A speedier learning curve for up-and-comers

The first round of participants in the MLC Adviser Scholarship program graduated last Friday, completing the two-year course that offers a structured path from which to launch careers as financial advisers.

The program began in 2005 and aims not only to increase the skill level of people in the financial services industry wanting to become financial planners, but boost the number of practising advisers in the market, with a specific view to providing succession planning solutions for established practice principals.

Under the scheme, 25 scholarship opportunities are opened up to MLC’s broader financial planning network, including practices operating under the Apogee, Garvan or Godfrey Pembroke banners, every six months.

The various practice principals are then encouraged to apply to participate in the program, and the scholarships are awarded based on merit.

MLC executive — adviser growth and development — Wayne Handley explained the program could work in two ways for practice principals.

“The scholarships are offered to our self-employed businesses that have current members of their team that maybe junior, up-and-coming planners or paraplanners wanting to move into a full financial planning role. It may also be the case that they may not have recruited the person … and it allows them to attract talent by going into the market and saying if you come and work for my financial planning group I’ve got a scholarship with MLC that will put you though some specialised training for two years,” Handley said.

Candidates for the program are required to have a diploma of financial services as a minimum standard qualification. Students then undergo the adviser scholarship training in conjunction with trying to obtain higher qualifications.

“They will have an ADFS (Advanced Diploma of Financial Services) when they finish with us and preferably a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) accreditation, but that’s their own choice at that time,” Handley said.

While the term ‘scholarship’ holds connotations that the initiative only applies to younger financial services professionals, the program is available for applicants from all age groups.

“We’ve got some people in the course who are in their 40s and 50s. There are mature aged advisers entering into the market, and there is no selection criterion based on age, it’s just that the majority of candidates happen to be in their early to mid-20s or early to mid-30s,” Handley explained.

One positive outcome that has already emerged from the program is the high level of participation from female planning practice staff. Intake statistics show that currently 60 per cent of scholarship participants are female, a result Handley described as “absolutely fantastic” because only 3 per cent of the exising MLC advisory network are female.

According to Handley, the main focus of the course is to enhance the relationship building and interpersonal communication skills of each candidate, which will ultimately assist them in providing better quality financial advice.

“A lot of the participants are very technically apt, but they’ve lacked the selling, sales and interpersonal skilling that when we came into the profession was the first thing that you learnt. It’s not being taught today in a sophisticated enough manner, so this course is strongly linked towards bringing some expertise on interpersonal skilling, communicating with the client, developing a relationship, business planning and marketing. That’s what the course is about,” Handley said.

Paul Bennett, employed by GodfreyPembroke practice Ascent Private Wealth in Melbourne, is a graduate of the program who said he noticed changes in his own approach to clients as he progressed through the course.

“I definitely felt my confidence growing and my listening skills improving. I was also able to relate to the client a little bit more, and it meant I could really focus on listening to the client and understanding where they were coming from. It’s helped me to overcome my nerves, and that’s helped me be a bit more effective in communicating,” he explained.

“The training also increases the awareness you have of different things, like how the client might be perceiving you in your style and how that fits in with their style so you can communicate more effectively,” Bennett added.

Another aspect of the program he highlighted was the ability to compare experiences with peers who were at similar stages of their careers.

“One of the best things to come out of it was the interaction with other young advisers in a similar situation and just being able to compare notes with them on a peer level and find out how they might be coping with issues that are common to us,” Bennett said.

The principal of Ascent Private Wealth, Mark O’Toole, believes his business was in a prime position to benefit from the program as well.

“Paul joined the practice as an associate adviser, had good technical knowledge and was developing that rapidly, and he was at that stage where we were having a number of conversations about the consultative advisory process in dealing with clients and the practical side of dealing with them and dealing with their issues, and how to manage the relationship with them,” he said.

“Then the scholarship came along and I thought it was good because it further enhanced the practical experience. This usually takes time, and if you can accelerate that learning through external influences such as the peer group exposure, the role-playing, the external measuring; then it’s extremely valuable. The scholarship program really helped further develop Paul’s communication skills at a higher level in that consultative trusted adviser approach to dealing with clients,” O’Toole surmised.

MLC has released 75 scholarships to date and intends to release another 75 in the near future. Currently, the financial services organisation has stipulated that only one scholarship can be awarded to a particular practice to ensure fair representation across the dealer group. However, Handley said there was a possibility this rule will be reviewed.

“If we’re starting to see the quality of the program dropping away and the practices that are asking for a second opportunity are good quality practices that have delivered a good outcome, absolutely we’d go back there. But at the moment it’s one per practice,” he explained.