Ten hard-to-fill advisory roles filled in under a year, in a small market.
A wealth management firm, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Portfolio management, financial planning, compliance and client service hires for a firm with succession on the clock and a regional talent pool that could not supply them on its own.
- 10positions filled
- <1year from first search to tenth hire
- 4functions, portfolio management to client service
Specialized wealth management and advisory talent is scarce in Saskatoon. The firm's hard-to-fill vacancies were made harder by the regional pool, by time-sensitive hiring, and by succession needs that put a date on every search.
The right people had the advisory skills, the client-service background and the fit for a firm that lives on long client relationships. There were not many of them, and the ones that existed were employed.
We mapped the regional market first: who holds these roles in Saskatoon and the province, where they work, and who might move. Targeted outreach followed, with sector-specific qualification on advisory skill, client-service record and organizational fit.
Succession roles were handled as searches with a date, and the plan was built backwards from it.
The parts of the method that did the work.
- 01
Regional market mapping
In a market this size the candidate list is finite. We built it, then approached it, rather than waiting for it to apply.
- 02
Fit screened as carefully as skill
A client book follows an advisor the clients trust. The screen weighed how a candidate treats clients as much as what they manage.
- 03
Succession as a project
A retiring advisor's date set the search plan: identify, approach, interview, overlap. Each step had a week on it.
- 04
Compliance and client service in the same program
The roles that keep an advisory firm safe and its clients looked after were recruited alongside the advisors, not after.
Ten difficult-to-source positions filled in less than a year, across portfolio management, financial planning, compliance and client service.
Regional recruitment constraints overcome, and the time and effort the firm spent on initial candidate qualification cut back to decisions.
- Portfolio Manager
- Financial Planner
- Compliance Officer
- Client Service Associate
If you are hiring for roles like these.
- In a small market, build the listWaiting for applications in a city of this size is a plan to wait. Map the market and approach it.
- Put a date on succession searchesWork backwards from the retirement or the handover. The overlap period is part of the hire.
- Screen for how they treat clientsIn advisory work, fit with clients is the skill. Reference it specifically.
- Hire the compliance seat earlyGrowth in a regulated firm is capped by compliance capacity. It is not an afterthought.
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