AFS hires 400th employee

MIDDLETOWN – Advanced Financial Services, a Middletown-based mortgage lender that does business in 46 states, marked the hiring of its 400th employee this month as it apparently shrugs off dark times in the financial-services industry.
AFS said it has hired 110 people in 2009 alone in part because of the growth of two new divisions – Internet origination and retail origination – particularly as the home loan industry and the real estate market are showing signs of making a recovery.
The added jobs haven’t gone unnoticed. The Governor’s Workforce Board and the R.I. Economic Development Corporation awarded AFS a $77,000 job creation grant to train new employees.
The influx of new workers is likely to present a human resources challenge to AFS, which has been named to Providence Business News’ 2009 list of Best Places to Work in Rhode Island for four years in a row.
AFS occupies 75,000 square feet of office space in two buildings in Middletown. Company executives said in June that AFS is on pace to eclipse last year’s earnings – which were the fourth highest in the history of the company.