One roof, multiple routes for ambitious advisers – Allkins

For those with the ambition, there is every chance to progress and reach your full potential – whether that’s as a successful employed adviser, someone building their own advice business or as a principal developing and leading their own team of advisers.

That is without even considering branching off into wealth advice, other specialist areas such as commercial advice, equity release and business protection, or the opportunities available in training, management and leadership – finding and mentoring the next generation of advisers.

It is no secret that, as an industry, we don’t do enough to highlight externally just how rewarding and fulfilling a career in the mortgage market and financial services can be. I would also argue that there are probably people in the industry right now, confined by restrictive structures or lacking the right levels of support, who perhaps don’t fully realise that opportunity and progression are out there for them too.

Being in the self-employed division at Just Mortgages, we have a great vantage point of those different pathways and how they intersect. We see advisers at very different stages of their careers, from those taking their first steps into advice through to experienced advisers running established businesses and leading teams.

What is particularly interesting is that there is not necessarily one right route through the industry.

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Many ways to progress

For someone starting out, an academy can provide an important first step. Combining the technical training needed to enter the profession with the practical support and experience needed to build confidence and develop a career in advice. Look in the right places and you’ll also find options for those with no qualifications, but the aptitude and ambition to succeed.

From there, an employed estate agency role or a position working under a business principal can offer the opportunity to put that knowledge into practice, develop relationships with customers and lenders, and build confidence before perhaps taking the next step.

For some, that next step will be going self-employed, whether that’s building their own mortgage and protection business, moving into more specialist advice, such as wealth, or taking on the responsibility of a team.

The important thing is that advisers’ ambitions and circumstances can change throughout their careers and the industry needs to be flexible enough to not just accommodate that, but to support and encourage it.

That is where having all these different routes under one roof can make a real difference.

Next steps

An adviser should not necessarily have to leave their organisation simply because their aspirations have changed. Someone who starts their career through an academy may ultimately want to become self-employed. An experienced adviser might want to take the next step and become a principal, building and recruiting their own team. Equally, someone who has spent years advising on mortgages may decide they want to broaden their expertise.

These are not necessarily separate careers, but more stages or directions within the same career path.

Similarly, there is a growing opportunity for experienced advisers to look beyond advice. As the industry continues to think about how we attract and retain talent, experienced people have a vital role to play in developing those coming behind them. Mentoring a team of advisers or taking on a leadership role can offer another route for progression, while helping to address some of the skills and experience gaps the industry faces.

Few financial services career journeys are alike

What this all shows is that a career in advice or financial services doesn’t have to follow a straight line. The route in and the steps you take afterwards can vary and happen at different points, depending on the individual.

The real value is having those pathways available within one organisation, backed up by strong training, mentoring, infrastructure and support, so that the next opportunity feels more like a step than a leap.

It’s something we’ve always been conscious of at Just Mortgages, giving advisers the opportunity and the infrastructure to achieve success, however they choose to define that.

Ultimately, I think the industry needs to get better at showing people, both those considering this as a career and those currently doing it, just how many doors advice can open. Just as important is creating an environment where advisers can pursue whichever path best suits them, without having to start again every time their ambitions evolve.

For me, that’s what a modern advice business should be about: creating opportunity, providing the support to make the most of it and giving ambitious people the freedom to decide where their career takes them.