MPA Rising Star on making a successful career change

Jumping into a new industry and finding a completely new job can be daunting and stressful. But if there’s one thing that sets MPA Rising Stars apart from the rest, it is that they do not let fear and doubt intimidate them. Instead, they have welcomed it and have taken the plunge into a career in mortgage.

Jesse Perrone (pictured), loan officer at NFM Lending, transitioned from waitressing and counseling to the mortgage industry. Although there are not a lot of overlaps between these fields, the MPA Rising Star winner said the communications skills and the ability to manage competing demands helped her get a jumpstart and thrive in her new career.

“I knew nothing about it at all. I was waitressing and working as an in-house counselor when a regular introduced me to the idea of working in a mortgage capacity. I thought I would give it a shot and started working on the front desk and, with a few marketing assignments, found that I absolutely loved it,” Perrone shared. “I never thought I would end up in the mortgage sector, but it turns out my background could not have set me up more perfectly for working in mortgages.”

Perrone observed that working on mortgage files has some similarities with waitressing. “Making sure that people are taken care of. All-day long, you are making sure you are talking to people like agents, clients, and lenders and dealing with people when they are in transition,” she said.

“Helping first-time homebuyers and knowing how impactful that is in their life, getting their foot in the door. It is so rewarding – and then to see that same first-time home buyer buy their second home with us, and to then seeing how much their life has improved having gotten their foot in the door to homeownership [is great].”

Find out more about Perrone and the other 25 Rising Star winners and their efforts to educate and inspire other young professionals to enter the mortgage business by reading the special report here for free.