Finding the right staff for your practice

Recruitment can be, at best, a challenge or, at worst, an expensive and unproductive exercise that diverts a practice manager’s focus from other pressing business issues.

The key to success is in the preparation and execution of a well thought out recruitment strategy. This is particularly the case in the candidate-short market we now find ourselves in, and when you are seeking a financial planner with a particular skill set in a specialist area such as self-managed super.

You will need to decide whether you want to devote the time and resources to undertake the task yourself or draw on the experience of a recruitment company.

For those determined to go it alone it is advisable to properly arm yourself for the task by building a recruitment strategy that is inclusive of the tools that a professional recruiter would use to undertake a similar assignment.

Company culture

The initial step in any recruitment assignment is not only thinking about what you want from a potential employee in terms of skills and experience, but how they will fit into the company and the team in which they will be working.

Some of the key issues you should consider revolve around defining your company’s culture.

High performance candidates expect a manager to be able to sell the culture, so if the working environment is one where management actively promotes open communication and embraces new ideas, then not only highlight these points, but also provide clear examples of it.

As there are many permutations of culture, it is important you outline the key areas and clearly communicate them.

Getting the job description right

Start out by stating the title of the position, location, and to whom the position reports. Then stipulate what is the main focus of the role.

If this is a new financial planning role, and you haven’t recruited for a similar role previously, then take the time to get your pen out with a blank sheet of paper and write down all the key elements of the role so you can build this into a position description.

Key areas to cover include the following:

Job responsibilities. If the role has three distinct components — such as financial planning, administration and business development — then bullet point key responsibilities under each component. For instance, if there is an expectation that the incumbent will focus on corporate super, stipulate this.

Candidate experience. Detail the type of clients you expect the candidates to have experience working with and the type of products they need detailed knowledge of, along with other relevant experience.

If you want candidates with a undergraduate business degree and CFP qualifications, then add this stipulation as prerequisites for the position. If it is preferable that they have postgraduate qualifications, add this as desirable.

Add key criteria under essential requirements. These may include mention of performance/results, highly developed communication skills, and exceptional mathematical/problem solving skills.

You may wish to stipulate the level of computer literacy, the level of competency in specific products, and understanding of legislative issues as well as personal attributes such as a high level of self-motivation and team commitment.

Building a competitive remuneration package

If you want to ensure that you will be able to offer an attractive remuneration package for a high performance candidate, then you must obtain relevant and accurate remuneration information.

First, speak to colleagues who have undertaken recruitment assignments of a similar nature and ask for details of what they offered the successful candidate.

If you are in a dealer group that has access to this information or to industry remuneration data, then draw on this resource. In addition, you may wish to subscribe to a remuneration survey, which may help you crystallise your thinking.

When it comes to an offer of equity in the firm, it is advisable you consult a specialist in this area.

There are a number of service providers including accountants that are worthwhile considering.

Searching the market

A low budget campaign drawing on websites such as Seek or MyCareer can be as effective if not more so than print advertising in a daily paper.

Where you have a next to nothing advertising budget you may look at either Seek or MyCareer, where your investment may come in under $500. In addition, financial planning trade publications often carry their own recruitment pages.

Networking

Drawing on your network can be the most effective way of targeting talent, as your industry colleagues may be able to quickly identify suitable referrals.

However, the inherent risk is that the referral is known only on a social basis and there is little knowledge of the quality of the person’s work or their ability to work in your company’s culture.

Therefore, it would be advisable to treat referred candidates as you would any candidate identified from the search process and subject them to the same rigorous interview and validation process.

Recruitment companies

If you decide you have neither the time nor expertise to devote to conducting the search yourself, then you should consider using the services of a specialist recruitment company.

Specialist recruiters that work within financial services have an in-depth knowledge of the industry, and those who recruit financial planners should have the experience required to identify suitable candidates for you to consider.

You may wish to meet with a number of recruitment firms to get a better feel for their approach to client assignments, and you should interview each as you would a candidate in a structured manner.

The most effective use of consultants is in giving one firm exclusivity for a given period so that the search process can be conducted in a professional manner.

Making the approach

Keep in mind that a searched candidate is often enjoying their current role and hasn’t considered moving until approached. More often than not, it will take a concerted approach to interest the candidate in the role and maintain their interest throughout the search period.

In addition, the candidate may not appreciate being contacted directly by another financial planning company and will prefer to deal through a recruitment company.

The interview

To ensure you approach each interview in a structured manner, construct a comprehensive interview questionnaire.

Apart from covering the candidate’s experience, skills and qualifications, you should consider the addition of behavioural questions that will give you an indication of cultural fit and candidate behaviours.

Behavioural questions are couched in terms of real world experience and what if scenarios. For example, you may ask the candidate whether they have had a team member under-performing and what they did to get that person performing to expectation, or the seemingly innocuous question ‘what did you learn from making a mistake?’.

You should also give some thought as to who will be involved in the interview process and how many interviews are planned.

If you haven’t conducted an interview before it is important that you use a structured interview that will keep you on track and ensure that you cover all the issues and areas of concern.

Also ensure you are familiar with the candidate’s resume so that you can actively engage with them about their experience and skills as stated. Being unprepared leaves a very poor impression.

The candidate resume

Keep in mind that up to 30 per cent of resumes contain inaccuracies. Ensure that you take nothing for granted and validate all information provided by the candidate.

Check all qualifications, asking for copies of transcripts from the candidate and approach each academic institution for confirmation of qualifications.

Scrutinise the period of employment for each position, ensuring the candidate has accounted for any gaps in employment and, if there are no gaps, check all dates with the referee from each former employer.

Validate achievements such as building business partnerships, converting new high-net-worth clients and introducing business processes that resulted in a profitability boost for the company.

When phoning referees, ensure you have a structured reference form that makes provision for validating the candidate’s claims.

Psychological testing

No one issue in recruitment polarises opinion more than the use of psychological testing. This tool should be used to ascertain the fitness of the person in your company and their psychological aptitude, pinpointing areas of potential development.

There are many different types of psych tests, ranging from simple online tests to those that are intensive and take four to five hours to complete in the one sitting. You may wish to speak to providers of these services to get a clearer idea as to their relevance to your recruitment search.

Probity checks

If you feel the candidate who will be offered the role should be subjected to probity checking you can, with their authority, initiate a criminal records check via the Australian Federal Police website, which will take approximately a fortnight to process.

In addition, you can conduct credit checks if you feel this is necessary.

Making an offer

You have found the right candidate and now you want to make a formal offer. Where possible, comprehensively cover all remuneration including salary, super, bonus scheme, memberships, discounted loans and other benefits.

A comprehensive letter of offer gives the candidate a feeling of comfort that the company is being forthright and acting in a professional manner, and that in future they will not have to revisit their terms of employment to check for verbally promised benefits that may have been forgotten about down the track.

For the company it is also a risk management tool that ensures both parties know exactly where they stand as to the employment contract.

Moving forward

Whichever way you conduct the recruitment search, just keep in mind that if you design and diligently implement a well thought out recruitment strategy you will achieve the outcome you are after.

Now go find that pen and blank sheet of paper and get going. Good luck.

Peter Dawson is executive director of the Financial Recruitment Group .