What skills are needed in the post-Covid world?

While some people will have been able to work from home before the pandemic struck the world, or will have had flexible working patterns in place anyway, for most office-based workers, doing everything from home represented a sea-change in their working lives. 

Add to the adjustment to remote working the fact that many people had to suddenly cope with partners wandering around the house, toddlers and pets making their on-screen debuts and children requiring home schooling from parents during the working day, and it is clear billions of people have had to adapt to a new normal.

While the standard requirements as set out by the Financial Conduct Authority's Conduct of Business Sourcebook, the Senior Managers' Certification Regime and core competencies required to meet the statement of professional standing still remain, other skills are coming to the fore. 

Advisers have had to adapt to new ways of working that has seen them - and their clients - learn new skills, such as holding Zoom conferences or doing screen-sharing remotely.

And, when it comes to hiring new talent into the financial services industry, a wide range of new skills will be appearing in job advertisements and on CVs that did not appear before 2019, such as use of webinar presentation software. 

It is worth employers paying close attention to an individual's professional output on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. -- Ian McKenna

Certainly for Helena Bogdanovski, head of talent acquisition for Foster Denovo, video conferencing skills will be a new thing to look for on a potential candidate's skill set as we enter the 'new normal' of a post-pandemic world.

She says: "Advisers will need to be well-versed in video conferencing and delivering cash flow modelling through this. 

"Most of our existing advisers are already well adept in this, however, so it has not been an issue."

Social media awareness, too, is also going to become more important - particularly if advisers wish to recruit not only younger staff adept at marketing to a wide audience using various social media platforms, but also recruiting clients from younger generations.

This is the view of Ian McKenna, founder and director at FTRC, who says: "More and more, young advisers are using social media as a successful means of attracting clients, so it is worth employers paying close attention to an individual's professional output on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

"Are they using these vehicles to reach new clients, and do they have the skills to adapt their social networking skills to building professional relationships?"

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