AMP is casting its net wider in the quest to find new financial planners, launching a part-time option for its Horizons Financial Planning Academy.
Horizons director Tim Steele says the new option – which AMP is currently piloting in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and is targeting an intake of 18 applications – will be especially attractive to female candidates. The first full intake for the part-time program will be in late October.
Steele says that about 25 per cent of the 478 graduates of the academy to date are female. Horizons has undertaken to the AMP board that by the end of 2014, 50 per cent of graduates will be female.
According to Steele, it is critical that the output of the academy represents the gender balance in wider society.
Better performers
“This is about attracting people who would otherwise not be able to go through our program,” he says.
“It’s something that we’ve been thinking about for 12 to 18 months. It started with the challenge we believe exists in how we might bridge the gender gap that exists in the industry.”
Steele says the academy’s female graduates have performed, on average, better than male graduates; it’s just that there have not been enough female applicants.
The new part-time academy course runs over 20 weeks rather than the 10 weeks of the usual course.
Steele says a key element of the short course is a two-week full-time stint in Sydney, which was often a significant barrier for potential candidates. The part-time structure is designed to overcome this, and to broaden the appeal and the intake of the academy.
The academy is due to accept its nineteenth intake of applicants in a few days’ time and, with 45 candidates accepted, it is the largest single intake yet. Of the individuals who have graduated to date, 94 have set up their own financial planning businesses, with the balance placed in existing practices in the AMP, Hillross and AXA networks.
Structure of the part-time
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| Weeks 1–2 |
Two weeks full-time residential study at AMP Horizons in Sydney (must have completed two modules of Diploma of Financial Services/RG146 compliance at this point). |
| Weeks 3-7 | Five weeks part-time practice placement at Horizons Financial Group in candidate’s home region, including structured learning and practice manager observations and mentoring. |
| Week 8 | One-week full-time skills assessment lab at AMP Horizons in Sydney to attain representative status (must have completed Diploma of Financial Services/RG146 compliance at this point). |
| Weeks 9–20 | 12 weeks part-time associate planner placement in Horizons Financial Group in home region, with first client contact established under the guidance of practice managers. |
| Further seven months | Full-time or part-time professional year as representative. |
Source: AMP
