A PFS board member has relaunched her outsourced Paraplanning firm’s graduate training programme.

Para-Sols in Darlington has revamped the grad programme it began in 2014 with a new strategy to encourage university leavers to join all year around, rather than just having one in-take of recruits a year.

The firm has already had just over 30 applicants in the first two weeks of launching, 90% of which “have been of good quality”.

Named The Grad Scheme, it has been set up with its own dedicated website and a marketing strategy.

The firm’s founder Cathi Harrison FPFS, Chartered Financial Planner, a PFS director, said: “Our philosophy behind it is if there’s talent out there waiting to be applied, strike whilst the enthusiasm is hot! We have the view that if the talent and enthusiasm is there, then we want to find a home for it.

“We’re keen to educate a new generation into the industry.”

Pictures below: Some of the firm's graduates who have joined since 2014

There is no specific goal in terms of the numbers of graduates the firm wants to add.

Ms Harrison told FP Today: “During the assessment we find one perfect grad then great, if we find 5 perfect grads then we’ll take all them too.

“Naturally, there needs to a balance in terms of having enough workload to give them but thankfully we get a steady stream of new referrals and our report cases are increasing weekly so we’re taking a pro-active approach to train grads so that we have the resource as the typical busy months hit rather than feeling the need to hire someone who’s not quite right purely because of time pressures.”

The first ever graduate, Grant Callaghan, was brought in back in 2014. He has passed all of his exams and heads up one of the company hubs.

Ms Harrison said: “I’ve always had difficulty recruiting Paraplanners - yes, on paper they generally have the skill set and ‘experience’ that’s needed to fulfil the role well but outsourced paraplanning I believe, is a different ball-game entirely. Managing numerous cases, for numerous clients, all each with their own style, preferences and quirks simultaneously really tests even the greatest of jugglers.”

She said: “Financial services is changing, I personally think we only benefit from the injection of fresh talent and energy! We created it as a stand-alone identity simply so we could give it a brand that truly engaged our target audience, the tone of voice was crucial in giving grads the feel of the people behind the brand.

“It’s not unusual to leave University not knowing what you want to do but you almost certainly always know the type of company you want to work for, so being incredibly proud of the culture I’ve created at Para-Sols, feel confident we’re a springboard for new grads starting their career in financial services.”