Andy Tully, technical services director at Nucleus, looks at how confidence can be built gradually for those starting out in financial advice, whatever their age or route into the profession.
This month’s In Focus looks at how younger advisers can build confidence, develop their skills and lay the foundations for a successful career in financial advice. We explore the practical support, guidance and experience that can help early-career advisers grow into their roles and prepare for long-term success.
For those new to a sector, it can be difficult to feel confident from day one. Whether they are young people fresh out of education, or people on their second or third career, starting a job in advice, whether advisers, paraplanners, BDMs, administrators or technical staff, means getting to grips with regulation, technology and financial concepts, as well as sharpening people skills live and in front of clients. It can feel like a hair-raising experience even for the most self-assured.
Fortunately, through a mix of preparation, experience, good habits, and access to knowledgeable and helpful people, confidence can be built gradually.
Exams, mentors, and coaches each do different things
Let’s start in the obvious place: qualifications. Qualifications give early-career staff the technical foundation they need to understand the rules, the products, the planning areas and the regulatory context in which they operate. They are important, especially in a regulated profession. Passing exams, however, does not automatically translate into confidence with clients. The knowledge is there, but applying it to real situations, suitability conversations, vulnerability assessments, tax planning, protection, pensions, requires something else.
Here’s where mentorship comes in. A good mentor helps someone understand how the profession works in practice. They can shed a light on what sound judgement looks like, how to handle uncertainty, how to learn from a mistake, and how to navigate a difficult conversation. Mentors do not have to be formal supervisors. They can be experienced advisers, compliance colleagues, operations managers, or senior support staff; the key is access to someone who will sense-check thinking and debrief afterwards.
Finding the right mentor takes some thought. The most senior person available is not always the most useful; sometimes, someone five or ten years further along often has more practical value – near enough to remember what early uncertainty feels like, with enough experience to offer genuine perspective. I’d suggest looking for someone who gives time willingly, challenges as well as supports, and whose approach to the work resonates. It helps if they sit outside your immediate line management, so conversations can be genuinely candid.
So, where to find a mentor? For those whose firms do not run a formal mentoring programme, professional bodies are a natural place to start. The Personal Finance Society and the CISI both offer mentoring routes, as well as a broader community of peers. Simply asking someone whose work you admire is often more effective than people expect.
Networking deserves a mention of its own here. Financial services runs a busy calendar, including regional meetings, national conferences, adviser forums, platform events, and gatherings run by communities. These are places where early-career professionals can hear how others have navigated the same challenges, find potential mentors, and start building peer relationships that last throughout a career.
Coaching, too, is worth considering, though it serves a different purpose. Rather than the sort of back-and-forth conversational guidance that mentors bring, a coach gives more targeted advice. They might offer insight into how to explain something clearly, how to manage nerves before a difficult call, how to run a meeting, or how to ask better questions.
Confidence comes through good habits
Away from structured support, confidence is built through doing the basics consistently well. Building habits like knowing the client file before a meeting, taking clear notes, following up promptly, communicating in plain English and knowing when to escalate are reliable ways to stay organised and ‘in the know’, reducing the likelihood of making easily avoidable mistakes.
In addition, those new to the sector should feel comfortable verbalising what they aren’t sure. When in doubt about an answer, “I’ll check that and come back to you” is nearly always the right response, provided the follow-up is accurate and timely. They are unlikely to be judged for not knowing absolutely everything. While ‘fake it ’til you make it’ almost always has a role to play somewhere, I’d caution against those new to the industry piling pressure on themselves to know everything before they’ve had a moment to get their feet under the desk.
For firms, developing early-career confidence should be seen as a whole-team responsibility that rewards sustained, practical investment across all sorts of roles. At Nucleus, we recognise this, which is why we work with the Verve Foundation’s We Are Change programme, which aims to support women looking to start a career in financial advice.
Feeling uncertain at the beginning of a new career is completely normal, and it won’t last forever. The more the profession recognises that confidence is built by many people, the better its chances of attracting and keeping top talent.
By Andy Tully, Technical Services Director, Nucleus
