In this, the third and final part of IFA Magazine’s discussion with Pam Sutherland, Truestar Talent’s Founder, Pam assesses the current state of the IFA recruitment market and how Truestar works to enable people and firms to find the right solutions for them. In parts one and two of our interview, we took a look at how Truestar Talent’s range of services can benefit advisers, as well as delving into exit strategies and planning retirement in article 2.
Recruitment within financial services has been a world of peaks and troughs in recent years with the pandemic closing down opportunities and the break of lockdown opening up new ones.
However, after 18 months and more of turbulent recruitment market conditions, Pam Sutherland believes that the chaos may have subsided, with a more natural ebb and flow returning to the financial advice job market.
Pam said: “From my perspective it has gone back to a more traditional model. If you think pre-2020 before the pandemic there were certain times of year that were busy and there were certain times that were quieter. Then once we had the pandemic, I think from our perspective during that time, and understandably so, a lot of clients pulled in their horns on the recruitment side, instead looking after the people that they had.
“Post-pandemic, the world decided that they were going to recruit, and it became very much a candidate-led market. At that point there were lots of offers and counteroffers, there were a lot of people that, post lockdown, really reassessed their lives and you had people go off and do completely different things.
“Often there was quite a lot of recruitment where positions were being refilled because people were pulling out for different reasons. I think now that has calmed down and I think we’re going back more to a traditional pattern where you get certain parts of the year that are really busy and then certain periods that are quieter and then it bounces back up again.
“At the beginning of the year, analysts were saying that, potentially, the UK was going into recession but so far that hasn’t happened, thankfully. So ultimately now we can really see the traditional settings taking place as going into summer season it was a bit quieter but as we head into the autumn, we expect it to pick up.”
Evidently the recruitment market, as a whole, has been turbulent over the last 2-3 years, with job openings being scarce during the height of the pandemic but eventually being plentiful in the months that followed.
Pam suggested that the general recruitment market had been candidate-led and she believes that this translates into the IFA job market where there are great opportunities to work at the right companies in the right roles.
She said: “From an IFA perspective, there are a lot of good options out there so you can take your time to pick and choose what is right for you. I would strongly urge people to make informed choices rather than rush into anything. That is why it’s good to talk to someone, like us, who are holistic, who are whole of market and who are looking at who are the right clients to recommend.”
Despite the calming of the recruitment storm, Pam stresses the important of patience in the job market and believes that Truestar Talent’s approach of only working with clients that her team are well-informed on, will allow those IFAs who they work with to ensure that the career move is right for them.
She said: “There are a lot of clients out there looking to recruit and there are some that we won’t work with because we know they’re not a good home for people. We have a lot of clients that we know really well and have worked closely with for many years, some of whom we are sole provider for. If we’re talking to a client and it’s a new relationship, they can often be a little bit surprised because we don’t just take a job spec and go off and fill it for them. Just like an IFA, we start with soft facts and a full fact find.
“We put ourselves in the candidate’s shoes and want to understand the spec, understand how the role has come about and understand the team dynamic. What’s the manager like? What’s their management style like? How is success measured and renumerated? What about work/life balance? If this role has come from renewal, why is this and what is the leaving rate like? And we might be more aware of new movement, than the company talking with us.
“If it’s self-employed IFA roles, there are a wealth of questions too including areas such as: whether this is whole of market, multi tied, or specialised products for a specific client vertical. We want to understand the overall value to an IFA: the splits, the hidden costs, the additional support and the technology that underpins it. All our questions are aimed at ascertaining if this will be a client who is supportive and will be a successful home for the people that we recommend.
“As you can see, we do not take things at face value. We want to know how things work; otherwise, how can we recommend it?
“From our perspective, being passionate about wanting to do the right thing, it’s got to be about be finding someone the right home to thrive in and there is a lot that goes into that, before we take on a vacancy and new client, so that we can ensure success for everyone involved.”
In all, Truestar Talent offer a well-informed, well-researched, client-centric service that offers a wealth of experience that very few can match. They have their finger on the pulse of the IFA job market and advisers who are looking for new roles in the industry would do well to begin their search with Pam and the team at Truestar Talent.
About Pam Sutherland
Award-winning IFA and Financial Services Headhunter, Pam has been recruiting since the 90’s plus nearly 10 years running a national RPO for external advisory recruitment for Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland Investment Services. Choosing to be a Headhunter again in 2013 and creating Truestar Talent in 2015 this company has grown into a very successful national recruitment consultancy specialising in Advisory recruitment and IFA business acquisition.
To find out more visit: www.truestartalent.co.uk/meet-the-team/ and for IFAs selling their business visit: www.truestarlegacy.co.uk/why-us
