While the 12 firms surveyed in this year’s Brokerage Report Card vary widely in size, style and advisor satisfaction, one thing is certain. When it comes to recruitment, experience trumps youth — hands down.

“The days of bringing in rookie advisors and throwing a phone book at them is over,” says Gordon Gibson, senior vice president and managing director of National Bank Financial Ltd. in Montreal. Dave Pickett, head of practice management at Toronto-based TD Waterhouse Private Investment Advice, agrees. “Thirty years ago, firms tended to hire young aggressive folks,” says Pickett.
“But today, it’s much more of an advisory business than a selling one.”

That thinking is reflected in the average age of the advisors Investment Executive spoke with at each firm. Canaccord Capital Inc. boasts the youngest brokerage, with an average advisor age of 41. The oldest advisors surveyed work at First Associates Investments Inc. and Dundee Wealth Management Inc. — the average age at both is 50. First Associates is also home to the most seasoned reps, with the advisors IE spoke with having an average of 20 years in the business. And while Edward Jones advisors are the least experienced in the brokerage biz (on average, Edward Jones advisors had nine years of industry experience), they’re not the youngest. The average age of those advisors was 45.

Almost every firm is looking for a few good advisors, with only Toronto-based Dundee Wealth admitting it’s not on the prowl. “We’re not actively recruiting,” says Don Charter, executive vice president of Dundee Wealth and CEO of Dundee Securities Corp., which currently has 496 advisors. Dundee acquired Cartier Partners Financial Group Inc. in late 2003 and continues to assimilate and move those advisors to the IDA platform.

TD Waterhouse and Raymond James Ltd., both based in Toronto, are two of the most aggressive recruiters on the Street. TD Waterhouse plans to double its advisor force of 450, adding 60 to 75 rookies and the same number of veterans a year, says Pickett. Raymond James has similarly lofty plans, aiming to add 135 advisors to its roster of 275 over the next three years.

With almost every major player recruiting advisors, is demand overwhelming supply? Not so, says Gary Reamey, Canadian head
of operations for Edward Jones in Mississauga, Ont. “We get 1,000 inquiries a month from people wanting to join the firm,” he says. “We take 36.” Business has also been brisk for Vancouver-based Canaccord and Raymond James, both of which say that the majority of new brokers are coming from bank-owned firms. “When people get here, they say, ‘Wow, that wasn’t just a bunch of marketing; it’s true’,” says Terry
Hetherington, national sales manager of Raymond James in Toronto.

So just what are the firms’ pitching to potential recruits? “Our basic tenet is ‘Business your way’,” says Hetherington.
“We support advisors as if they were clients.”

Over at TD Waterhouse, it’s all about referrals. “We have 1,000 retail bank branches and they actually refer business,” says Pickett.

Canaccord flaunts financials. “You won’t get nickled and dimed, and we give you a great payout, too,” says Bob Larose, Canaccord’s vice president of private client services.

RBC Dominion Securities Inc. sells its
stability. “We’re the most respected corporation in Canada,” says David Agnew, national director of Toronto-based RBC DS.

Edward Jones talks of its clear, conservative focus.

And culture is king at ScotiaMcLeod. “We have a culture that anyone can feel comfortable in,” says Hamish Angus, managing director in Toronto. He notes his firm is especially interested in recruiting women.

But it’s Wellington West Capital Inc.‘s to-the-point pitch of “Have fun, make money and get equity” that’s the most winning of all, with its advisors giving the firm a grade of 9.4 for living up to promises.

With much of the industry neck-in-neck in recruiting veteran advisors, a solid succession plan is seen as another recruitment perk for young and old advisors alike. “One of the problems with this business is the 40% attrition rate of new talent,” says NBF’s Gibson. “We think that if a succession program results in more mentoring and more partnering, we can reduce that rate.” The firm has succession plans in place covering premature death, retirement, partnership and book optimization.

Training is another oft-touted employee perk. The few firms that offer rookie training pay for it, while at most firms, ongoing training comes at a cost to the advisors.
“We’ve concluded that the advisor needs to have money at stake for the training program really to mean something,” says Gibson.
Popular topics for ongoing training are business-building and planning (Canaccord), mastery of segment-specific products and services (NBF) and client commitment (ScotiaMcLeod).