Recruiting 101, a Series - Simon Hoyle

January 26, 2024

2024, A New Year of Financial Industry Transition, an interview with Simon Hoyle

From the desk of Stephen Kohn, Founder and Chair of Financial Professionals Coalition (www.finprocoalition.com) and a 25-year veteran owner of a FINRA broker-dealer, a, former member of FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council and a Former Governor on FINRA’s Board. 

The Financial Professionals Coalition, Ltd. is a diverse resource for over 1.2 million registered representatives, associated persons, traders, bankers, back-office staff, and owners of broker-dealers and registered investment advisors. The Coalition provides courtesy consultations with industry experts. Membership is free.

Based on the turmoil of 2023 consolidations, hirings and firings, the Coalition introduces its Founders who are top-level, financial industry recruiters and stand ready to help you make transitions and find a new home. This is the fourth in a series of introductions.

Introducing Coalition Featured Member, Simon Hoyle.

Simon Hoyle is the owner of RIA Choice, a national recruiting firm based in Houston, TX.  He has worked in the financial services industry since his Marketing Specialist position at AIM Investments (now Invesco) in 1991.  While he was the sales desk manager of the New York Stock Exchange Division, their advisor support team earned the DALBAR Service Award, which recognizes a superior standard of care in the financial community.

His recruiting experience spans 20 years.  As a financial advisor advocate, he has successfully transitioned hundreds of FAs to better-fit business partners and platforms.  Simon has worked with FAs from all distribution channels and group revenue over $18M.

He's responsible for consulting with financial advisors on a broad range of focuses, helping advisors align strategically with partners while revealing unknown broker dealer and RIA benefits in the marketplace.  He also provides valuable insight and metrics around buying and selling financial practices, including the why and how to buy remote client opportunities.  He grew up in a culture of service and support of financial advisors.

1.      Why should financial professionals use a recruiter rather than try to find a job on their own by sending out resumes or answering help-wanted ads? 

Simon:  “Help wanted ads yield very low success rates typically for job seekers. It is more effective to have a third party (a recruiter) who will present candidates in the best light possible to their clients who are looking to fill positions. When you state financial professionals in the question, are you referring specifically to compliance-experienced people or non-experienced?”

2.      What are the costs to the financial professionals   of working with you -- and if there are none, are you conflicted by getting paid by the employer?

Simon:  “None to the financial professionals. The hiring firms pay recruiters a fee. In my line of work, it's usually based on a small percentage of the advisor's revenue, or a small percentage of advisory assets. These payments come from their marketing budget. Paying for recruiters is valuable as we vet the backgrounds and the potential fit before the introduction. Most of the direct advertising from firms yields 95% poor results, in my opinion. So, paying from the marketing budget is often more effective than running marketing campaigns and online advertising.”

3.      What are some of the unique services that you and your company offer?

Simon:  “Most independent recruiters like me engage unhappy advisors, go through a discovery process, and place them at a right-fit BD or RIA. in addition to that, I refer advisors to trusted partners who can value their practice, offer loan money to buy a practice. Other partners can provide a lot of the services that an advisor who wants to register his/ her own RIA would need.”

4.      What are some of the most common mistakes folks make during the hiring process?

Simon:  “Not conducting enough due diligence, and reviewing contracts.”

5.      What are some of the most common mistakes employers make when seeking out staffing?

Simon:  “Not describing the role well enough and ensuring it's a good fit.”

6.      What is your forecast of the 2024 employment scene for financial professionals?

Simon:  “Others may feel differently, but I actually feel we will witness growth in the next couple of years.  More BDs and RIAs are catering to investment clients directly, which would necessitate hiring in-house advisors for that role.  Vanguard, for example, among others, are competing for client directly with the advisor community.  BDs like LPL are buying advisors' commission assets and handling those in- house, for example, by employees.”

Join the Financial Professionals Coalition, membership is free, as is access to Yvan Demosthenes’ recruiting expertise, in addition to a vast array of referral resources.

Financial Professionals Coalition, Ltd. 
JOIN TODAY -- FREE MEMBERSHIP
https://www.finprocoalition.com/#contact

A CLEARING HOUSE OF SOLUTIONS FOR FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS

The Financial Professionals Coalition, Ltd. is a diverse resource for over 1.2 million registered representatives, associated persons, traders, bankers, back-office staff, and owners of broker-dealers and registered investment advisors. The Coalition provides courtesy consultations with industry experts. Membership is free.

And if you want to go it alone, the Coalition's "Marketplace" is now accepting cost-effective advertisements for:

• Help Wanted (Employer)
• Position Wanted (Employee)
• Professional Services (Lawyers, CPAs, Consultants) 
• Announcements (Events, New Firms)

Phone numbers or email addresses are not disclosed in the posted advertisements unless you so authorize; and a reply protocol offers various degrees of confidentiality as you may require. 

https://www.finprocoalition.com/marketplace/