Unlocking the secret to luring Gen Z into the advisory industry

Financial advisors love to complain that college kids today don’t know anything about the profession, which of course means that they can’t aim for advisory as majors or careers.

What if the profession turned that complaint inside out?

What if students’ very lack of awareness could be converted to an incisive advantage?

Gen Z (an aside to whoever concocts these labels: We’re now officially out of alphabet letters) wants to know that their work matters. In their internships and first full-time jobs, they want to know that even if they’re seemingly shuffling paper in operations and client support, the papers mean something to someone. 

All it takes to inspire them is meeting those someones.

That’s it.

Seeing for themselves that correctly completed forms, compliance obeisance and efficiently managed calendars make a daily difference. It’s not just entry-level busywork. They’re part of the promise that the firm makes to its clients.

It’s June, which means that interns are showing up, eager to show what they can do and learn. This is the moment that interns remember: how welcome they feel, regardless of how little they know. How others in the firm convey the importance of their work to clients’ well-being.

“We have to talk early about reward,” said Chelsea Williams, founder of talent consulting firm Reimagine Talent. She translates her experience in financial services to strategies for attracting and retaining first-rung professionals. “Not necessarily compensation or bonuses, but reward. What is the impact that this has on the world at large? On individuals? On families?”

Mission, more than money, pulls this summer’s interns back as next summer’s entry-level hires, Williams said. Students who embody the magic mix of high emotional intelligence and an aptitude for mapping plans and client progress have their pick of jobs. Accounting programs and firms are scrambling to attract college students to their lucrative but low-glamour profession. They face an uphill battle to persuade students that the work they’ll shoulder, especially initially, is fulfilling.

Financial advisory doesn’t have to whack through stereotypes, as the accounting profession does. Because many college students aren’t aware of advisory until they have a light bulb moment in college, the profession has a rare opportunity to inspire interns. 

It’s those first managers, said Williams, who will impart vision — or not. One thing firms can do this summer is thoughtfully match interns to managers who will give them appropriate expectations, feedback and recognition, she said. “Then they know that they’re seen and valued.” That's especially critical for women and ethnic minorities, who are thinly represented in the profession.

But know this, too: Age, gender and other seemingly parallel characteristics are no indicators of capacity to give interns the kind of experience that will convert them to the profession, Williams said. Instead, look for managers who can “communicate the intent of the business broadly and the intent of the department, and the intent of the team, and connect those dots so they have a baseline understanding of how they fit into the bigger picture.”

“If they said yes to the company, there’s a reason why,” Williams said. It’s up to managers to build on that initial buy-in. “The more a manager can communicate the intent of the business broadly, [then] the intent of the department or function, [then] the intent of the team," the more interns realize how they fit into the bigger picture, she said, outlining the dot-connecting process. 

And let them meet real, live clients. Let them hear clients’ reactions to the effect of the economy on their retirement plans and witness how a skilled and empathetic advisor handles client worries. Let them hear the thank-yous from those whose advisors have walked with them through tough transitions. Bring them into team debates about how to reconcile clients’ conflicting expectations and show them how solutions reverberate far from the spreadsheet.

Give them enough to make them want more.