Читать книгу G2: Building the Next Generation - Palaveev Philip - Страница 10

At Moss Adams, we always looked to hire consultants with five years of experience. Unfortunately, those are hard to find. One day it dawned on us that for a seven‐year period we had been looking for professionals with five years of experience. If you want to have experienced professionals on your team, you need to be willing to grow them within your organization.

Limitations of the Free Agent Market

Relying on the free agent market alone is rarely a good strategy. First, the free agent market in the advisory industry is not very active. The 2015 Adviser Compensation & Staffing Study produced by The Ensemble Practice LLC estimates that for professional positions, the turnover in the industry is less than 5 percent. This means that the supply of experienced talent is not very abundant. What is more, integrating experienced professionals in the processes, structures, and culture of a firm is a difficult and slow process.

Every firm dreams of hiring a professional who has years of experience and can manage 100 client relationships while developing new business and helping to grow and manage the firm. Furthermore, most firms hope to find a professional who is collaborative and open to integrating into the culture of the firm. Of course, this unicorn profile is in high demand. Fulfilling it practically pays for itself and generates an immediate addition to profits. While every firm seeks this dream professional, such a person is rarely available for hire. Chances are that people like this are highly valuable members of a team where they are well compensated. Very likely they are part of the ownership of their firm.

Developing Professionals Who Fit the Dream Profile

There is another profile that is quite available for hire, but firms don't seem willing to give it attention. These are the many young professionals with finance degrees, often even MBAs and CFP certifications, who are looking to begin their careers in the industry and struggling to find firms that will hire them at the entry level. The recognition of the financial advisory industry and the increase in the number of schools teaching personal financial advice is helping create a supply of inexperienced professionals. They can certainly fit the dream profile, but they need firms that will invest in 10 years of training and developing to help them grow into it.

The importance for firms to hire and grow professionals cannot be emphasized enough. This includes not only professionals they need now or next year, but also professionals they will need in the next 5 or 10 years. A mature professional needs 10 to 15 years of training and development. This means that firms that want to have highly productive G2 advisors who are ready to contribute next year should have hired those professionals 10 years ago. While this may seem like a very long‐term perspective, it is the only reliable way of creating an ample supply of future professionals.