An independent financial planner is looking to bolster its adviser numbers in what it has called an "exciting period of growth".
Belmayne Independent Chartered Financial Planners is seeking advisers with chartered status to join its Dronfield-based business.
Martin Birch, partner at Belmayne, said the recruitment drive comes at a time of "exciting" growth for the company.
He said: "We can offer the perfect home to financial planners with the right ethos, who share our belief in putting clients first.
"Our tried and tested systems deliver the support advisers need to kickstart their career, move an established practice or discuss a retirement strategy."
Mr Birch is one of four partners who run the financial planning business, which was established in 2004.
Belmayne does not have a minimum or maximum target number in mind for new recruits, but Mr Birch said the company is seeking advisers with a chartered status to offer a certain level of experience and client book.
He said: "Chartered status allows the door to be opened, but the main thing is how an adviser then decides to deliver the advice."
He added: "We have spent many years refining each stage of our advice process and pride ourselves on going above and beyond our professional requirements to provide peace of mind."
The drive comes amid concerns raised about a "huge recruitment crisis" in the advice industry with 15,000 advisers set to leave the profession in the next ten years.
Earlier this month Octopus Investments warned the much discussed advice gap was set to widen as its latest research showed almost a third of advisers, 29 per cent, expected to retire in the next five years, rising to 58 per cent in the next ten years.
In a survey of 205 advisers in the UK Octopus found 44 per cent were concerned about attracting new advisers to their firm, with barriers cited such as the high cost of recruitment and the lack of a structured pathway for students to access the profession.
The biggest barrier to recruitment was cited as a difficulty in finding quality candidates, with more than two thirds of advice companies not having any advisers under the age of 30.
But Mr Birch said his company saw the foretold adviser exodus as an opportunity rather than a challenge, having prepared for a mass exit in recent years.
He said: "We saw this coming about 10 years ago, so for the past three to five years we have been looking for trainees who fit with our philosophy and to deliver advice once it happens.
"I see it as a massive opportunity when people leave the profession, we might see an influx in enquiries and we already have trainees in place to meet those needs."
Mr Birch said he has not struggled to find candidates with the relevant qualifications, but said the firm's main focus was on an adviser's "mindset" as opposed to qualifications anyway.
He added: "This is the first [recruitment drive] we have done for some time so hopefully someone will be looking for a better home for their clients and hopefully we can offer that."
The warning bells sounded by Octopus were of a similar tune to those sounded in the in Heath Report Three earlier this year, which suggested the delayed impact of the Retail Distribution Review could see one in five advisers leave the industry through planned retirement in the next five years.
The Heath report surveyed 249 adviser firms representing 865 advisers on the current availability and future of advice in the UK and identified a five-year window following the introduction of RDR which had seen adviser numbers remain "static."
But the report warned this "Indian Summer" was now coming to an end and 7,000 advisers could exit the industry in the next half a decade.
rachel.mortimer@ft.com
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