Industry Demand for Financial Planning Graduates

The financial planning industry is evolving into a profession, underpinned by a range of regulatory, professional and market changes. A key component of the challenge to professionalism is to attract high calibre new entrants to financial planning degree programs and into the emerging profession. This paper details results of a survey of 191 financial planning practices on their expectations and plans for new entrants. The study finds that there is growing interest in the graduate pathways and methods of obtaining access to a talent pool. In addition, the majority of firms indicated that they would like to grow their staff numbers in the five years (to 2019) and nearly two thirds indicated that they will be seeking graduates for these growth positions. This paper will explore the demand for new entrants, particularly university graduates, into financial planning.