As recently reported, the wealth manager has changed how it sources future advisors, and explained its reasoning to this publication.

RBC Wealth Management, part of the Royal Bank of Canada, whose headquarters are in Toronto, is revamping its Associate Financial Advisor (AFA) training program to allow more 'diverse' candidates – from inside and outside the financial services industry – to join the firm and follow careers in the sector. A person who may have had a career in a sector entirely unconnected to financial services can enrol.

As this publication has noted, the initiative is not unique – other wealth management houses are changing the way in which they find the advisors of tomorrow.

Family Wealth Report recently quizzed RBC WM about its strategy.

What is the main reason you are doing this? Have you not been able to recruit sufficient numbers of quality professionals inside the financial services sector?
RBC is actively growing. We’ve had a record year for recruiting and we are proud of that. But this campaign brings another dynamic to our recruiting opportunities and gives our current financial advisors a way to bring in the next generation of financial advisors. As with everything we do, we want to put our best foot forward and ensure this campaign is a success.

As a large percentage of the current financial advisor force industry wide draws closer to retirement, the need to attract talent to the industry grows. To address this pending talent shortage, we need to be open to looking outside of the current advisor ranks. In the search for new talent, it’s important to keep in mind the clients we serve. Adding more diverse talent to our advisor ranks is good for the industry, good for our business but most of all, good for our clients.

Additionally, with trillions of dollars set to transfer over the coming years to the next generation, our advisor base needs to better reflect the clients they will serve in the future. Studies show that 67 per cent of women feel misunderstood by their current financial advisor and that 55 per cent of women between 25 and 34 prefer working with female financial advisors.

Is this more diverse approach to recruitment driven by clients, such as a desire to bring in people who know more about different sectors, demographic groups, and other areas? Are there particular issues that led to this revamp of the program?
As previously mentioned, with trillions of dollars set to transfer over the coming years to the next generation, our advisor base needs to better reflect the clients they will now serve.   Additionally, younger investors have different interests and investment needs, so we want our advisor base to be able to best serve their clients’ needs. 

When do you hope to start seeing results in terms of people joining the program? Is there a timeline on this? How will you measure how successful this is (or, put it another way, what are your key performance indicators)?
We have already seen results from our “Women of RBC” video storytelling campaign.  We have received a lot of interest from potential advisors, and even recently hired a woman branch director in Houston who saw the women’s videos and became more interested in joining RBC.

Regarding the AFA program, we do not have a set timeline, as career changes are a big decision and can take time.  We want to ensure that we attract the right people who are a good fit with the RBC culture. Since launching the program: over 550 job applications received; six campus events attended in the spring 2018 UWI-Madison partnership – to hire nine summer interns from CFP program; 42 AFA hires in [full-year] 2018 – 40 per cent female, and active pipeline of candidates – 60 per cent female.

Has RBC done anything like this before in the US or other parts of the world?
In Canada, RBC has started a similar “Women of RBC” video campaign to attract more diverse candidates to the industry.

Does the industry have a talent shortage problem and can this be fixed? Is there an education issue?
We believe education is a big part of it. Our chief of staff, Kristen Kimmell, often quotes the central theme of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media: If she can see it, she can be it. Study after study shows that role models have a great impact on girls when it comes to giving them confidence to pursue a particular career. Kimmell says, “Young women, in particular, assume that to be a financial advisor they need exceptional math skills and a comfort with sales. But if you ask the women who work in the profession to explain what they do, they would say they listen, solve problems and help people achieve their dreams.” That is why it was important to create the video series, “Women of RBC”, so that women could see themselves in the various paths that different women took to become advisors and the different qualities each bring to the position.