Lending teams are competing for a narrow pool of experienced, regulated talent, and the demand sits firmly at the senior and professional end. In the financial services sector, recruitment was generally for Regulatory Qualification Framework (RQF) 6+ roles, rather than RQF 3-5 GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report.
That matters when you write a lending brief. RQF 6+ maps to degree-level and above, so the people you need already carry formal qualifications, regulated experience and a track record you can point to. A vague advert asking for a 'lending specialist' pulls in the wrong applicants and buries the few who fit. The tighter your brief, the faster the right person surfaces.
Lending is not one job. A mortgage underwriter, a commercial credit analyst, a collections manager and a regulated lending adviser all sit under the same banner but need different skills, systems knowledge and regulatory exposure. Because hiring in the sector concentrates on RQF 6+ roles GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report, your brief has to name the qualification level, the lending product and the risk context, not just the title.
So ask sharper questions before you post. What loan products will this person own? Which regulatory regime applies: consumer credit, mortgages, commercial lending? What underwriting or affordability systems must they already know? And where does the role sit on risk, from front-line origination to credit decisioning? Answer those, and your brief stops reading like a wish list and starts reading like a real job.
Start with the must-haves and separate them from the nice-to-haves. For a regulated lending role, the must-haves usually include the right qualification level, direct experience of the relevant product, and a clean regulatory and compliance record. Everything else is negotiable, and treating it that way widens your pool without lowering your bar.
A clear brief also speeds up every stage after it. Screeners know what to look for, interviewers assess the same things, and the person you want hears a confident, specific pitch rather than a generic one. In a market where the right people are scarce, that clarity is your edge.
Once your brief is sharp, you need to put it in front of the right people fast. We search a database of 15 million candidates and turn a well-defined lending brief into a ranked shortlist, so you spend your time on the few who genuinely fit rather than sifting a flood of applicants. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Share your live lending role with Reed.ai today and see your shortlist take shape.
