Lewis Byford, director of recruitment consultancy Antony George, says what paraplanners want from a job has changed and employers need to adapt to the new environment
Since the pandemic we have seen so many changes, personally and professionally. One thing we have personally seen is how employers have changed the way they view paraplanners. We have seen a sharp increase in the number of paraplanner vacancies and when asking our clients why they are recruiting we are starting to see a pattern.
Reasons for recruiting:
- The need for financial planning has grown since the pandemic and we are receiving an increasing number of referrals
- We have previously outsourced our paraplanning and want to bring it in house
- The advisers were writing their own reports and we now want to provide them with additional support.
Since the paraplanning role has become such an important part of the advice process, clients have had to be more accommodating to attract the best paraplanners for their businesses.
Some of our clients are not being as adaptable and still demanding that a paraplanner should be in the office 100% of the time. We put out a poll question to our LinkedIn network on this subject and the results were extremely interesting but not surprising in our opinion. The post received nearly 100,000 views, over 3,000 votes and 199 comments.
We asked:
“I’m struggling to fill a job with a client who wants someone in the office Monday – Friday 09:00 – 18:30. Would you turn down a similar career opportunity that paid more money due to being in the office full time?”
Poll results:
Completely against being in the office full time
Yes: Approx. 2,445 – 73% agreed that they would turn down a similar role that required them to be in the office full time.
No: Approx. 904 – 27% people said that being in the office full time would not bother them.
When we shared this with our client they were really taken back. Even though their business hadn’t changed they were unaware of how the industry had changed around them. When everyone is looking for the best talent, financials are now no longer the deciding factor. Flexibility, autonomy and work/life balance seem to be winning the candidates over all the time.
In addition, many of our clients have mentioned that since working from home was implemented, the increase in productivity and quality of reports being written has gone up by at least 30%.
The message seems clear for employers: Want a more streamlined and compliant business? Give the team what they are looking for!
We would love to hear from you about what you think of this, so feel free to reach out to us on [email protected] or you can head over to our website: www.antonygeorge.com
