Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / Career swap and a fresh start in financial planning - Kate Evans

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Career swap and a fresh start in financial planning - Kate Evans · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, and welcome to the Financial Planner Life Podcast, where we talk to professionals at varying stages in their career about what it's like working in the wonderful world of financial planning and financial advice.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast is proudly sponsored by Recruit UK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on the financial services.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: They have a niche specialism, recruiting, within the financial planning industry.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So check out their website for the latest job opportunities, hints and tips, and blog articles.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Hello everyone, it's Elena back for this week's episode of the Financial Planner Life Podcast.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: And this week I am joined by Kate Evans, trainee power planner at Lucent Financial Planning.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: Kate is a second careerist, and in this episode, we talk all things transferable skill set, why it's important to get those exams and how you manage to bag the ever-important first role within financial planning.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: How are you this morning, Kate?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, hi Elena.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: Doing really well, thanks.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: How about you?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm doing very well.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for asking.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much for taking the time out to speak with me this morning.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: So, like we always begin, do you mind telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: A little bit about me.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I I would budge myself up as a bit of a career changer.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so earlier this year I got made redundant from a role in logistics and supply chain and moved over to the what I think anyway is the wonderful world of financial planning.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so as it stands at the moment, I have um just started probably in the last couple of weeks as a trainee power planner.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so really getting involved in some of the uh client annual review stuff and a bit of research there.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: So all new stuff, all causing my brain to essentially melt, um, but having a whale of a time doing it.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, excellent.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so glad you're enjoying it.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: And you, as you said, you've been doing the trainee, power planning things um for a couple of weeks now, but you previously were working in like client liaison sort of client relationship, am I right?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I did that for the first two months in my new role, um, and kind of a fantastic introduction into the world of a financial planning firm.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I think like the same with my previous career, really understanding how it works from I suppose the ground up is going to make you even better in the role.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I did that for a couple of months working with the client liaison team and kind of meeting all the great people we have here at Lucent.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Bab, how exciting! And as you said, you've like a second careerist as such.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: So you touched on it a little bit um just then to begin with.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: But what were you doing previously then?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I'm well, I was originally chartered in procurement and supply chain.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I started off as uh essentially what you call a buyer.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'd just buy random things for big companies.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I used to be an expert in pest control, uh ground maintenance, so I'd buy tractors and lawn mowering services.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and as I progressed through that, I ended up doing more of what I'd call a cost transformation role, which was uh end-to-end efficiencies.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: There you go, what on earth's that?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you would have seen probably the big ship that got stuck in the Sewers Canal.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it'd be my job to get the product from China and the Far East all the way to the shelf in a supermarket as cost effectively as possible.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of like reviewing stuff like that, process mapping, working with stakeholders and seeing if we could save them money.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: On the surface, and we'll delve into this a bit further, but on the surface, it sounds like a completely different role, doesn't it?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: As to what you're doing now, especially on the on the surface of it as such.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: So, how did you find out about financial planning?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: What made you be like, okay, I'm gonna move into this as such?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's an interesting one.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: So my other half had a bit of a oh crap moment.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it was like, I need to sort out my pensions.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he ended up getting a recommendation from I think our mortgage advisor.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And anyway, this guy rocks on up and he's like, right, I can move all your current pensions and we'll put it in this fund, this one, this one, this one, and this fund, and it'll cost you, I don't know, I'm making it up 2%.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he left, and my other half was like, What why would I give this man my money just to put it into those funds in a pension?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really like he just didn't care about us.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so because I do quite a lot of running and cycling, I was like, right, I'm gonna listen to some podcasts.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I stumbled across, I think is it Chris Bud's Financial Wellbeing podcast?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and obviously that links to ovation finance.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, name dropped there, not deliberately so.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um ended up pointing Richard in the direction of those guys.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we ended up with a great financial advisor who actually asked questions about us and what we wanted to do and our kind of life goals, aspirations.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we've ended up with a fantastic financial planner for the last couple of years.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and every time we've had an annual view, I've always been a bit like, oh, I could do this.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Could I do this?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: And um Tom essentially went, Yeah, why not?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so when I was made redundant, I'd always wanted to do something different, or I say always the last couple of years, I'd wanted to do something different.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: And like, there's never going to be a better chance.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: All right, I'm leaving a job, uh, they're making me redundant.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: So essentially, I jokingly say, paying me to leave, why wouldn't I go and do something different now?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just went, yeah, right, bit the bullet, and here I am now.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously it's going really well.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: I've been doing it for how long is it like 11, 10 weeks, something in the industry uh now?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so started, I think it was the beginning of June.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, for all intents and purposes, let's go 10, 11 weeks.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and look, you've already come doing, gone through the client liaison, work with the client liaison team, now you know stepping into training, power planners.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: So you're obviously doing really well and uh a credit to the industry already, as such.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: But how did you go about it?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: So then obviously you've meeting with this financial planner, you're like, okay, I think I could do this, I think I'd find it a really fulfilling career.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you've built another career in a completely different industry.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: How did you go about making that jump from you know procurement as such into financial planning?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I suppose I was fortunate in the sense that because I knew Tom and Tom's kind of, I think, in that next gen space, um, he introduced me to all the guys at next gen planners.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: So within the first like couple of weeks of moving into the industry or wanting to move into the industry, I was kind of contacting and being in touch with people, but their way of financial planning resonated with my own experience and what I wanted to do.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, the big reason of moving in, moving careers was wanting to make a difference.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I said in the supply chain stuff, nobody that walks into a supermarket or has a service from any of the industries I've been in would know that I've done anything in that.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, whereas actually seeing the value that a financial planner adds to someone's life and kind of in my own circumstance giving me that little nudge to take that career change.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's hugely rewarding.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of a fascinating, brilliant thing to be doing.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm hanging around with all these guys, literally just emailing people, going, can I have 30 minutes of your time?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Can you tell me what it's like to be a financial planner?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: What are the good things?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: What are the bad things?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and essentially probably networked my way into quite a lot of conversations just to give me that confidence.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as I spoke to you, um, and you gave me some great advice on what I needed to do to be, I suppose, appealing to financial planning businesses.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I went on a what I'll jokingly say, a video spam spree.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so instead of just sending my CV out there, because frankly, no one would be interested in my CV, um, even the few people that looked at it went, we don't understand this.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, tell us what you did.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so Connie just did some video asks asking for coffees with people just to really understand how it how I could break into the industry in the area that I was in.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so Solihull and the surrounding, and fortunately, Steve at Lucent got back in touch and went through an interview process and voila, I make it sound easy.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there was lots of, it's like an emotional roller coaster.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: I can imagine.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there were days of people not getting back to me, people getting back to me, like, oh, this is never gonna work, I'm never gonna get a job, followed by days of this is brilliant, I've got all these meetings with people.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so yeah, I was on gardening leave for three months.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and over that time, yeah, I think I sent out probably 50, 60 video asks, got about 10 responses.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, it was really a roller coaster of just putting myself out there because that no one's gonna know you exist, a job's not gonna fall on your lap.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and at the same time I started studying my ROs, I did RO1 as the first one.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, hopefully show some willing uh on my part that I wasn't just some randomer going, can I have a job please?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: So by video ask, what would you what do you mean by that?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: Would you contact people on LinkedIn and stuff like that and ask them to meet you for like a Zoom call or something?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd research firms.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was very conscious that I'd had this great experience uh with my own financial planner and wanted to hopefully get into a firm that had that same ethos, more about the the client than necessarily the product, etc.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then so would essentially send whoever um was on their website uh a video ask just introducing myself, who I was, that I was a career changer and looking to move into the industry and what I liked about their business because I was being quite specific.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I've heard uh as probably lots of people have the not the horror stories, but everybody has a view of what financial advice was like.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I wanted to make sure that I wasn't quite going into that space.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you essentially introduce myself rather than just sending a CV going have a look at this.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Can you have a chat?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: Fab, and did you find you guys?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: I know you mentioned there that you sent sort of like 50 to 60 video asks as such, and you sort of met with 10 people.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think, especially on my side, you know, working with Recruit UK, people get a bit nervous that they're gonna get like completely ignored, they're gonna send loads and loads of video requests out, and no one is ever, ever gonna get back to them.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, did you find out that like people were receptive to that?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: There were people open to speak with you and having the conversations.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think you've gotta you've got to go with a bit of thick skin because again, financial planning is not big corporate business, is it?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's lots of small firms, and those small firms have learned now are super busy and don't have a huge amount of time.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you're not getting the response isn't a reflection of you or what you've said.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's just might be the wrong time, they might not have a chance to pick it up.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I had a few positive reviews because or right responses because it's different, isn't it?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just a CV and haven't just emailed asking for for a role.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's very much uh actually I just wanted to understand and learn from people so I could kind of be that sponge of knowledge.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: So when the right opportunity came up at a later date, I could knew, I suppose I knew what I was talking about, and I wasn't so fresh-faced and new into a world that frankly at the beginning I didn't fully understand.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, fully.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I think um it's very interesting the way that you've done it.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: So you went took an approach where you contacted firms directly.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: Did were you also like applying to job adverts and things online, or did you take the route of just sort of contacting firms?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I did try with a few recruitment agencies and a few applications directly to firms.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think as a career changer, the the perception that I got whether or not right or wrong was I was potentially overqualified, even though I had no experience in the financial planner space.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I think when people were, and you can probably testify to this, when people are actually actively recruiting, if they want an administration role, they want an administrator, or again, they want a paraplanner.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: They don't necessarily want some random career changer that wants to do X, Y, and Z over a course of a few years, because that doesn't fit in with what they need at the time.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I completely agree.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: So um coming from like a recruitment, recruit UK standpoint, um, when I'm working on an IFA administration vacancy, on a power planning vacancy, as such, you know, there is usually someone has left that role, or it's you know, someone's been promoted, or it's potentially business critical.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: So they're, I'd say 99% of the time looking for someone that has that previous experience within a similar role.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: And when I speak with candidates like yourself, may that be, you know, people that are looking to make the career change or people that are looking, you know, graduates looking to step into the industry, they very often spend a lot of time applying for job roles consistently on job boards and find that they're not getting any response, you know, they're not getting any interest and such.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: And it ties in very well with what we just mentioned there, that when a firm is hiring, you know, if it's a role they specifically need, it's usually they're gonna be targeting or looking for someone with that experience.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: And if you look at it from a recruitment agency point of view, the client is coming to us looking for that skill set as search.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: So it's very interesting to know that you took a different approach, or maybe what other people would view as a slightly different approach, which is contacting firms directly as search, and then you yielded success and/or sort of found um your next role that way, instead of what might be the common just putting applying to loads of job adverts and seeing what happens.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think it as you rightly point out, it's completely understandable that firms are going to need somebody to do the job straight away and kind of by my own admission, I wouldn't have been able to just sit down and do it.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: I've had a shed load of patience from the guys that have been training me here, asking or me asking some ridiculously daft questions, or my what I'd say, got a thick question, which is not really understand, I don't really know, but can you help me um understand what I'm meant to be doing or why do we do this and what does that mean?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: And they have had the patience of saints, but I can completely see how smaller businesses haven't got time to do that.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um so in that sense, I'm really lucky.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: I suppose it is one of the challenges though for the industry, isn't it?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: You kind of hear a lot about people wanting new entrants as people are going to retire and a bit more diversity.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: But if you've come from a different career or are early on in your career, actually getting your foot in the door is is quite uh a challenging, yeah, challenging thing to do.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it's probably that how does the industry change that to get more people in if there's all these people out there that are wanting to, but equally, it's that balance of small business, need a lot of time and support to be able to train up somebody from scratch.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's definitely challenging and you need to from both sides.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: It definitely is, as you said, like a balance as search, but I think it's also really encouraging for our audience to know that, you know, from coming from your experience, like someone like yourself, that you know, it is doable.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, for yourself, you know, you start.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: We had our first conversation.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: We said, I think we caught up for the first time back in the beginning of April.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, by the beginning of June, you sort of landed your first role as such within the industry.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really encouraging to know that you you are might face challenges and you might face setbacks and you might not get everyone reply to you, but you know, there are firms out there that are willing to engage with individuals like yourself, and you know, on the flip side, then can open the opportunities if you're motivated and come across well enough that obviously that they can see that you're an asset.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: So you said that you didn't necessarily send across your CV as such, you would send a little introduction about yourself.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: So, what what would you say in that introduction?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: What do you know, remember what you sort of said in that introduction?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, literally.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, my name's Kate.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a career changer.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, worked in logistics and supply chain.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a little bit about why I wanted a career change.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, as I said earlier, kind of really wanted to help others and uh feel like I was making a difference.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so it was all of the firms that I sent video acts for were because I had a genuine interest in what they do, what what they were doing and what was on their website, uh, and just asked for a coffee.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and some there were some really great people that would spend half an hour, 45 minutes with me just talking about their business and what they did, and they would put me in touch with people in their their organization that had either career changed or had come in for a different route that wasn't typical to financial planning.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it just got me exposed to a lot of people who had a lot of interesting views, some of which I learned shed loads from, um, some of which it was just interesting to either reinforce or kind of make me go, actually, no, I'm doing the right thing for me, um, and I'm going in the right direction.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: So the intention when I was sending the video asks was never to try and get a job, it was to learn, and if the right firm was there, willing to take a bit of a print on me, um, then brilliant.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: But I think um I was gonna say, uh I think it was Adam uh next gen, he said you have to make trying to get a job your full-time job.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: So in that that period of time where I was on gardening leave for three months, I was fortunate in the sense that I had some spare time.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: But it wasn't a nice sit in the garden, go on a bike ride, go for a run.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I was probably spending a good six, seven hours a day trying to get myself a new job.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think that just goes to show, you know, it is gonna be a challenge, you know, there is gonna be obstacles.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I speak with candidates um across the board.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: Some people, it takes them a very short succession to find the like the role within financial planning.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: With other people, it's sort of a like a longer journey as such.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: But I think what you said there um ties in very nicely that it it's it's never gonna be easy, it's not gonna land in your lap.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: You have to be the one that puts the work in and sells yourself, I guess, in an element to begin with, um, to sort of get your foot in the door.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think anyone that's gonna do a career change or is trying to do something.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I I put together a timescale.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: I had, I was like, I'm gonna give this my best shot for six to nine months.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: If I haven't got an opportunity at that point, then I will go back to what I was doing and carry on doing it as a kind of part-time career change, if that makes sense.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I gave myself that set period of time and told myself I had to do all of what I could do in that space of time to be able to land the role.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: But it was good because if I was three months in, I know and I know I was lucky at landing uh a role in three months, but if I hadn't have done that, I'd go, well, actually, you're only a third of the way through your plan uh in terms of getting that.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: So actually it's still early days, carry on and progress.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: So it would have meant that I'd have probably ended up with more qualifications because I'd have used that time to study.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then that hopefully would have put me in a better position.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think you need to have a plan, you need to stick to it.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you just need to, I suppose, believe in yourself, yeah.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and back yourself that you're doing the right thing, even you, even if you are going to have those ups and downs.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I guess believing yourself believing in yourself and backing um yourself ties in nicely what what we we spoke about very much to begin with is this transferable skill set as such.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: And like um we'll go into now, like I said, on the surface, what you did previously sounds completely different to what you were doing now.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: But when you actually delve into what you're physically doing and the skills that you're building up, there was definitely quite a lot of overlap, wasn't there?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, which I think people found interesting when I try and describe what it was that I was doing.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, essentially I used to I'd go for my last job, I was cost transformation program manager.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as I said in an article, and when I was presenting back to Next Gen at the conference, it is a ridiculous job title.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um essentially, all it meant that I was doing was identifying efficiencies in processes.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so to do that, you'd be put into a different team and different department and meet a new person, much like you'd do with a new client.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: You do a bit of a fact find with them.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, what were they trying to solve and what were they trying to fix?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Again, very similar to where's your what have you got now?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: What are your assets?
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: What do you want to achieve?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: Talk about where they want to go.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so how do we make something more efficient?
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Client circumstances, is it retirement?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Are you wanting to gift money to your children?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Are you wanting to buy a house, etc.?
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then take all that information that you've gathered and work out what the best solution is for them, um, and then going away and implementing it.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: So very, very similar in terms of that program.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Process and the step-by-step way that you'd go with it.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: I was just doing it with containers and cargo from the Far East or supermarket supply chains, whereas this is people, money, and feelings.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: So everybody's a person in terms of those both of those processes and both of those roles.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you've really got to get to understand the person.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's one of the key skills that was very much transferable, but really understanding how to get from A to B.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: I actually have um for the purposes of audio, I'm getting at my lovely branded uh bath management diary.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I actually found following when we booked obviously this podcast in, I found the notes from our first call back on April the 1st.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: So this was the first time that we caught up and we went through your like transferable skills.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_02: But I think it just goes to show.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, I at the time had no idea what procurement really was, either and what you were doing, but goes to show like we spoke about this.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: Is actually what I've got written down from the 1st of April.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: We talk about being able to articulate complex ideas with ease, excellent interpersonal skills, problem solving, being able to sit down with, as you said, the fact-finding element, being able to sit down with clients and understand what they're looking for, the empathy, the analysis of different options, and essentially add in value in even though it was different in a holistic, positive way.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: So from your last role, you know, you actually had such a bank of really, really crucial skills.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: And we've spoken about this a lot in the podcast to be an excellent financial planner, it's not just about the technical knowledge behind you, it's all those soft skills as well, you know, the being able to listen, you know, the empathy and stuff like that.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: And you built up a lot of those, you know, from your previous role that you could really bring across and be such an asset to the financial planning industry.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I definitely think, you know, for individuals like yourself that are looking to make that career change, having a look at that transferable skill set that you previously built that you can bring across and signposting that to wealth management firms.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you agree, but I personally think that's quite an important part of the process.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think people have more of those skills than they necessarily realize.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it wasn't until I kind of I knew that I had those skills, but it wasn't until talking to the guys at NextGen and going, actually, if we book it these down to how similar is it, actually, you can get a whole financial planning process out of what I used to do.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's essentially one in the same in terms of the top level process, it's just the subject matter that's different.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you can learn a subject matter.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: So if you've already got those skills, you're already doing a fantastic job and probably half of the battle.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: So for audience members out there that are listening to this and they've just listened to me reel off that list of transferable skills, and they're interested in sort of a career change, and they're thinking, oh God, I've got that sort of like bank of skills, you know, I'm good.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: Would you recommend that they look at financial planning as an industry?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think we should encourage more people with that skill set to sort of come across as such?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think the the caveat or the addition I'd add to that is I really wanted a career that I felt like I could make a difference.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: So even though I had those skill sets, the importance for me on moving over was being able to sit down with real life people and see them make improvements or help them achieve goals that they didn't think they could get to.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that was for me probably the bigger motivation than going, oh, my skill set is this, what careers can I use my skill set in?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, I could have probably stayed in procurement quite happily for the next 20 years.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: But it was that thing for me that was missing was that that making a difference and helping others.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I think if you've got those skill sets and actually want to be in a career where you can actually see your end results and what you've done, then absolutely financial planning is definitely one of those careers that would tick all of those boxes.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you said you've do you pass how many exams have you passed now, Kay?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I've done RRO one and RO four now.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, that is well, a third of the way through, isn't it?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: So when did you start studying?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: Did you start studying um alongside when you were looking for roles?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I started um probably mid-April.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I again because I was on gardening leave, I had the the time to kill.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so when I say um I was spending most of my time trying to look for a job, that was including getting some qualifications, because I think just being that person that says I want a career change isn't quite as powerful as somebody that sat down and studied quite possibly the dullest exam in R01 on legislation.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's not it's not the uh it's not the most exciting introduction into the world of financial planning as exams go.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, at least it shows that I'm committed to to that change, not just I suppose trying something out and then it doesn't work and then I go back to what I was doing.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: This was like, no, I'm absolutely all in for this.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to go back to what I used to do.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so studying was a big part of that and and starting that progress.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um and I always encourage this to people that are looking, you know, to move into the industry for whatever reason or another.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: I think even having one exam under your belt as you went show shows so much commitment and it shows that this is something that you're taking seriously.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I think, you know, on the onset, it shows to firms that you are motivated and committed enough to sit there and revise an exam without having any of the practical, you know, on-the-job training alongside it.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's difficult.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: You're taking in a completely new subject, you know, on your own.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it, I really I would definitely recommend it to, you know, individuals that are looking to make that career change.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: Just if you've got the time and stuff to sit there and try and at least get one under your belt because it's only going to show to employers and firms, you know, how committed you are about making the change into the industry.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not gonna lie, some of those sections of some of the exams, I'm going, this would be great if I actually did this job and knew what it was.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: But instead, you'd have to learn like what goes into a suitability report.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: When do you give these documents?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: What's the process?
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't know, I can't remember.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I can imagine that having now done the job for a little while, actually, you go, oh, yeah, that's that's just what I know.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so yeah, it was it was an interesting one.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, worryingly forgotten a good portion of it now, but um I'm sure it will all come back.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think we've covered really nicely there, Kate, like your journey into the industry.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's really encouraging for audience members out there to listen to Kate's story because I speak to people that get quite demotivated.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: And as you said, you know, it there will be knockbacks.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: There probably is going to be challenges, um, especially like transitioning into an industry with no previous experience.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing is going to land in your well, it's not very likely that something's going to land in your lap as such, but it's really interesting to hear, like through taking some of the exams, you know, through thinking about your transferable skill set, through networking, you know, approaching other individuals within the industry.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: And ultimately, you know, speaking to firms directly and not necessarily going through like job adverts and things like that, you know, taking the initiative to formulate a list of who you would actually want to work for, and then getting in contact with them just goes to show that obviously you can land a role within the industry.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: And there's some really helpful hints and tips to people out there that are in a similar position um to what you were in previously.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: We spoke about then you said, you know, that there is not backs, there is challenges, things like that.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: How did you pull yourself out of that?
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: What was the mo was it what sort of couch you'd keep motivated to keep on going?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, a good one.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um lots of tea.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to go back to what I was doing, and I really believed and still believe because it's it's still early on in there, and I'm gonna have some setbacks and gonna have to pull myself up as I go through this journey, that it was something that I really wanted to do.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'd fallen into my old career.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: You kind of hear a lot of people fall into financial planning.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I was going through the motions, I was doing really well at it.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: But just because you do really well at something doesn't mean you want to be doing it all the time.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so, because I think I knew that that that really wasn't for me, committing myself to a new career that I was far more comfortable was going to give me, I suppose, the contentment that I was after having to, everybody's got to work, but you want to be enjoying what you do.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: So the thought of doing this for another 20, 30 years, actually, I was like, yes, I'm on the right path now.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so when you have the ups and downs, I suppose you've got to have that vision of why it is that you're you're doing it.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because as you rightly say, it's really hard.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you have these moments where you kind of I'd wake up in the morning going, oh, I haven't heard back from anybody.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing, I'm speaking to recruiters, no offense, that are going, I've got no jobs for you because people are after qualified people or people that can hit the ground running.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: You're going, I'm being I'm 33, so going down the route of graduate schemes, like, I don't want to be a graduate again.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: How am I ever going to get into this?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: And there was frustration because I knew I wanted to do it, I knew I had the skill set to do it, um, or at least break in whether or not I'll make a good advisor or good planner in the future, still TBC.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: But it was kind of really just anchoring back to I knew what I wanted to do, why I was doing it, and that actually it was the right thing for me.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it just meant that there was always that little bit of spark of motivation, even when you were having a really bad day and nobody had come back and studying wasn't going particularly well.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: Or I think for me, the other big one was I had an identity in procurement and supply chain.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'd been successful in that, and I could say that yes, I worked for X organization doing this, and this was my job, and I was chartered in it, and I'd worked all my qualifications for that.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: By picking something else, I was just fresh-faced Kate, like with nothing to fall back on, and it was going to be a new identity.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: So there is a lot of, or I certainly experience a lot of ups and downs and emotional turmoil in the change.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it was just continually focusing on this was the right thing for me, it's what I really want to do, and I can future view me doing this role in the in in the kind of next five, 10 years.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so it just kept me that little bit of motivation, even on the days when things weren't going too well.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think we touched on this literally just previously, but I think it's also about stop checking with yourself and realizing that how far you've come.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: Fair enough, you might not have landed the role yet, but you picked up that R01, you're halfway through studying that book, you know, you have had some, because even though the conversations, as you said, you know, you might have a conversation with a firm or a financial planner and you might not get a job role out of it, but you've got like a really useful bit of information or you've got something that you can take moving forward.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: I guess it's always about acknowledging as well how far you've come and not beating yourself up that you might have not got to that end goal just yet, or you're everyone's constantly changing the post of what the end goal is anyway, realizing that how far you're doing, even making the decision and making the leap and working for working for it.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think and you've hit the nail on the head there.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people have turned around to me and said that I'm brave, and I don't believe that I am brave, but having a career, and then I'll use the phrase giving it up.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't given it up, I chose to leave it behind, but choosing to leave it behind and doing something different, I suppose can be seen as brave because you're taking that leap into the unknown.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I think anybody that actually acts on doing something different is already a part of the way there because a lot of people will be sat there wanting to do something, even myself for the last three years before I finally did this.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: And don't get me wrong, being made redundant was the kick up the backside to do it.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was sat there going, oh, I just want to do something different.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: But did I do anything about it?
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Nah.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: So making that first step and deciding and doing something different.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, on reflection, I'd have liked to have known that I wanted to do this when I was employed, and I'd probably have started studying on the evenings and maybe made that transition much more comfortably by being like, Well, I'm I'm diploma qualified and can I get a job now?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think starting that journey to it is just uh the fantastic thing to do in the first instance, and therefore, as you say, you get those ups and downs, but you just need to be kind to yourself and then every so often check back in and and see what you've done.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't do that.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: You before we we came on came on to the podcast, went, How's it gone and how's it been?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: And kind of go, oh, actually, do you know what?
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: I've passed two exams, I've got a job.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a no trainee power planner.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know I'm running an ultramarathon, so training 50 mile a week.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm getting my house renovated, and not just saying this stuff just for interest and kind of just look at all the stuff I've done, but you go, Luminek, I've actually done a lot, but it's not until somebody asks you that you check in.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I think having that that regular check-in with yourself to just be a bit nicer and go, look at all this life that you've got going on, as well as all of this pressure you're putting on yourself.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need that much of it, do you?
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: You just need to be a bit nicer and go, you're going at a good pace, you're doing everything that you can, and therefore, you you you're good enough.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, little by little is what we say uh here.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the big my favorite um phrases given me to my line manager was you reap what you sow.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: So you might not get it back tomorrow, you might not get it back next month, you might not get it back till next year, but all the little by little that you are consistently doing, you know, you're only going to reap what you sow.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: What advice would you then give?
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or maybe maybe even telling yourself from three years ago, but maybe someone that's in the position where they are unhappy, they they know they're unhappy in their current career and their current job, they want to go do something different, but they're scared about breaking the norm or leaving something behind.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: What would you say to them?
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: What's the worst that can happen?
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think I I had the biggest fear of giving it up because I'd worked so hard for it, but I didn't enjoy it, it wasn't making me happy.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I still didn't want to lose that identity that I'd built myself a career in a a previous, a previous life, um, and been successful at it.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to let that go because that was a little bit of me and my identity.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, don't get me wrong, I've done loads of work to go.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, your identity is not what your career looks like, it's who you are as a person.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: But that was the thing that was stopping me, me changing.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think everybody can wait for that that kick up the the backside to make that change.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: But I think as you say it, baby steps.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you know you want to do something and you know what it is that you want to do, you can make those little changes.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: I just did it on steroids because I had a bit of garnet and had been like shoved out the door.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but everything that I did, you could do in a lot more chilled out way, build your qualifications up for the industry, make some connections, hang around in the right places.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I really go back to what's the worst that can happen.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've got a really supportive of the half that just went, yep, go for it.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you don't have a job for however long, so be it.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what you can go back and work in your old career if you need to on a temporary contract while you're and looking for this new one.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I had the support network there that told me I could do it.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it was just me that wasn't.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's getting out of your own headspace and going what's what's better or what's worse, saying what I'm doing now and being unhappy or taking a risk with the potential contentment of a career that makes me want to get out of bed on a Monday morning rather than dread what the week's going to entail.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the one lovely thing about this whole podcast is if anyone is in that position now when that is how they're feeling and they need to get out of their because your your own head is like your biggest mental barrier.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think your own mental state is the biggest barrier.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think having you on here, Kate, and you know, the hints and tips that will help people potentially navigate it and the position you're in now can demonstrate to people that you can do it, you know, that it it is possible.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it is that fear and that leap, but once you it's but it's the leap with anything, you know, setting up your own business, the the biggest risks will also potentially bring you the biggest reward.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really encouraging to see you here, Kate, and encouraging the audience and other people in similar positions to yourself that you know you can do it with the hard work and the motivation and the drive.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you wrote an article for money marketing, and we would you spoke about in it about how passionate you are about how much value at second careerists can add to the industry.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, do you mind explaining a little bit more about that?
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I'll I'll give you some, I suppose, live examples.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like Lucent, who I work for, are fantastic.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: They have been super supportive.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Steve, the kind of business owner, um, he's like just whatever we can do to help you get to where you want to get to, we'll do it, which I appreciate is a really nice thing, great thing for a business to be offering.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I come in with a bit more of a business corporate mentality from where I've come from the roles I've done, and kind of sitting there working in the role that I am kind of not questioning why we do stuff, but trying to understand it and go, oh, could you be more efficient here or could you do this a little bit differently?
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, instead of just learning to do client liaison and just being a trainee power planner, I'm also kind of going, oh, how could we improve this process here to make it more, I suppose, more efficient for the business, but also a better experience for the client.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: And they are happily um taking that on board.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm bringing some of those old skill sets into the new role, um, which has been really nice.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: And kind of we're seeing the benefit of the client experience uh from doing that, but they're so open to listening to what they call a different perspective because I haven't been in the industry for long and I just have a different lens on things.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think that's kind of based on my background in procurement and supply chain.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think anybody with just a different view is a great asset to any business because you've just got a new pair of eyes and you're looking at it from a different lens.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: 100% definitely agree.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and also, I and you spoke about this in the article, you know, second career is someone that's coming in like yourself into financial planning, is someone that's obviously really interested and really enthused and really passionate about the industry to want to step outside, or I don't want to use giving up because I don't feel like you've given up anything.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's just something that you've sort of evolved from, as such.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you've given up a separate industry, a separate career to want to step into financial planning.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: You must be super interested and super passionate about the industry to want to do that.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I think sometimes that can also go amiss.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you hear a lot of people talk about wanting to leave the industry and kind of see a lot of, I suppose that those Facebook groups that I'm on that going, oh, how can we change this?
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's just the same old, same old.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: But I suppose I'm really lucky that I've had a great financial advice experience by myself.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: I've joined a business that gives great financial advice and an experience to clients.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody needs that.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, everybody probably like everybody goes to work to earn money so they can enjoy their life once they finish work or enjoy their life whilst they're working.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think as a service, you talk a lot about emotional well-being, you talk a lot about physical well-being, but actually, financial well-being is probably the thing that leads into some of that mental well being challenge.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_02: No, I agree.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: So if you can offer it to more people or access, give access to more people, sound financial advice.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a real, a real great service that people don't realise they need, but actually fundamentally, you couldn't think of anything better to be able.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: To offer to clients.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I completely agree.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I think having someone like yourself, you know, the different perspective, you know, the motivation that you bring, you know, also that skill set that is slightly different.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_02: And it is obviously going to continually be molded to fit a financial planning firm, but as you said, could add value in different ways that you might not even realize is, you know, lots of reasons why I think people like yourself, you know, can be assets to wealth management firms.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_02: We spoke about previously, and you know, there are times when someone leaves a firm or a role is business critical, and you need someone to have that set amount of experience and stuff because you need them to come in and hit the ground running.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_02: But what would but what would you say to like recruiters, business owners, hiring managers, things like that that potentially notice they have a vacancy or they have a spot that needs to be filled, they can't find, you know, there's someone with the the picture perfect, you know, written down, five years experience doing this, that, and the other.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: What would you say to them?
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Say give a career changer a go.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I know it's hard because you, as a recruiter, you've got to put a certain amount of candidates in front of someone, but I think a wild card that would can't ever go down a miss, can it?
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I think people probably overestimate the level of training that they need to give a new person into a career.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think if somebody's changing careers, the level of motivation is probably going to be higher than somebody that's already in the industry, just changing jobs.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's not taking away from that person that might be motivated to change roles because they're not enjoying themselves or they're after something else.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I think career changers have that motivation and that desire to learn and aren't just going to be sat there doing a job.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: They're going to be taking that time to make sure that they're upskilling themselves as quickly as possible because it's not just the hiring manager that knows they need some training.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: The career changer knows that we need training and we need to upskill ourselves as quickly as possible.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think it's it's about speaking to people who are slightly different, who have come from different careers.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, say it doesn't necessarily have to be procurement and supply chain, it could be anything.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: But if they've got the fundamental skills and the fundamental attributes that are going to make great financial advisors, great power planners, whatever it kind of you're wanting to career change into, I think it it's a lot easier than people think to give that person the opportunity because it's only gonna take a few months for somebody to get up to speed.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it's the same with changing systems and processes, people are still gonna need to get up to speed on those.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, I think give people a chance.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think you've hit the nail on the head, and I think that's such a good anecdote there.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_02: If you change what back office system you use, you're gonna have to retrain everyone, go and those processes just naturally happen sometimes.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_02: You have to retrain your whole staff body.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_02: But bringing someone in like yourself, you know, you're training one new person on one new thing.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_02: They know they're gonna need the training, they're gonna be receptive to it.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, you're probably also, as you said, overestimating how much training they're gonna do.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they've already built up a massive bank of skill sets from the previous role that they've been doing.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: They're probably gonna pick things up even quicker than you expect them to.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like the system that that we use here is horribly unuser-friendly.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I can't imagine me finding it unuser-friendly is gonna be any different to the next person if they've never used that system before.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's still a you think it's gonna be there, but it's actually in that one.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's just, and I think that the training material that that the business has is also a great one.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like Lucent here, I've got some really great detailed process guides, and actually being able to follow them pretty self-sufficient in that respect.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think it probably also lends itself to the business and how they're set up to support people that are new to the business, not necessarily just new to the industry.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I've been lucky in that sense.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_02: Fab.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: And we talked about it um previously.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, there is lots of people leaving the industry, or people leaving the industry for one reason or another.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: There also is generally in task quite a it's quite an aging um industry in that sense.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: There's definitely much more of a skill shortage.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think second career risk could sort of be part of the the the um part of the solution to the skills shortage as such?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think most people want to do something different, don't they?
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: Not everybody's in the career that they want to be in.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: And if if we can advertise financial planning and sell financial planning in the awesomeness that it can be and is in certain circumstances, I can't see why people wouldn't want to be part of the industry.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's just timeposting a little bit clearer and more businesses being more open.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I know that that's easier said than done because of business circumstances, but lots of people do want to move careers, and this is a great career.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just think people either have that perception that financial advisors are, as we always talk about, that stereotypical group of people.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we just need to publicize more actually what financial advisors could be and are in a growing, growing number.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um so what does the future look like for Kate now?
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_02: What we what are you hoping?
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you're still quite infant in your career as such.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you are going from strength to strength.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we touched back about being a bit nicer to yourselves, you know.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_02: Since we first caught up in April, you've landed your job, you passed a third of the way through your diploma, you've stepped into power planning, so you're doing amazingly well.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_02: But what's your long-term ambitions?
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: What would you like to do in the future?
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know as a really cop-out the answer, but one of the things that I've learned is to enjoy the journey and see where you end up because I'm very conscious that as a person I can set myself these ridiculously challenging goals.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so don't get me wrong, in my future, in my crystal ball, I absolutely want to be a financial planner, and that's that's the aspiration uh to really kind of see that helping others and making difference come to life.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: How I get there, what it ends up looking like in terms of where I work, who I work for in 10, 15, 20 years' time, absolutely not a clue.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm enjoying the change, I'm enjoying being in a career in an industry that, as I said, I want to get up in the morning, that I can see the difference that financial planning makes.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'd love to get more people from different careers into the industry and make that pathway a lot easier.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like NextGen are doing great things, um, as is kind of a financial advisor mentorship that was Facebook or so, LinkedIn that is now on over on a NextGen platform as well, and really helping people.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: But it'd be great to get a bit more of a kind of entrance route in there.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, in summary, I just really want to enjoy myself um and enjoy everything that that comes at it.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: I never thought I'd ever be on a podcast yet.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_01: How amazing is that?
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's gonna listen to me whether or not they take on board any advice, but I'm sure they will.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure they will.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say, if your part of your long-term ambitions and stuff is being able to help other people in a the similar position that you're in or you are currently, you know, this podcast is definitely a stepping stone in the way to doing that.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_02: You have been an amazing um guest, Kate, in the sense that you've provided some excellent tips for second careerists, you know, how to navigate getting into the financial planning profession.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_02: Also, you know, touching on that skill set and how to sort of realize and what passions and drivers should move you across into the industry.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_02: But also, this is a brilliant podcast for business owners, for hiring managers, for potentially recruiters, for people to sort of recognise second careerists, the massive value that they can add.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, they could potentially be a massive solution of the skills shortage within the profession within the future.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_02: So you've been an excellent guest uh today, Kate.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a pleasure to have you on.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_01: No, thank you for having me.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's been a fun thing to do on a Friday.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.