St. James’s Place Wealth Management has welcomed a further 155 qualified advisers to a new career in financial planning, and 74 new paraplanners. Three graduation ceremonies were recently held in Edinburgh (19 November), Manchester (3 December) and London (10 December) to celebrate the success of all the individuals who have completed their training with the St. James’s Place Academy.
The three graduation ceremonies celebrated both this year’s graduates and those that graduated in 2020, many of whom completed the course remotely as a result of the pandemic. The day saw a variety of speakers – including Head of Academy, Andy Payne, and Academy Director, Sean McKillop – talk to the new advisers and paraplanners about the importance of bringing new talent into the profession, and how they can go on to build a successful career within the SJP Partnership.
The Academy trains high calibre candidates in financial advice, providing support for future Partners of St. James’s Place to start and build their own high quality wealth management Practice. At the end of the programme, Academy graduates can enjoy the autonomy of running their own business under the umbrella of St. James’s Place or choose to work within existing Partner Practices. To date, 801 people have graduated from the Academy – from professional athletes to teachers and female career returners.
Andy Payne, Head of Academy, St. James’s Place, says: “Our graduation days have been an incredible celebration of the talented and dedicated new Partners and advisers that have committed themselves to improving the quality of advice. Seeing the talent we’ve had come through our programme gives me a lot of excitement and hope for the future. I look forward to welcoming the next wave of Academy members in 2022.”
This ceremony follows the Academy’s recently refreshed approach for the future of training, which includes the use of industry-leading Virtual Reality technology to allow trainees to roll-play client meetings, practicing elements such as fact-finding and rapport building with a greater degree of realism.
Andy Payne continues: “One of the most important steps going forward with the Academy is that it’s for all – all genders, races and backgrounds. I believe that our new ‘location-less’ Academy and will result in a much more inclusive environment for recruits and, ultimately, lead to better outcomes for SJP clients.”
