Four senior executives on sponsorship, confidence, and breaking through to the mortgage industry C-suite
Four of Canada’s most prominent women in mortgage finance came together at Thursday’s Women in Mortgage Summit to share hard-won career lessons, and to issue a challenge to the next generation of women in the industry: put your hand up, even when you don’t feel ready.
Mortgage professionals waiting for a single turning point that defines their career might not find it. Instead, the panelists described a series of often sideways, and sometimes backwards, shifts that ultimately took them forward.
“Careers are not linear,” pointed out Zamina Walji (pictured, far right), vice president of growth business at EQ Bank, whose own path has taken her from banking to private equity to consulting to technology and back again. “Sometimes you have to take a step back to grow. Sometimes you have to move in a parallel industry to learn new skill sets.”
First National vice president of residential sales Elena Robinson (pictured, top left), who spent her early career working across renewals, arrears and tax departments before moving into sales, echoed that message. “You do learn regardless,” she said. “I have no regrets, because even if you make a mistake, you’ll learn from the mistake and it only makes you better.”
Mentorship is advice, sponsorship is opportunity
Another prominent talking point was the gap between ambition and action. “There are people, whether women or men, that actually think something’s going to land in their lap,” said Leanne Conroy (pictured, centre right), regional director of sales at MCAN.
And Robinson highlighted a clear difference between mentorship and sponsorship as a leading industry figure. “Mentorship is for advice, but sponsorship is for opportunities,” she said. “We can mentor someone and give them that advice, but as leaders, we also have to sponsor: see the opportunity, see people that you think you could help with their careers.”
The value of diversity, meanwhile, was also highlighted. “As a leader, my duty is not just to sponsor women, but to sponsor diversity so that you have diverse teams, diverse thought,” Walji said.
“The way that you do that is by giving women high-impact roles, making them visible, making sure that they’re presenting their work and their voices are heard.”
Professional growth and personal responsibilities such as caring for family and managing personal challenges cannot be easily separated – but the landscape is slowly shifting towards greater flexibility and understanding, according to Conroy.
“It’s night and day to what it was 25 years ago,” she said. “It’s so much more flexible now. The needle’s moving, for sure.”
Apply at 70%, not 100%
A persistent barrier to progressing as a woman in the mortgage industry, the panel argued, is a tendency for women to wait until they feel fully qualified before applying for roles.
Robinson cited research showing that men apply for jobs when they meet a fraction of the listed requirements, while women often wait until they meet all of them.
“Have the courage, even if you think you’ve got 70% of what the role entails, to apply,” she said. “That’s where I think the mindset of women has to change.”
Moderator Michelle Steko (pictured, far left), vice president of national broker relations at Sherwood Mortgage, shared a lesson from earlier in her career as a business development manager: a manager told her she was only as valuable as the pen she was handing out. She said the issue was one of environment as well as individual confidence.
Conroy said the value of industry events bringing women together is becoming clearer by the day. “I worry about my daughters, I worry about my nieces,” she said. “That’s why these functions are so important.”
The closing message from Steko was that if you want something, you shouldn’t wait for it to come to you. “When there’s a closed door,” she said, “don’t allow that to become your permanent address.”
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