Banks on the lookout for new talent: Includes chart

All six banks surveyed, as well as Credential Financial Inc. — the wealth-management arm of Canada’s credit unions — are recruiting new talent, with Royal Bank of Canada leading the pack with an aggressive hiring campaign.

“We’re in major expansion mode,” says Lockie. The bank has 4,000 personal bankers (who are not assigned specific clients), 1,200 account managers (who have ongoing relationships with specific clients) and 1,000 financial planners (who have a financial planning designation and are able to sell third-party funds) on its roster. Lockie says the bank hopes to add another 100 account managers and 100 financial planners in the next two years, the majority of whom will come from universities or the Street.

“Traditionally, we’ve pulled many people from our customer service and personal banking ranks,” says Lockie. “But because of the size of this effort, we don’t want to create internal churn in our network.” She estimates that 75% of new account managers and planners will come from outside.

Bank of Nova Scotia continues to draw heavily on existing staff when filling advisor vacancies. “We want to have opportunities for our employees,” says Wendy Hannam, Scotiabank’s executive vice president of domestic branch banking in Toronto.
However, the door remains open for external talent to join the bank’s existing team of 1,000 advisors. “We get referrals and hire from the competition,” says Hannam. The bank also has ongoing recruitment programs on university and college campuses.

Credential’s deep rural roots are an asset when recruiting. “As banks exit certain rural areas, their expertise comes to us,” says Don Rolfe, president and CEO of Vancouver-based Credential, which has 2,000 registered reps in credit unions across Canada. “If a bank no longer wants a branch in a certain town, that doesn’t mean its employees no longer want to live there.”

Regardless of where they come from, account managers must provide great service. Hannam lists education, accreditation, sales experience and confidence as desirable qualities, but says client service skills top the list. “We want someone who enjoys building relationships,” she says.

Royal Bank targets the same skill set. Technical skills and a proactive approach are on the bank’s list of “must haves,” but the ability to nurture client relationships is No. 1. “We are looking for people who are, first and foremost, wonderful with clients,” says Lockie. “People want continuity from account managers.”

Rolfe says credit union clients seek the same commitment. “It’s about serving your clients on a long-term basis,” he says, noting that potential account managers must buy into Credential’s
community-focused culture. “The challenge is the interviewing. We have to make sure they are in sync with what we are about.”

Online career centres are an important recruitment tool for all the firms surveyed.
CIBC’s online centre sells the bank’s “leading-edge strategies” and “exciting talent pool.” But one Ontario-based CIBC account manager says that pool isn’t deep enough: “The branches are often short-staffed. They do a poor job of hiring new employees.”

National Bank of Canada notes that it was named one of the 50 best employers in Canada this year, based on a survey by Hewitt and Associates. “Fast-paced” and “nimble” are Bank of Montreal‘s buzzwords, while TD Canada Trust calls itself “one of the most dynamic financial services companies in North America.”

Passion tops Royal Bank’s pitch list. “We have a great brand and a real opportunity to provide recruits with an environment in which they can be successful,” says Lockie.
The bank may also want to consider promoting its paycheques — several account managers called compensation one one of the bank’s biggest perks. “We make decent money — with ease,” says an account manager in eastern Ontario.

At Scotiabank, it’s all about employee
satisfaction. “Our fundamental premise is that we care about our employees,” says Hannam. It’s working: advisor turnover is about 4%. “This is the best bank to work for,” enthuses an Ontario banker. “It treats its staff and its customers well,” says another in the Prairies.

@page_break@Community involvement and customer loyalty are Credential’s trump cards. “We’re entrenched in the communities in which we operate and we have extremely loyal clients,” says Rolfe. “Account managers get access to our members and to the relationships we have with members.”

It’s one thing to have a great pitch and another to follow through with it. When asked to rate their employers’ attributes by their importance to them, the account managers surveyed put delivering on promises in the top five qualities; at least three banks are keeping their word. Advisors at TD, Scotiabank and Royal Bank gave their banks top marks — 8.5, 8.3 and 8.1
respectively. It’s no wonder reps from these three banks were also the most likely to plug their firms: 93% of TD account managers would recommend the bank to another advisor, as would 91% of Scotiabank and Royal Bank advisors.

That’s not the case at CIBC, which took last place in the “delivering on promises” category with a score of 6.4. And only 68% of CIBC reps would recommend their bank to another advisor.

“It’s one big lie after another,” says an account manager in British Columbia. IE