Page 35 - Investment Advisor February/March 2023
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THE FAST TRACK
By Angie Herbers
Got a Hiring Crunch?
Maybe Your Firm’s the Problem
If you take a hard, honest look, you might find several reasons job
candidates steer clear of joining your firm.
“I room to grow are key considerations for
Things like culture, career paths and
can’t find good people to hire.”
Among advisory firm leaders’
most frequent complaints over
my 20-year career as an industry con- job candidates. If working at your orga-
nization isn’t appealing as a long-term
sultant, the difficulty of finding the right prospect, paying generously won’t help
talent is right at the top. with attraction and retention. Money
The “fierce competition for talent” is a small part of the job profile, largely
has become a cliché in our businesses, because it’s a short-term consideration.
and firm leaders often conclude that To an extent that many employers
the only way to win this competition is don’t understand, quality candidates
to offer candidates more pay than rival mostly take a long-term view when
firms. But there’s a different way to win, looking for positions. They want to see
one that doesn’t involve writing pro- an appealing career path. They want to
gressively bigger checks. see the ability to grow professionally in
There are plenty of young profession- a supportive environment.
If working at your als and career changers looking for oppor- Candidates will quickly figure out
organization isn’t tunity. As a leader, you can better attract whether your firm has a clear model
for career advancement. They’ll know
and retain this talent by putting yourself
appealing as a long- in the candidates’ shoes and assessing the if you’re going to allow and help them
term prospect, paying prospect of working for your own firm. If to grow. If you ask new advisors to do
administrative work when they’re trained
you take a hard, honest look, you might
generously won’t help find several reasons job candidates steer as professionals, you’re sending the mes-
with attraction and clear of joining your firm. sage that you don’t trust them to handle
important responsibilities and grow.
They might include:
retention. Money is a • New employees are asked to
BUSINESS AIMS VS. FINANCIAL ADVICE
generate business
small part of the job • Career paths are vague or non- You might wonder what’s wrong with
profile, largely because existent expecting new employees to generate
it’s a short-term • Compensation rewards are vague business. After all, that’s how most firm
leaders started their careers. The prob-
• Professional work takes a backseat
consideration. to administrative work lem is, asking new hires to bring in
• Candidates are expected to be business makes your business sound
experts in many areas (Read: You are unappealing. Who wants to work for a
seeking the perfect candidate versus company that has a problem winning
accepting the reality that all people new clients?
have strengths and weaknesses.) More importantly, new advisors tend
• There’s a lack of culture and to have training and credentials in finan-
community cial advice. They don’t have degrees
• Employees aren’t trusted to manage or experience in marketing and sales.
their own time Asking these folks to join your firm and
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2023 INVESTMENT ADVISOR 33
