Mortgage jobs are available

Nearly 200 more temporary -- but relatively long-duration -- jobs for mortgage professionals will be opening up in the Richmond area soon.

Staffing firm Aerotek is looking for experienced mortgage processors and closers to help deal with a wave of refinancing, the Hanover, Md.-based company said.

Aerotek is seeking to meet demand for mortgage processors and closers by early March. The jobs will last nine to 18 months and could become permanent, officials said.

The employment company could not disclose who its clients are, said Aerotek's Darren Thevathasan.

However, Thevathasan did say Aerotek is under contract to several firms seeking mortgage workers. Most of the jobs are for full-time hourly employees.

With mortgage rates at their lowest in half a century, "Everybody's wanting to put in applications to see where they stand," said Brian Haug with Prosperity Mortgage Co. here.

"From November to January, business has probably picked up for most [mortgage] companies, over 100 percent," Haug said.

Richmond's financial industry has suffered in the economic downturn.

"Since we're in a recession and a lot of these people have been laid off, it makes even more sense for a financial company to set up shop or expand in Richmond because of the available labor," said Christine Chmura, president of Chmura Economics & Analytics in Richmond.

Aerotek wouldn't discuss pay rates, but did say the jobs come with on-the-job training and benefits, including medical, dental, vision and retirement plans.

"Two hundred [new] jobs would be great ordinarily," said Virginia Employment Commission economist Tim Kestner, "but with all the layoffs we've seen . . . it certainly can't, on balance, affect all the negatives we've seen."

Another staffing company, Adecco USA, announced in December that it was looking for more than 250 mortgage professionals in the Richmond area to fill temporary positions for clients.

The refinancing boom is "not only creating jobs," Chmura said. "It's also giving people more cash that they're able to spend that they would have had to spend on a mortgage."

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or .