Gee Foottit, Senior Manager at St. James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy

Those in the know
Those who have graduated from the St James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy know a thing or two about changing careers. The people that come through our doors hail from all kinds of professional backgrounds – from golfers to pilots; teachers to army officers; Olympians to bankers. It really is a mixed bag. The beauty of it is that our graduates’ background is often the thing that makes them excellent financial advisers. It’s those unexpected transferable skills that equip them for success.

For example, the leadership qualities that come from being in the military or the natural empathy that comes from pursuing a role as an educator – these are the kind of skills that can make you a financial advisor that truly understands your clients and also have the ability to be an entrepreneur that can run a thriving business.

The 10 out of 10 campaign has allowed us to bring you stories from our Academy and we want to pay that forward and share their gems of wisdom to help those considering a career change into financial advice.

The gems
1. Take advantage of transferrable skills
Ex-golfer Richard Tidy shared how his skills transferred:
“While the connections between professional sport, coaching and becoming a financial adviser may not be obvious, there was a good deal of overlap in the skills and attributes I needed for each. “Relationships sit at the heart of life as a financial adviser. And this is something I had always been good at – getting to know people, listening to them, building trust. I had always been very client focused, whether this was on the golf course, in the office or now advising people in their homes. It’s the same skill.

“I also built up some solid commercial experience in my time running golf for the hotel group and this put me in a good position when I came to set up a business of my own.”

2. Lean on your support system
Jonny Shingles, who was once in the Royal Air Force, shared his journey starting his own practice:
“When starting your own business, everyone needs a bit of luck. But if you have the support of knowledgeable people and an established brand with great resources, you get a head start. St. James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy is there to support you throughout. The industry that we operate in requires a lot of hard work and a lot of patience – after all, you can’t rush a client into making decisions. But when you build that trust and work as your client’s partner, it’s truly the most rewarding career.”

3. Find your purpose
Rachel Stewart, who set up her practice during the heart of the pandemic, after a career in law, shares her motivation for making the change:
“Working in law I found myself sitting behind a desk often doing work for other people which I felt didn’t deliver a huge amount of purpose. I couldn’t always see the benefits of the work I was doing. It was easy to feel that I’d been put in a box and unable to spread my wings in this career. Whilst I was ambitious and career driven, I knew that this career wasn’t going to hold me for another 15 years. Having my two children gave me the impetus to change direction.”

4. Intangible skills are just as important as tangible
Zac Cambourne, former teacher, is an example of how his previous vocation set him up for financial advice:
“As a teacher I was used to speaking to parents, often it was around sensitive and important issues, I needed to be able to think on my feet and answer challenging questions. In contrast, I spent a lot of time speaking to 10 and 11-year-olds and would take an interest in football or current affairs so that I could chat to them on their level. It was about being able to adapt to the situation. “I discovered that the experience gained through my years of teaching would be put into practice in a way I could not have imagined as a financial adviser. You need to gain your client’s complete trust. But first, you need to build a relationship with them, a rapport. The ability to make people feel at ease can’t be underestimated. Building rapport means different things to different people, it’s a skill. It starts with listening and understanding where they are coming from.”

5. Don’t be afraid to do a 180
Olly Biddulph was an Olympian, competing in the Bobsleigh for team GB, now he is an SJP advisor and shares his transition into a very different profession:
“Nothing in my education or previous career pointed me towards becoming a financial adviser. But having now taken this route I have in fact applied most of my skills to this career; my sporting work ethic combined with my passion for teaching has really benefitted me in my own business. The St. James’s Place Financial Advisor Academy values diverse backgrounds – it is an academy for all. When I reach the point of needing to recruit, this it is one of the main things I will look for.”

6. Embrace change and know your worth
Martin Welsh and Kieran Taylor both made the switch from careers in the oil & gas in Aberdeen to financial advice entrepreneurs. They embraced this change and used their skills and youth to their advantage.

Kieran comments: “Working in oil and gas, you are at the mercy of a boom-and-bust cycle, which plays out time and again. Business would be good, only to crash a few years later. “I asked myself, did I want to link my whole future to the price of a commodity? I wanted to get back some control.”

Martin comments: “We are not what I would describe as your typical financial advisers. We want to offer our clients something different from the old school. We bring a great deal of energy, and we are embracing technology as a business to provide a different kind of service.

“We can offer our clients longevity – we can grow with them and remain a constant at different stages of their lives. People don’t want to start working with someone who is winding down to retirement.”

Our advisors are now experts at changing careers and making a success out of it. It’s not an easy thing to do by any means but it’s clear that they have found happiness, fulfilment and a sense of purpose by making the switch to financial advice that they maybe didn’t expect.

Find out more about setting up your own financial advice business with the St. James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy.