Welcome words: You’re hired!

The news isn't all bad for mortgage-industry professionals.

Adecco USA, a professional staffing agency, says it is looking for more than 250 mortgage professionals in the Richmond area to fill temporary positions for clients.

The demand for loan officers and loan-application reviewers has jumped recently as interest rates have declined, setting off a surge of mortgage refinancing, said Jacqueline Chen Valencia, a spokeswoman for Adecco.

"Across the country, including in Richmond, there is just a wave of refinancings going on, so the banks need some additional help to handle all the volume that is coming through," Valencia said. She declined to comment specifically on which local clients are seeking hires.

"It is banks," she said. "With the housing crisis, a lot of mortgage professionals were let go from the banks." While most of the currently available jobs are temporary, "this is an opportunity for mortgage professionals to get back into the industry if they want to," Valencia said.

Local bankers said last week that refinancings had surged as people seek to lock into 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage loans with interest rates at 5 percent or less. In recent years, the interest rate on such fixed-rate loans has hovered at about 6 percent.

Adecco also announced this week that it was looking to fill more than 250 mortgage positions in the Minneapolis area and more than 200 positions in the Phoenix area to keep up with demand from local banks.

Adecco's global headquarters is in Zurich, Switzerland. Its U.S. business, based in Melville, N.Y., has two Richmond-area offices.

Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or .