." "We have a large group of talent to pull from," he explained.
Positions open at the 245,000-member credit union include tellers and front line employees - "those interfacing with the members," Flowers said-along with lending officers. SECU is also searching for a business development manager, and business development officers, who "go out and solicit business accounts for SECU," explained Wright.
For those that do get hired at SECU, the perks are abundant, including health benefits even for part-time employees and education reimbursement. The CU also offers internships for students.
But to get to that point, prospective job candidates must go through an extensive process, necessary due to the amount of resumes SECU is receiving. Applications are first reviewed by the CU's full time HR recruiter. The recruiter looks for the top candidates and then passes those applications on to the appropriate manager.
Before even interviewing, those job candidates are then screened with the ProfileXT workplace assessment by Profiles International. The Profile XT predicts job suitability and matches people with the work they do and SECU's culture. The information they get from the ProfileXT is also used to help managers discover employees' strengths.
"It checks behavioral traits and occupational interests," Wright said. "We have a clear screening process for behavior before even interviewing. We really believe that is critical. We want to make sure we get the best people."
Depending on the position, the process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks before a final decision is made.
Job candidates the credit union is now seeing includes many former retail employees for teller positions, and overwhelmingly high number of former banking employees and former mortgage brokers, Flowers noted, adding that training these types of new employees is an "educational process."
Wright said that the CU has an edge in finding good job candidates because of its many locations and being able to transfer people easily within the company.
"We're spread throughout the state," she said. "That gives us great leverage, as internal employees get first consideration. We are also mindful of the commute if considering transferring an employee to another branch.
The CU's 19th branch is expected to open the first quarter of 2010, and for that branch SECU is looking for managers, tellers, and a "whole array of positions," Wright said. "We stress that when you work for SECU, you don't just work for a branch."
In fact, SECU has recently created a hiring slogan, which is published with all its job advertisements and on its website: "You're the one for us, and we're the one for you." "We want people to know we're Team SECU," Flowers explained. "It's in our promotions. It's in our ads."
"We're in the business of helping people," Wright agreed. "If you're not, then you are not the right person to work with us."
