Laying it on the table

Now may not seem like the right time to be discussing recruitment options given that a number of firms are currently feeling the pinch of the 'credit crunch' and are having to lay off staff rather than take them on. But the importance of staff recruitment and getting the right people for a business is always a necessary consideration. The same is also true for advisers themselves who will be looking for a developed career path to follow, ensuring they get the most out of their skills and qualifications.

The recruitment process, however, can often be a minefield. Therefore, for both the firm recruiting and those looking for a new role, it is important to set established goals and be clear about the process that is going to be used to meet those goals. Too many times, we set off along the recruitment road with no clear understanding of either the person we want or the type of company we wish to work for. The end result is likely to be that neither side of the relationship will be happy, and the chances are the employee will soon be looking for another job and the firm will have to embark on the process again with all the cost, time and resource issues this will bring.

Looking at the firm which is about to recruit a new adviser, the first decision to be made is what experience should the employee have? Does the firm opt for an experienced, qualified adviser, who in theory should be able to step into the role with a minimum of hassle? Or does the firm adopt to bring in 'new blood', taking the trainee adviser through training and qualifications to bring them up to the necessary standards?

Clearly, the initial outlay in terms of the salary and benefits package needed to attract the experienced adviser will have to be more than for the trainee. However, the firm has the added benefit of the adviser being able to hit the ground running, and while they may not be advising from day one as they will have to learn the firm's processes, they will certainly be earning money for the firm much quicker than the trainee.

Opting to bring in a trainee will have benefits in terms of the initial cost savings, but the firm must have in place a structured training and competence programme that will take the new employee through his or her qualifications and clearly there is a cost and resource issue here. The trainee will obviously need supervision and will not be earning money as quickly as the experienced, qualified adviser.

There is a great debate at the moment regarding the introduction of new blood into the mortgage intermediary industry. There is no doubt that we are seeing, at best, a plateau in the numbers of advisers, and at worst, a fall-off in the numbers needed to satisfy demand. It seems quite ironic that at a time when 'Joe Public' has never been more in need of financial advice, we have a shortage in the supply of advisers. This is due to a number of reasons. For one, we have an ageing advisory community, with the average age of the UK adviser near the 50-plus mark.

Clearly, the number of advisers retiring or falling out of the industry is much more than the numbers of new advisers entering, and there has been plenty of talk about how this imbalance can be rectified. A number of the larger advisory firms have been able to set up 'academy-style' practices whereby they recruit a 'classroom' full of new employees and train them together over a period of time.

If the academy works as it is supposed to, the firm then benefits from a substantial number of newly-qualified advisers at roughly the same time. Obviously, there will be some drop-off in terms of those perhaps not suited to the role or the work needed to become qualified. Firms who run academy-style operations will also have to contend with some employees using the academy to gain their qualifications and skills, and then putting themselves on the job market, looking for better terms.

That said, these academy propositions are attempting to solve the adviser shortage problem which is continuing to cause consternation in the industry. So much so that the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) is in the process of establishing a thinktank to look at these very issues. While other sectors seem to have established processes for recruiting graduates, the advisory profession could be said to be some way behind. The AMI thinktank will look at ways in which the industry can grow strong relationships with colleges and universities, to get the message across about the benefits to be had working within the sector. This issue without doubt needs some joined-up thinking from trade and professional bodies to deliver the number of new advisers the industry needs.

Plans that are being hatched to address this problem are perhaps not going to come to fruition in time for those firms who are looking for advisers now, especially when the added problems of 'head-hunting' and the difficulty some firms have in holding on to their advisers are factored in.

While it is a fact of life that employees will always want to better themselves financially and career-wise, the intermediary market does seem to suffer more than most from adviser movement. Firms may feel that this is simply a fact of life, but there are ways to ensure that employees stay with the business for a longer period.

Again, this goes back to the start of the recruitment process and ­identifying what the firm wants out of the employee, and what priorities the employee has. There are ­numerous ways that a firm can gain a better insight into the suitability of the ­prospective employee through ­candidate profiling and an interview process which covers all bases. Some people are not suited to the financial services industry, and it is better for the firm that they spend the time and money finding this out up-front rather than see a candidate drop-out at a later stage.

Opportunity knocks

Improvements in intermediary back-office process and IT, often driven by compliance and cost benefits, also offer a great opportunity to release staff that have in effect served an apprenticeship. What is better than offering employees career progression matched with ready-made best practice that suits your business model?

It is also important that the firm caters to much more than the employee's financial aspirations. Yes, money is important, but the firm should also be able to offer an environment that works towards getting the best out of the employee and investing in their goals and aspirations. It is of course a regulatory requirement for all firms to provide a robust training and competence scheme but firms should also strive to make the firm a place where the employee enjoys working. Creating a friendly, supportive culture where the employee knows they are taken seriously, where their contribution is valued and their needs considered and met can be the difference between staff opting to stay put or jumping ship.

It is therefore vitally important that during the interview process, the firm sells itself to the interviewee. While this might not be the case at the moment, recent history suggests that prospective employees will often have more than one job to choose from come the end of their interviewing round.

It is also vital the firm makes clear its expectations from the employee, what they will expect in contribution and how they would wish the individuals to develop and over what time frame. More often than not, a lack of clarity in this area leads to disappointment on both sides and an early end to a promising employee/employer relationship.

Of course, there is a whole industry out there, based on satisfying advisory firm's recruitment needs, with a vast range of companies pitching for business. In using a recruitment consultant, again it is important that the firm sets initial parameters about the staff it is looking for. If a recruitment company is hired, the firm should make sure it is aware of the calibre and experience of the staff which it wants to interview, otherwise the relationship could be a disappointing and costly one.

The market is currently uncertain but the need for quality staff within a business is always a certainty. Finding these types of employee is not a case of luck but the benefit of having a structured process through advertising, interview, induction and beyond. It should begin with clarification about the role the firm wants to fill and the qualities and experience needed from the employee to fulfil that role. It will require time, resource and money to get the right result, but when it does all come together the benefits and rewards for all will be clearly visible. n

Bob Hunt is chief executive of Paradigm Mortgage Services