The recent run of scandals involving the financial planning industry has led to People’s Choice Credit Union establishing a South Australian first – an innovative Internship and Graduate Program to ensure its values and standards are maintained.
Recruitment is underway for the People’s Choice Financial Planning Internship and Graduate Program.
“With the major banks in the news once again for all the wrong reasons, public confidence in the financial planning sector has suffered significantly,” said People’s Choice Chief Executive Officer, Steve Laidlaw.
“Now there’s talk of a Royal Commission into the big banks – it all erodes trust,” Mr Laidlaw said.
“With this program we’re demonstrating that there are financial organisations you can still trust with your hard-earned money, and People’s Choice is certainly one of those,” he said.
The launch of the Internship and Graduate Program puts People’s Choice well ahead of the Federal Government’s plans to increase educational requirements for financial planners.
“We welcome moves to lift professional standards in the financial planning sector, and having a graduate program will provide People’s Choice with a steady stream of highly skilled and highly ethical financial planners to help our members prosper,” Mr Laidlaw said.
Targeting second-year commerce, financial planning, economics and accounting students, the program will transition an unqualified candidate through four stages of professional development over three years – from an undergraduate through to a qualified financial planner.
Interns will be offered a limited number of placements with People’s Choice for a six to twelve week summer internship. At its conclusion, they will be assessed for their suitability to enter the formal graduate program during their final year of studies for a further three years, with subsidised study and on-the-job training.
“As a People’s Choice employee, the participants will be given increased responsibility as their experience and knowledge grows and as they learn the financial planning process from the ground up. This will start with an initial placement in the support team, moving to para-planning before transitioning into an associate financial planner role, before becoming fully qualified,” Mr Laidlaw said.
“Interns and graduates will not only learn practical skills, they’ll be part of our values system which is all about integrity, trust and putting the member at the heart of everything we do,” he said.
“As a credit union we don’t have to chase massive profits for shareholders. We’re not focused on selling particular wealth management products or brands; instead, we’re focused on acting in our members’ best interests to help them achieve their financial goals,” he said.
Working closely with the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia to promote the program, interest from candidates has already been strong.
“People’s Choice has a huge commitment to staff training at every level of the organisation – from new branch staff through to our senior leaders. Last year we provided 29,255 hours of training and development, which included 4,339 hours of leadership development programs,” Mr Laidlaw said.
“This new program is an extension of that, and will further reinforce our standing as an employer of choice in the finance sector,” he said.
More information about the People’s Choice Financial Planning Internship and Graduate Program.
Applications close on 26 April 2016.
