Pick up any trade journal these days and you’re bound to see at least a couple of articles about the current ‘Great Resignation’ taking place in our industry. It’s one of the unintended consequences of the COVID fueled work-from-home phenomena combined with an unprecedented, extraordinary rate of business growth over the past two years.
We tend to downplay the capacity restraints that come with accelerated growth—as our teams feel compelled to do more and more as they onboard new client after new client. Stress among team members can gradually begin to boil over; far from an ideal situation amid this ongoing advisor migration towards perceived greener pastures.
So, what’s the solution? What do you do if you’re an advisor in Kansas City and now (because of far greater mobility of advisors to work remotely) you’re competing for talent against firms in New York City or Los Angeles?
To paraphrase Alec Baldwin’s character in Glengarry Glen Ross—always be recruiting! Yes, recruiting in today’s market environment can be challenging. But it can be a powerfully winning strategy if you’re able to create the right culture that attracts the right people to your firm.
Recruiting is prospecting; treat it that way
You have to approach the process of recruiting the same way you approach prospecting for your next best client. You don’t turn prospecting on and then off and then on again. The best in the business are always growing and always networking and prospecting in search of new clients. Looking for talent in today’s hiring landscape requires the exact same commitment. You should:
It’s the advisors, CEOs and leaders who have a consistent talent recruiting focus and dedicated recruiting resources (either internal or external), who are consistently attracting and retaining top talent. They’re able to paint a picture of the future firm, and then partnering with potential candidates to better understand what each individual wants out of his or her career and work. If you can effectively match those two up—where the firm’s headed and where the individual is headed—you’ll enjoy tremendous recruiting success.
Lastly, now’s the time to be increasing the frequency and level of communication with your team. Integrate more one-on-ones with team members. And strange as it may sound, try to inject more fun into your team meetings and daily interactions. We conducted an extensive survey of advisory team members late last year—asking people what they were most looking for in their workplace (Click Here to download a copy of our Defining Your Future Team survey results). Consistently, after a year of working remotely, ‘fun’ was one of the things employees seemed to value most.
Coaching Questions from this article:
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