How to spot the best graduates

Graduates are usually - but not always - fresh-faced, eager and ready to learn. Question is: how do you spot the ones who are right for your business?

A university graduate can be a useful addition to many IFA firms. A willingness to learn and recent exam experience means, in theory, they will have the ability to reach QCF Level 4 - a requirement under RDR - relatively quickly.

In addition, the fact they are fresh to the industry makes them ideal candidates to mould into employees who 'get' the firm’s culture.

But where do you find the best graduates?

Graduate internship programmes

A good starting point might be to become involved with a university’s graduate internship programme, according to Philip Dewhurst, managing director of Manchester-based wealth management company, Dewhurst Torevell.

Dewhurst said the programmes are a “useful way of tapping into some unproven but good quality people”.

“We prefer to take on graduates rather than experienced hires as we like to concentrate on teaching them the Dewhurst Torevell way of doing business instead of them having to un-learn existing business practices,” he says.

The company works alongside Manchester University’s business school, a department that puts a lot of effort into helping its graduates secure work experience and exposure to possible careers, according to Dewhurst.

The first step is to place an advert and job specification on the university’s graduate employment website. In Dewhurst Torevell’s case, this was a six-month internship as a trainee paraplanner and resulted in around 15 applications.

A pre-interview conducted by the University itself will whittle the number down to a shortlist of just four or five people, who will then be seen by the company recruiting.

Since using the programme for the first time last year, Dewhurst Torevell has taken on one intern full time. The firm has agreed a five-year programme of further education, gaining experience and qualifications. The long-term plan is to lead the graduate to “fully-fledged” adviser status, says Dewhurst.

Satisfied with the outcome of the last process, the company is now looking for “at least one more” graduate through the scheme.

In-house graduate scheme

A larger firm might want to consider establishing its own graduate scheme. Sanlam Private Wealth has done just this: the programme has an established reputation in the industry and has won awards in the process.

The company looks for graduates with a minimum 2:1 degree, although it states this can be in any discipline. Once shortlisted, applicants are put through an initial interview, followed by assessments for “mental toughness” and “attitude to goals”. If successful, there is one final interview. Once a new recruit begins, training is ongoing.

“The graduates strive for personal excellence in skills and performance so this continues in the years following qualifying,” says Amanda Jones, human resources manager at the company.

Sanlam runs revision workshops and technical training for all exams, as well as having a dedicated training consultant who runs regular workshops covering an array of soft skills and RDR topics.