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In Practice April 20, 2026
How to Recruit Next-Gen Advisers
As departing advisers far outnumber new hires, firm leaders and recruiters have become strategic in capturing attention from incoming talent.
Reported by
Valentina Baez
Whether by speaking with college athletic coaches or launching adviser mentorship programs for recent graduates, financial recruiters are getting creative when building a steady pipeline of talent to replace the growing number of senior advisers leaving a niche sector of the financial workforce.
“Nobody goes to college to be a 401(k) plan adviser or 403(b) adviser,” says Jania Stout, president of retirement and wellness at Prime Capital Financial. “I was a Division I athlete in college, so I went to the head coaches at a bunch of colleges and said, ‘Can I talk to your players? I want to tell them about this amazing industry,’ and I can say that I have pulled in several advisers.”
After growing just 0.3% annually over the past decade, the adviser workforce is expected to see 38% of its members retire in the next decade, according to a 2025 McKinsey & Co. report. As the industry shrinks, firms are finding it increasingly important to refine and expand their recruiting tactics.
“If you just post an ad that you’re hiring, you’re really limiting the options that you have,” Stout says.
Start With a Strategy
As firms grapple with talent shortages, a good place to start is implementing a firmwide recruitment and retention strategy, according to Rebecca Chiccino, senior vice president of Voya Financial’s investor channel. That often begins with identifying what entry-level roles already exist within the firm and ensuring those roles appeal to prospective employees.
“Recruiting tactics tend to be more effective when firms rethink how they structure advisory roles and entry points into the profession,” Chiccino wrote in an email to PLANADVISER.
She also shared that entry-level hires can benefit from working with advisory teams.
“Team‑based and ensemble approaches allow firms to bring in talent earlier, expose them to different aspects of the advisory business, and create clearer pathways for development over time,” Chiccino wrote.
Recruiting strategies should also account for how different generations evaluate career opportunities, she wrote.
“Early‑career professionals often prioritize purpose, learning and flexibility, while more experienced advisers may be drawn to roles that support scalability, collaboration and deeper client relationships,” Chiccino wrote. “Firms that can clearly articulate how different career stages fit into a broader advice ecosystem are often better positioned to attract talent across generations.”
Strategies should align recruiting, role design and advice delivery, while taking into consideration the evolving needs of both clients and advisers.
Develop Your Own
To address needs, firms have implemented internal programs designed to recruit and retain younger talent.
For example, at Raymond James, recent college graduates and people transitioning from another career can join the firm’s Adviser Mastery Program for onboarding and training. The program provides entry-level advisers with a broad overview of the financial adviser practice at the firm. As incomers get to know and understand the industry, they can choose an area of specialization.
Among the team leaders who use this talent pipeline is Rick Sauerman, first vice president of investments at ClearSight Advisors of Raymond James, and a finalist for the 2026 PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year award for inclusivity and career development. Sauerman says he looks for AMP participants interested in retirement plans.
“You know that’s a great pool of talent that’s already … within the organization,” Sauerman says. “Then they choose to become part of our team after we’ve made … the determination that it’s a mutually beneficial situation.”
Prime Capital has a similar training program for entry-level employees called the Tiger Team, created by Stout. It gives next-generation advisers across all Prime Capital offices the ability to access different training resources, ranging from how advisers grow their businesses, to how to take care of clients, to technical and sales skills. “I think there aren’t a lot of places to go for training for this,” says Stout.
Reach Potential Employees at Schools
Through the internship program, Stout says Prime Capital has been able to fast-track new hires after they graduate from college. Prime Capital also has the Future of Finance Scholarship Fund, available to female high school students interested in entering the finance industry.
“Having that program also helps us because … we get young girls that are entering college, and we give them a scholarship for all four years of their college,” Stout says.
Another popular recruiting tactic to attract college students is certification reimbursement. Kathryn Berkenpas, managing director of corporate growth at the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc., wrote in an email that firms have offered CFP certification reimbursement.
“Other effective recruitment tactics include offering fixed income, as opposed to commission-based [income], and collaborative career paths,” she wrote. “A clear, structured career path can help a firm showcase growth opportunities for college students and set reasonable expectations.”
