Firms roll out programs for rookies: Includes chart

“We’re big believers in lifelong training,” says Gary Reamey, head of Canadian operations at Edward Jones in Mississauga, Ont. Edward Jones recruits are paid a salary while they obtain their securities and insurance licences, and the firm continues to pay them while they learn the ropes at company headquarters or in a branch office.

Granted, training might be a cornerstone at Edward Jones because it has to be. The firm is known for hiring advisors with no previous experience in the industry as well as veterans, highlighting the need for a robust training program. Reamey says the feedback from new brokers has been positive, and the firm just recently added more advanced estate and financial planning to its training regime.

But it’s not just rookie-focused brokerages that are doing the training. For a firm looking to hire between 60 and 75 veteran advisors a year, TD Waterhouse Private Investment Advice is paying a lot of attention to new advisors. After six years of offering nothing to new recruits, the brokerage launched a rookie program this year that will train 82 new advisors by the end of 2005. Dave Pickett, head of practice management in Toronto, says the three- to four-day program is aimed at advisors with less than $70 million in assets; an additional program is available for veteran advisors with more than $70 million in assets. Pickett says he expects 250 advisors to go through one form of training or another this year, accounting for more than half of TD’s advisor base.

The initiative appears to paying off in this year’s ratings. TD’s ongoing training score rose to 6.8 in the 2005 Brokerage Report Card, up from 6.4 in 2004.

“We’ve had terrific feedback,” says Pickett. “I think we’re getting a 100% buy-in on this.”

ScotiaMcLeod is another firm jumping on the training bandwagon. Although ScotiaMcLeod’s official line on new advisors is that it’s targeting “aggressively growing advisors,” rookies are welcomed, says managing director Hamish Angus. The firm has a 90-day training program for new recruits, as well as the newly launched Client Commitment Program. The latter has already trained approximately 560 advisors, and Angus calls it “our most successful program ever.”

The four-day “peer to peer” program centres on the success of fellow advisors, who share their views on managing a business, meeting clients’ needs and using a team approach to improve service. It’s followed by a 100-day mentoring program in which trainees seek help in executing some of the tips they have picked up. Scotia advisors rated ongoing training a 7.7 in this year’s Report Card, up from 7.1 in 2004.

National Bank Financial Ltd. is another firm that rolled out additional training programs in the past 12 months. The Montreal-based brokerage introduced the second portion of its Best Practices training program in 2004 for rookies and veterans. The first half, launched in 2002, helps advisors analyse their books, segment their clients and plan for the future of their business. The second part focuses on helping advisors master the products and services in which they’ve chosen to specialize.

NBF brokers rated their training program an above-average 7.4, even though they are asked to pay a portion of the costs.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that advisors have to have money at stake for the training program really to mean something,” says senior vice president and managing director Gordon Gibson. He adds that in a business in which asking advisors to pay for anything is contentious, asking advisors to cover some of the costs is forcing them to get more out of it. “There is much sharper focus, they pay more attention and they value the experience more when they finish it,” he says.

The firm has also launched a specialized training program to help advisors recruit and serve high net-worth investors. IE