Advice for aspiring advisers

I'd worry less about the graduate route than the piece suggests. Advice is learned on the job more than in a lecture hall, so the vacancy squeeze matters less here than the headline implies. I didn't come up the graduate way myself, and most of the best advisers I've hired didn't either. If I were starting today I'd get into a good firm in any junior or admin role, earn my qualifications while I worked, and learn from people who are genuinely good at it. On standing out, I'd lean into what AI can't do. As the routine work and the information get commoditised, the human side becomes the whole job: listening properly, earning trust, and explaining something frightening in a way that calms people down. That's what I hire for, far more than a degree. So no, the outlook wouldn't deter me. If anything, complexity and AI together make a trusted human adviser more valuable than ever. Attitude and curiosity still beat a CV every time.

My advice to anyone looking to enter the profession is simple: research, research, and then research some more. Demonstrating a genuine interest in financial advice and a real desire to help people achieve better outcomes will set you apart from the crowd.

Read industry publications such as FT Adviser, listen to podcasts like The T.R.A.P Podcast, and reach out to local advisers to ask if they would be willing to meet for a coffee. Before you do, take the time to thoroughly research their business, their clients, and their specialisms.

Avoid sending generic CVs and covering letters that are forgotten as soon as they are read. Instead, think creatively about how you can stand out. Send a short video introducing yourself, write an article addressing questions that are likely to be on clients' minds, or share your thoughts on a current industry issue.

The profession doesn't need more people doing the same thing as everyone else. Be different. Be memorable.

I would absolutely enter financial advice today. AI makes the opportunity bigger, not smaller.

If I were graduating tomorrow, I would stop trying to look like every other graduate. Qualifications get you through the door; curiosity, commercial awareness and personality make people remember you.

I would learn the technical side aggressively, sit in client meetings, understand why people make bad financial decisions and learn to explain complex things without sounding like a textbook.

And I would use AI relentlessly. Graduates competing against AI will struggle. Graduates who learn to command it will become disproportionately productive.

Clients no longer need someone to recite information. They need judgement, challenge and someone who can understand what they are not saying.

Do not try to become the adviser AI cannot replace. Become the adviser AI makes ten times better.

It is harder than it was. Too many applicants are chasing too few jobs, and the things we used to recommend to gain an edge - internships, polished CVs, LinkedIn - are now done by the majority. AI makes applications easier to produce and harder for employers to trust.

My advice is to get relevant experience by almost any means. Ask family and friends for a week's placement. If you know what you want to do, start professional exams before you have the job. Don't send 100 identical applications; send ten that are difficult to ignore.

There's an uncomfortable inequality here: unpaid placements, professional exams and personal networks all favour the better off. That's why temping in administration at the right firm may be the most underrated route in. It pays, gets your foot in the door, and gives you the chance to learn how the industry actually works.

Once you're inside, opportunities appear that you could never have applied for from the outside.