The move is a further sign of how wealth managers in North America are pushing to make their recruitment process more diverse and prevent a potential talent gap opening up as inter-generational asset shifts throw up major challenges.

Raymond James has launched a two-year program to train financial advisors, tapping into the industry’s need for new talent at a time when the average age of sector practitioners is in the 50s.

WealthMAP, as the program is called, creates “an opportunity for professionals who are interested in exploring a career as a financial advisor, but want to gain more industry experience and knowledge before joining the firm’s formal new advisor training program, the Advisor Mastery Program,” it said.

The new course prepares candidates for earning their Series 7 and Series 66 licensing and developing real-world financial planning skills. They gain direct experience and home office training, branch and group coaching, and wealth planning and technology support. Successful graduates will transition immediately into AMP, Raymond James said.

“There are many pathways into this profession, and we recognize that non-traditional candidates, for example those who are changing careers, just graduating or are re-entering the workforce, may appreciate a longer runway to gain more education and experience before entering a robust advisor training program like AMP,” Matt Ransom, vice president of new financial advisor development, said. 

“WealthMAP not only expands the candidate pool by attracting diverse talent to this industry, but also gives them more hands-on experience and preparation to build their confidence and chances of long-term success as advisors,” Ransom said. 

Raymond James said the inaugural class, which first convened to begin the program in January, includes participants based in 20 branch locations. More than 70 per cent of the class is diverse (women or people of color) and over half of the class comes from a different field or are recent graduates.

“It’s important to us that our firm and profession evolve to meet quality candidates where they are and offer the personalized training to help them succeed. This program is another extension of our ongoing commitment to that,” said David Patchen, senior vice president of Private Client Group education and practice management. “We have seen tremendous results with our advisor training programs, and we look forward to continuing to attract and prepare candidates for successful financial advisor careers through WealthMAP.”

Talent crunch
The North American industry is wrestling with how to build a pipeline of new advisors because many are heading toward retirement. With trillions of dollars due to be transferred to younger generations, and new regulations and technology changing how advice is delivered, the sector requires fresh blood. According to Boston-based research and analytics firm Cerulli Associates, the average financial advisor is 50 years old and only 11.7 per cent of advisors are under age 35. In addition, 28 per cent of advisors who are within 10 years of their own retirement are still unsure about their succession plan (March 2018 report).

Such numbers explain why wealth firms are trying to widen the recruitment net. RBC Wealth Management US, part of Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada, in 2018 revamped its Associate Financial Advisor training program to allow more diverse candidates – from inside and outside of the financial services industry – to join the firm and follow a career in the sector. A person who may have had a career in a sector entirely unconnected to financial services can enrol. 

A number of major banking groups in the US and further afield are developing programs, some of them to be more diverse in terms of attracting more women, people from different ethnic groups and some from outside conventional educational or career paths. A separate trend has been of former military personnel taking up wealth management jobs. 

This firm produced a research report on talent management a few years ago. See here.