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New York

Despite “You’re Fired!,” runner-up lands Trump job

You don’t have to win “The Apprentice” anymore to work for Donald Trump. Lee Bienstock, the runner-up in the fifth season of the reality TV show, which ended in June, is now the associate vice president for corporate development at Trump Mortgage.

After a 15-week job interview that Bienstock calls “a crash course in business,” he says he’s determined to make Trump Mortgage the premier financing company.

“People will always need financing,” Bienstock said of the mortgage business now that home sales have slowed down. “One trillion adjustable mortgages are coming up and people will need a lot of consolidation.”

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Bienstock, 23, majored in management at Cornell University and worked at Merrill Lynch and the consulting firm Accenture.

E.J. Ridings, CEO and president of Trump Mortgage, says the branded company is working its way to becoming a popular option as a home financer nationally. The firm has licensed mortgage brokers in 25 states.

“We’re going to educate borrowers on the options,” Ridings said. “There are so many products coming to the market, but it doesn’t have to be a gut-wrenching experience.”