As a young, new entrant in the financial planning industry, Robin Eddie provides a fresh perspective. Her views on the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, especially, are a reminder of what the turmoil looks like from outside.
“When you first hear about the royal commission, it’s a little bit off-putting,” Eddie says. “It sounds like you’re going into an environment that’s just head-to-toe in red tape, and as a student you’re not 100 per cent sure what it all means. You’ve never really been involved with those sorts of meetings and events, so it just kind of seems like a scary story way in the distance.”
Despite this, she recognises why a royal commission is necessary and holds hope that the industry will be better for it. She has faith in her mentors at Sherlock Wealth and sees value in the support their licensee, Matrix Planning Solutions, provides.
“Speaking to Rob and Andrew [Sherlock senior adviser Robert Castro and head of advice Andrew Sherlock] and seeing how they operate, it [the royal commission] does seem like a good thing. We’ve been to a professional development day with our licensee, Matrix, and seeing all the actions that they’re putting in place – it’s encouraging,” she says. “I think if the processes improve after all this, it should be better for the advisers, their clients and even the support staff.”
Eddie has completed her first three months at Sherlock as a client services officer, after coming through the Grad Mentor program early this year. Professional Planner covered the event where she met more than a dozen practice managers and chief executives in six-minute ‘speed dating’ sessions.
Grad Mentor aims to match university graduates with financial planning and accounting firms and provides a conduit for advisory firms to recruit young talent. Employers compensate the program if matches are made and an employment contract is signed.
While the process is daunting – the speed-dating sessions are fraught with nerves – for a new graduate, it provides invaluable experience and an opportunity to rub shoulders with the kind of people interested in hiring young talent. They also get help with their resume and learn what to expect in the interview process.
“They take your CV and tell you how you can improve it, plus they’ve got a lot of videos on how to tackle tough interview questions – videos I wish I had seen many years ago, like one that teaches you how to answer when somebody asks what your weaknesses are,” Eddie explains. “The first time I ever heard that question, I was in an interview and thought, ‘What?’ ”
From Africa to FASEA
Eddie was born in South Africa and had almost completed her economics degree when her family migrated to Sydney. She is completing a bachelor of commerce degree in applied financial planning and intends to finish the final units in her economics degree next year, too.
She is very much aware of the requirements coming from the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority and how they affect her.
“I’ve already checked my degree,” she says “so I know it will qualify me under the new rules.”
She has no issues signing up to an ethics standard and completing a professional development year, nor does she mind completing a qualifying exam.
“I may have an advantage with the exam, because they’re such a big part of a student’s life,” she says. “You sort of get into a rhythm with it, staying up late and timing it all. I can imagine a lot of older financial planners are not too keen on it, but I should be OK there.”
Great energy
Sherlock Wealth chief executive Jacqui Sherlock attended the Grad Mentor event and was one of the professionals Eddie met for a six-minute speed date. She is an advocate of the program and plans to attend the next event in June.
“I think the Grad Mentor model is something the accounting people are very good at,” she explains. “I also believe it’s something that planning will look at adopting more as the industry moves more towards professionalism.”
She says pulling in fresh graduates can help firms in a number of ways.
“The thing about Robin is that she’s really smart and she picks things up really quickly,” she says. “We also tell her that if she comes across anything in school that she thinks would be relevant for us to let us know.”
Jacqui notes that she’s been recommending the program to other planning firms as a bolt-on to their recruitment models.
“It’s been really valuable for us, having a graduate on board,” she says. “It’s a great energy. We’re already looking forward to the next one.”
