Financial services careers: More than math and sales

By Susan Rupe

A career in financial services is more than math and numbers and sales, a panel said at a recent symposium. Although the industry needs advisors, they make up only about 10% of jobs in financial services. The majority of jobs involve doing something else.

Courtney Mauge is senior vice president and cyber practice leader at NFP, the 13^th largest insurance brokerage firm in the world. Jesse Hurst is a certified financial planner and founder/CEO of Impel Wealth Management in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. They spoke about careers in the financial services industry at the Diversitas symposium at the University of Akron.

Mauge said that insurance brokers must have attention to details, be organized and be able to take a complex concept and translate it for a client in layman’s terms.

“Teachers often do very well in this industry,” she said. “They are organized, they can talk about a concept, they have the people skills.”

Hurst explained that his financial services firm includes many roles beyond sales.

"Front stage, back stage process'

“We think about our client service experience as the front stage, back stage process,” he said. The front stage, or client-facing roles, include Hurst as the owner/CEO, a lead financial planner and an associate financial planner. The back stage roles are “all the processes that happen backstage to make sure we can create a consistent client service experience.”

Back stage roles include one employee who handles everything that happens before a client meeting: scheduling and confirming the appointment, setting up the agendas and compiling the reviews.

Another employee takes care of everything that happens after the client meeting. She is Series 7 licensed and does all the trading and client service. Hurst’s firm also has someone who handles electronic record retention, a director of first impressions, and someone who handles social media posts.

Focus on 'things I do best'

“I want to focus on the things I do best – meeting with clients and doing financial planning and portfolio management,” he said. “I also like to write our own social media content and blog posts. I write between 80 and 100 blog posts a year. We also have our own YouTube channel.”

Hurst said that he concentrates on activities that are the highest and best use of his and his employees’ time, and then contracts other tasks such as human resources and marketing to outside experts “so they can be done well.”

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on X @INNsusan.