Onus on firms to attract employees
Recent findings that enforceable undertakings and bad publicity surrounding the wealth management industry were hindering attracting new employees was too much of a broad brush and not necessarily reflected in individual businesses, advisory firms said.
Eureka Whittaker Macnaught's chief financial officer, Andrew Jones, said while there might be specific geographic locations where the failure of a product or a planning business could have tainted that particular community, it was not necessarily the case in every business.
"There's what's going on in certain parts of the market, and there's what's going on in your own business. If you're comfortable running your well-run business, with strong values and good service for clients, then you should be able to attract good staff irrespective of what's going on in certain parts of the industry," he said.
But Jones acknowledged operating from the central business district in cities like Sydney and Brisbane meant firms like his would have a larger pool of applicants to sift through.
"If you're a regional business, where there are not that many candidates, then for our regional brothers and sisters that may be a fair and valid comment."
Boutique firm Moran Howlett Financial Planning's principal Paul Moran said people were very gun shy of working for large institutions, despite research finding larger institutions were making further headway in reassuring clients and prospective employees through a clear approach.
"While they talk about it, the fact is that when you walk down the street and ask a hundred people whether they would prefer to go to an independent financial adviser or a bank financial adviser, the majority would say an independent financial adviser," Moran said.
While neither firm was currently recruiting, Moran said people with degrees and masters qualifications frequently contact his firm for employment opportunities.
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