XY Planning Network created a virtual internship program to help financial planning students whose internships were canceled amid the coronavirus crisis.
The new program will help those students whose college internships were canceled fulfill internship requirements, XYPN said. For many of those students, the cancellation or postponement of their internships threatened their ability to graduate on time, XYPN said, noting the group of students included aspiring financial advisors "eager to help Americans navigate a looming recession."
XYPN's virtual internship program "connects derailed college students seeking internships with firm owners in the Network's 1,170+ advisor community," it said. Participating advisors will get training and a "framework for executing a productive internship program in a virtual format, including appropriate responsibilities for interns that can provide a meaningful positive impact on the business in a virtual format, an onboarding plan, templates to get them into action quickly, and more," it said.
Participating advisors have to commit to offering only paid internships, to make certain that "students from all walks of life have a chance to advance in their careers," XYPN said.
"With the median age of an advisor at 50-something and increasing each year, the financial advice profession is in desperate need of up-and-coming next-generation talent," according to XYPN CEO and co-founder Alan Moore.