Specialist Mortgage Collections Recruitment During Post-Merger Integration

Our Client

One Savings Bank (OSB) is a well-established specialist lending and retail savings group, providing lending solutions in niche markets such as Buy-to-Let, residential, and commercial mortgages.

Following the acquisition of Charter Court Financial Services in Wolverhampton, OSB faced the challenge of integrating and stabilising operations at the new site, particularly within the mortgage collections function, which had undergone significant disruption.

What did they need?

Recruitment for Newly Acquired Business

Following the acquisition, the collections team in Wolverhampton experienced notable instability, including the departure of experienced staff and the introduction of new leadership unfamiliar with recruitment processes. OSB needed to rebuild this critical department to maintain service continuity in the mortgage collections area.

Key recruitment objectives:

Sourcing financial services-trained professionals with collections experience

Working with new team leaders on best practice recruitment, interviewing and onboarding
Designing and implementing a structured interview and assessment process that aligned with OSB’s company-wide recruitment standards and values
Advising on market conditions, talent availability, and benchmarking

The Solution

Huntress’ Recruitment Strategy

Huntress took a hands-on approach to help OSB navigate this complex and sensitive period. Understanding that integration efforts were under pressure and that leadership at the site was still adjusting, we provided both recruitment delivery and internal upskilling support.

Key Actions Taken:

Designed and Delivered Assessment Days: For the first time at the Wolverhampton site, Huntress introduced structured assessment days. These allowed hiring managers to evaluate candidates efficiently while observing teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills in real time.

Rebuilt the Talent Pipeline with Trained Professionals: Huntress actively sourced professionals with mortgage collections experience, many of whom were identified from businesses reducing headcount due to restructuring or cost-saving initiatives. This allowed for a faster and more targeted recruitment effort.

Standardised Interview Processes: Huntress implemented a competency-based interview structure aligned to OSB's policies and values. This helped to ensure consistency across the business, promoted fairness, and gave new managers a clear framework to assess candidate suitability.

Onsite Interview Support and Manager Guidance: To support the inexperienced leadership team in Wolverhampton, Huntress attended interviews in person, assisting with note-taking, scoring, and post-interview feedback. This allowed the hiring managers to gain confidence while maintaining a high standard of candidate evaluation.

Huntress spent time with managers to provide education on:

Current market challenges
The importance of speed in securing talent
Effective use of the new onboarding portal and digital hiring process

Business Outcomes

Mortgage collections team rebuilt with financial services-trained professionals

Improved interview consistency and process efficiency across sites

Hiring managers reported greater confidence in recruitment practices

OSB’s values and policies were successfully embedded into the newly acquired team

Faster time-to-hire and improved candidate experience through streamlined onboarding

Time-to-hire was reduced by over 30% compared to prior internal efforts, and manager confidence in interviewing increased significantly, as noted in post-process feedback surveys