At a Glance

• The middle market RM role now requires structuring judgment, financial statement fluency, and the ability to author a credit position — capabilities that are learned, not hired.
• Most firms have replaced development with recruiting. That works until the imported producer’s relationships turn out to be portable in name only, which is usually visible by month fourteen.
• Ramp is the number nobody tracks. Firms can state cost-to-originate and look-to-book but cannot state the median months to full production for a new RM, which makes every hiring decision an unpriced bet.
• The comp plan quietly cancels the development plan. Paying on funded volume from month one guarantees new producers chase the transactions they already know how to win rather than the ones the firm needs them to learn.

The Job Changed. The Path Did Not.