When you hire a junior advisor, hire for the long term.
“It does not reflect well on your team to have a revolving door of people who have come into your business and then exited,” says Nevin Chernick, senior vice president, branch manager and portfolio manager, Macquarie Private Wealth Inc. in Vancouver.
A lot of turnover creates doubt in your clients’ minds about your team.
Here is Chernick’s advice for finding the right recruit for your business:
> Know what skills your business needs
Evaluate the roles and skills of your team to find out where a new person would fit.
Ask yourself why you need a junior team member. Is it to take care of administrative duties? Handle the day-to-day management of client accounts? Each role is different and requires a specific set of skills.
Avoid hiring a junior advisor to bring in new business, Chernick warns. Sales and marketing are demanding responsibilities that are difficult for rookies to handle. This role is best left to you as the senior advisor.
> Talk about your business style and values
If you’re hiring a junior team member as part of a succession plan, discuss your business philosophy and values.
It’s important that you and your new team member share the same beliefs in terms of investing and the client experience, says Chernick. Without those shared beliefs, you would risk alienating clients who may not agree with the junior advisor’s approach.
> Look for the right characteristics
Make sure the junior advisor has the right personality to be successful in the business.
Becoming a good financial advisor requires certain personality traits, Chernick says. For example, look for someone who is detail-oriented to avoid potential costly errors. As well, a new recruit should have a strong desire to succeed and be able to handle setbacks.
“The business doesn’t tend to land in your lap,” he says. “There’s a lot of rejection that comes in this business, so you have to be resilient enough to deal with the fact that you don’t have a success every day.”
> Discuss objectives
Talk to the junior advisor about his or her long-term goals so you don’t get blindsided, says Chernick. You don’t want to end up thinking you’ve found a successor while the new advisor views the job as a stepping-stone to something else.
> Sweeten the deal
Discuss financial incentives at the right time, to catch and hold the new advisor’s interest.
It is usually appropriate to delay talking about compensation until you’re sure the advisor is the right fit for your team, Chernick says.
But if you know other teams are interested in the recruit, he says, letting him or her know the pay scale right away may provide an incentive to further explore working with you.
Also, make sure the compensation structure covers all aspects of the junior advisor’s role. Whether he or she will be looking after specific clients or helping the team as a whole, make sure the advisor will be receiving a fair share of the earnings.
IE