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Advice for aspiring advisers

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ended 14. September 2026

Advisers, 

This week’s excelllent FT Adviser Margin Notes podcast had me thinking about starting a career - which, now I think about it, was me rather recently.

With too many graduates chasing too few jobs, graduate vacancies at their lowest level on record, and the nightmare of AI recruitment, it seems like a tough time to be a young person.

So, if you were a graduate looking to get into financial services or financial advice today, how would you go about it? What would you do to distinguish yourself? Or would the current outlook deter you altogether?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Hereward

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Riz MalikVerified
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
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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.
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Nouran MoustafaVerified
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
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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.
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Paul DenleyVerified
CEO at Oakham Wealth Management
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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.
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Daniel WiltshireVerified
Actuary & IFA at Wiltshire Wealth
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Financial advice is a cottage industry, dominated by small and medium-sized firms. Many don’t have formal recruitment processes, so you have to be proactive and approach them directly. The FCA Register is a good place to find firms and their contact details. Do your homework first, have a few intelligent things to say, and show genuine interest. For graduate roles, attitude and willingness to learn often matter more than experience or technical knowledge.
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David BelleVerified
Founder and Trader at Fink Money
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I would have a concrete view on what you think the world will look like in 5 to 10 years.

This then allows you to align your values and receive and reject information according to your view.

Following on from this, it then allows you to be able to create a sort of pathway according to a well thought out motivation.

I think a lot of graduates focus on 'the job' and not on actually how the world is evolving, mainly due to the pressures of wanting to start a career.

I think if you're a grad, formulating views, being able to argue them, and in financial services, being able to apply the relevant capital risk in the market is vital because if you can't do this for yourself, how can you do it for clients?

I am not a financial advisor, I run my own portfolio and help DIY investors to run theirs through education on the machinations of the market and one of people's biggest blindspots is not focusing enough on the world around them and noticing things.
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Matt CoulsonVerified
Founder at Heron Financial
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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.