Having recently been named within the top 20% of performers among Mortgage Alliance mortgage professionals, McMillan has clearly acclimatized strongly to the rigours of the role since qualifying. What advice would he provide to young mortgage professionals who feel like they may have been thrown in at the deep end in the agent profession?

Top of mind, he said, should be establishing a business plan that identifies how much new agents are planning to network and earn, and how many hours they hope to put into the business to achieve their end goals.

“Any time you start a new business, you need to have some business plan, so you stay on course instead of drifting off and flowing out of course,” he said. “I’d say the primary advice to young agents is having a business plan.”

Learning the ability to communicate effectively with clients, lenders, underwriters and other members of the mortgage process is another part of the job that McMillan said was absent from the course, and something that was essential for all new agents to master in order to have success in the industry.

“It’s very imperative to have that type of skillset to give advice,” he said. “We need to have a strong communication background to bring our point across to a client or underwriter for understanding and comprehension. I would think that’s something they need to include in the mortgage course.”