Good paraplanners are a scarce commodity, according to Linda Todd, head of operations at Bankhall.
Ms Todd says a scarceness of top paraplanners is due to the fact this is a relatively new career path in financial services. As a result, Ms Todd says pay and conditions for a qualified, experienced paraplanner can be on the same level as that of an adviser.
In 2010, the Institute of Financial Planning launched the Certificate in Paraplanning, a QCF Level 4 qualification; the Chartered Insurance Institute followed suit with an identically named qualification a year later.
Those who achieve the IFP’s qualification can then call themselves Accredited Paraplanners and use the organisation’s logos to prove their credentials.
To make sure you attract the right candidates, you need to be clear about the type of support that you want and the package you can offer.
Emma Watson, technical development and quality specialist for Towry, says you should think about the following:
1) What are the benefits of working at your firm in particular?
2) Do you want to specify minimum qualifications and experience?
In terms of checking out the skills level of your potential recruit, Ms Watson says you should not rely solely on their qualifications and experience but instead consider some generic knowledge questions and a task exploring their ability to use clear and concise language.
Ms Watson says: “It is important to ask lots of non-work questions too. You will work closely with a paraplanner often to tight deadlines and there needs to be a high degree of trust so finding someone you get on with is essential.”
Don’t try to attract the best paraplanner to your business, try to attract the most appropriate, says Damian Davies, director and founder of Timebank.
In the same way that a good client service proposition attracts the right clients to an IFA business, Mr Davies says a carefully considered recruitment proposition attracts the right staff.
Work out what the paraplanner is to do, what the salary is, what the benefits of the role are and what sort of personality.
Then, Mr Davies says you should not be impatient, meet as many people as possible and the right candidate will jump out at you.
He says: “Our process involves qualification and experience parameters as a first filter, followed by an interview to understand attitudes.
“Then the paraplanner undertakes a case study. If this is successful, they then call all existing paraplanners to make sure they will feel at home with the rest of the team.”
