A Wall St. Journal article regarding the layoffs of Countrywide employees was released early this morning by a journalist who seemed to be privy to the situation over at Countrywide.
Although the article was brief, and contained more fluff about Countrywide than anything else, it did say that layoffs had occurred in the Full Spectrum unit on Friday, according to an internal e-mail sent by a higher-up.
Full Spectrum is the subprime division of Countrywide, which at this point is probably more Alt-A due to rapidly changing market conditions.
What’s interesting about the report of mortgage layoffs is the e-mail I was tipped off about this morning sent from Monster.com, which contained a fresh offer for a loan officer position at the very same unit, Countrywide’s Full Spectrum Lending in Los Angeles.
It would appear that despite recent Countrywide bankruptcy fears, the company is still actively hiring sales staff, though they may be cutting operations staff at the same time.
In a slow market, mortgage lenders often react by cutting salaried employees in exchange for more commission-based positions to up sales and reduce costs.
It makes sense if things have slowed down, as day-to-day operations would be easier to manage with a reduced operations staff despite a rise in salespeople, as the total output would likely remain lower than average.
The new hiring tells us that Countrywide is looking to push on despite many assuming the company will go bankrupt, though some may speculate that it’s just an elaborate PR scheme.
I’d just like to point out that according to the Countrywide job description, a “successful candidate” should have “creative problem-solving skills” to perform effectively.
But I caution to say that you might need a little more than that in today’s market…
It is believed that Countrywide laid off 500 employees, and the company seemed to leave the door open for future layoffs, based on ongoing market conditions.
Shares of Countrywide dipped roughly 10% in midday trading on Monday.
Update: Huge Countrywide layoffs reported.