Independent Banker - August 2017 - 57

what they understand as reasonable compensation, "
Llewellyn says.
In fact, a quarter of bank respondents to the 2016
Crowe Horwath Bank Compensation Survey plan to offer
compensation packages (including health insurance, 401k
matches and more) that are more than 10 percent above
the market average. The majority of survey participants
work for community banks holding less than $500 million
in assets.
The candidate search
Before a bank can convince somebody to move, it needs
to find that person. The best place to look is where most
banks are already looking: the local community and state.
Get creative by advertising at local fishing competitions or
websites dedicated to other activities in the area, suggests
Gallagher. People in a job with similar attributes at a similar
institution in a similar state may be open-minded.
First Interstate Bank recently had luck luring a senior
finance employee from New Jersey to Montana with the
help of a recruiter. The candidate had gone to school in
northern Colorado before moving to the East Coast. Now
married with one small child, he wanted to raise his child
with outdoor recreation close by, says Cherwin. And Crest
Savings Bank in Wildwood, N.J., once landed someone
who had regularly vacationed in the beach town.
As with most business success, the key to finding candidates
is networking. Conferences, consultants who work
with other institutions, speaking panels, lawyers, CPAs
and other trusted professionals can all be good sources
for leads. If a candidate turns the bank down because she
doesn't want to move, ask if she can recommend a peer
who might be open to the idea, says Gallagher.
This is a frequent strategy for American Bancor Ltd. in
Dickinson, N.D., a $1.7 billion-asset bank holding company
comprised of American Bank Center in Dickinson, and
United Community Bank in Leeds, N.D. While American
Bank Center has branches in Bismarck, Dickinson is a
town of 24,000 an hour and a half away. Some branches
are in towns of 1,000.
" We always go to the people in those communities and
say, 'Who do you know?' A long-lost relative might be
looking at coming back to this area, " says Carrie Zubke,
American Bancor's chief human resources officer.
Crest Savings Bank uses a similar approach, snatching
up talent when it becomes available, even when it
doesn't have an open position. Located on a peninsula
at the southern end of the Jersey Shore, its talent pool is
geographically limited.
" You very rarely find the right person at the right time, "
says Anthony DeSalle, senior vice president and chief
financial officer at the $450 million-asset bank. " If you can
find the right person at a pretty good time, hopefully time
will take care of itself in your favor. "
Mike Mohn, senior vice president at $542 million-asset
Union Community Bank in Mount Joy, Pa.,
combs through LinkedIn when looking
for commercial lenders and branch
managers and recently landed a
mortgage originator and two other
employees through his efforts. He
goes beyond job titles to look at
an individual's qualifications and
online activities before deciding
" You have to handhold and
understand why that person is
in front of you. "
-TERRY GALLAGHER, BATTALIA WINSTON
to reach out to him or her, highlighting the bank's culture,
including yearly development plans.
" We try to sell the other positives, like the size of the
bank and the culture, " says Mohn, who typically hires
within his Lancaster County, Pa., market and pays employees
a $250 finder's fee for successful referrals. " We can't
afford to go above market with pay. "
Another option is building a satellite office to host
operations or executives in a relatively close metropolitan
area. Not only can it help with recruiting, it can also give
the bank new growth opportunities. " Although headquarters
may be located in a small town, the ability to leverage
technology provides banking institutions the opportunity
to tap much larger markets, " says Llewellyn.
Motivating factors
Yet money isn't everything, and most people are happy
enough at their jobs that it's not worth the hassle to move.
Compensation typically ranks third on the list of reasons
people change jobs, after the culture and stability of the
company, Llewellyn says.
That's why it's important to dig down and understand
what a candidate is really seeking. Gallagher once enticed
a CIO candidate to move to a smaller community by having
the company's CEO commit to networking to get him on
another company's board as the cybersecurity expert.
" It gets down to customization, " Gallagher says. " You have
to sell as much as you have to buy. You have to handhold and
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