Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
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Dear Bev,
Where do we find good talent? The firm is growing and we have lots of opportunity for people but we can’t find team members that will be a good fit. We talk often to new graduates and junior advisors from other firms. They are nice people and seem talented. But we are searching for a certain style.
Do we have to hire a recruiter? The cost is prohibitive for a small firm like ours (we are nine people). Where are advisors having success finding the right talent?
M.G.
Dear M.G.,
The talent dearth is definitely real and I hear from many advisors (and larger firms) struggling with this issue. However, I also work with many, many firms who are continuing to find great talent that fits well in their environment.
The new hires are available – it just isn’t an easy process to locate and hire them.
Make sure your job posting captures the essence of your culture and paints a picture for a potential candidate about what it is like to work at your firm. I like the fact you referred to making sure someone is a good cultural fit, so you are already focused on this. Read your postings and clarify what this “fit” is, and what opportunity your firm offers to new hires. Many times a job posting is simply about the role; people care about more – they want to know what contribution they can make, what environment they will work in and what their colleagues will be like. You can’t capture all of this in a short posting, but see what you can weave through.
Network and work with local colleges to be introduced to people. And don’t interview just when you need a hire right away. Stay in touch with people, “drip” on them just like you would any prospect. It can be a long-term process and you need new talent over time, so treat this like an ongoing process.
The colleges, especially those with good financial programs, can be a great place to network. Part of the reason not many great candidates are available coming out of school is that they already have jobs. The internship programs are great because a candidate gets to learn more about you, and you about them. I know it can be difficult in a small firm because you need to oversee the person, give them engaging work and give them feedback – so it requires a commitment of time – but the payoff is that you have someone who knows you when they are ready for full-time work.
A recruiter can be great. They are expensive, but good ones do a thorough job and are well worth their fee. I started my career in executive search, so I know the hours and dedication it takes to find the right candidate. A good recruiter will take the time to learn about your advisory firm, the people and become immersed in the culture. They can be your voice in the market and help weed through those candidates who are not a good fit. Many have a financial “guarantee,” so if the candidate does not work out within a certain amount of time, they will find you a new person for no charge. Interview two or three firms and recruiters and find someone who you could work with well.
Promote your brand image in your local market too. If a good candidate is considering a career change, and they read or hear about the exciting things going on at your firm, they may reach out to you to ask if there are openings!
Lastly, you might want to teach a course at a local college. I have taught for years and find great talent for my own firm among the ranks of my students. I’ve hired many as interns and full-time staff over the years. It is another investment of time when you teach, but there can be a payoff to it!
Dear Bev,
Our team is split in half – two of us are hard drivers who want to get things done, and the other two are very passive individuals who don’t see any urgency in anything we are doing. Can we push them in a different way to help them become more motivated? We have meetings trying to excite everyone about the possibilities in our firm and in our market and they listen politely but don’t seem motivated to change.
P.A.
Dear P.A.,
It’s interesting to read this note from you. Yesterday I had a team where we did a behavioral debrief (they had run the DISC and driving forces profile we often use) and with six of them, there were three core D’s (the driving, aggressive, get-things-done style) and three lower D’s (the quiet, calm and thoughtful step-by-step style of getting things done). In their case, both sides benefitted from understanding this is a behavioral difference and neither is “good” nor “bad.” They have different approaches and if they can leverage these, and collaborate effectively, it is beneficial to the firm.
It sounds to me like your “push” to get your colleagues to act more like you might be driving them away. When it comes to opposite styles, the more we try and make someone else to be like us, the more entrenched they become in their own way of doing things. We get exactly the opposite result that we are seeking!
Reframe the discussion. Are you sure, for example, they are not excited and motivated? Maybe their way of showing this is very different from yours? Are they lagging in performance or not following through on important tasks? If so, this is a performance issue, not an attitudinal issue. Do they see their behavior as detrimental to the organization and is it actually detrimental? They may believe they are making just as important of a contribution as you and your other “driver” colleagues are doing, but they do it more quietly.
Have a meeting with the four of you and, instead of focusing on trying to fix their behavior, focus on joint short- and long-term goals, your vision and mission, what you are trying to accomplish, the roles each person is playing, and the contribution they are making.
Come together as a team rather than having an “us versus them” mentality.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate students Entrepreneurship. Beverly is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
Read more articles by Beverly Flaxington
Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here. 
