Financial Advisor: What is the cost of hiring?

Why recruit a financial advisor

Financial advisors can help your business to grow by providing you with financial plans for every part of your organisation. They can suggest the best pension plans for your budget, as well as advise on employee spending. Financial advisors can help you to pay off debt and make future investments worthwhile.

Contributions of a great financial advisor:

– Helps you draw up clear, easy to follow financial plans.

– Acts within your best interests and abides completely by fiduciary standards.

– Charges a fair commission for their services.

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance financial advisor

You might hire a financial advisor on a freelance, fee or commission basis if you are looking for someone to help you manage your personal financial plans. Commission-based financial advisors may also be useful to your business if you are looking to create a budget and financial plan for less regular projects. They can also help you with drawing up plans if you are a solo entrepreneur or looking to start up your own business. However, it is worth hiring a permanent financial advisor on salary if your SMB needs to draw up plans regarding your assets on a quarter-by-quarter basis, or even more regularly.

What are the different types of financial advisor?

You should aim to hire a financial advisor based on your personal requirements or those of your company. Different kinds of financial advisors will specialise in different areas of the financial sector. Therefore, you should specify the particular expertise that you require from a financial advisor in your job description. An investment advisor will be able to help manage your assets, as well as advising you on investment plans. If you are looking to budget and save money as an individual, then you may find a financial coach more useful to you.

• Financial coach: Helps teach you and your colleagues financial management and goal setting skills.
• Investment advisor: Advises you on investment recommendations, helping you to budget including for tax.
• Financial advisor: A financial advisor can advise you generally on money management techniques across a range of products like pension schemes or mortgage plans.
• Broker: Works as a middle person for you when arranging insurance, property or investment deals with other companies.
• Pension advisor: Helps you decide which pension schemes are right for you or your company, taking your budget and business size into consideration. 

Where to find a financial advisor

When choosing a financial advisor, you should make sure that they are certified to practise in the UK. They should have either Chartered Financial Planner or Certified Financial Planner qualifications. Therefore, a good place to begin your search is via the Financial Services Register, as they will have a record of all registered financial planners and other financial services professionals. The Independent Financial Advisers (IFA) database can also help you to locate qualified financial planners in your local area.

To find the right financial advisor for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Via the Financial Services Register: Use this register to help you find qualified financial advisors based in the UK.
• Through a specialist recruitment agency: You can headhunt candidates through recruitment agency that specialises in finding you financial industry professionals.
• Via the Independent Financial Advisers database: Use this database to search for independent, qualified financial advisors local to you.
• By networking with financial services professionals at business conferences: Meet candidates in person at business conferences, jobs fairs and other financial industry events.

Post your job online: Try posting your job for a financial advisor on Indeed to find and attract quality financial advisor candidates.

Skills to look for in a great financial advisor

A great candidate for a financial advisor will have the following skills and attributes as well as work experience that reflects:

• Strong mathematical abilities
• Honesty
• Problem-solving skills
• Ability to work well under pressure
• Ability to structure and plan long-term goals

Writing a financial advisor job description

A thoughtful description is important for finding qualified financial advisor candidates. A financial advisor job description includes a compelling summary of the role, detailed list of duties and responsibilities, and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your  job description for a financial advisor, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on financial advisors jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Finance
• Financial advisor
• Financial adviser
• Trainee
• Trainee financial advisor
• Banking
• Paraplanner
• Investment

Interviewing financial advisor candidates

Strong candidates for financial advisor positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Client history and previous advisor experience
• Their knowledge of different products
• Whether they charge based on a fee or on commission
• Knowledge of changes to the industry
• Work ethic and time management strategies
• Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of financial advisor interview questions for examples (with sample answers).