While the basic skills needed to be a “good” advisor have not changed too dramatically in recent years, the concept of goals-based wealth management has seemingly become the norm, while techniques such as investment personality questionnaires are now common practice.

Meanwhile, the industry is increasingly being placed under the regulatory microscope, the most recent example being the Department of Labor's new fiduciary standard for retirement plan advice. These trends, among others, are driving up standards across the industry, Etheridge said.

“One of the things we are doing is recruiting directly on college campuses, particularly from schools that have CFP programs, including Texas Tech University, University of Georgia, University of Wisconsin, and Louisiana State University,” he said. “This prepares candidates well to learn our systems and strategy.”

Even though the industry's talent pool is seemingly shrinking, Etheridge is confident that interest is still growing among young people for a career in wealth management. Reinforcing this, he noted that ten years or so ago only a handful of schools offered financial planning programs, whereas today the number is probably in the hundreds.

Of course, obtaining the CFP credential isn't the only route into the industry, but it's one that Merrill Lynch is intensifying its focus on. “The CFP is not required by firms, but we strongly encourage it,” Etheridge said. “We have over 3,500 CFPs in our advisor force today and several thousand actively studying to attain that.”

The bottom line is that clients' financial lives are getting more and more complex, and so the industry is evolving in line with this in order to be able to cater to this. “Estate planning and family wealth transfer in the face of increasing longevity is one of the new complexities,” Etheridge said. “The second big shift in complexity is the personal responsibility for retirement income. Those complexities, along with globalization, are among some of the changes that are driving this goals-based approach and the need for a higher level of professionalism in the industry.”

The ability to listen and communicate well have always been one of the hallmarks of an important advisor skill, he added. “Now we're adding to that skills around behavioral finance.” The aim of the investment personality questionnaire, for example, is to assess clients' mindset about risk, the approach they want to take in working with an advisor, and the ultimate purpose they're investing for.

“What we are finding is that these conversations are very rich, and so we are getting a more nuanced understanding of our clients,” he said. “It's a new skill for advisors to have these types of conversations. I don't think many firms had a behavioral finance questionnaire a decade ago.”

Geographically, there is high demand at Merrill Lynch for advisors in areas regarded as “centers of wealth,” such as New York, San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, and Atlanta, GA, he added. “We're also seeing a lot of interest from our senior advisors that are keen to add new team members in relationship management roles, and to start thinking about creating a succession plan for their practices.”