PFS mentoring programme attracts 1,000 advisers in six months

The Personal Finance Society's (PFS) e-mentoring scheme, Connect, allows PFS members connect with each other across different parts of the world and at different stages of their careers.

Connect enables the member to tailor their search to find a suitable mentor to help them achieve specific career and personal development goals.

Hunter Aitkenhead and Walker Chartered financial planner Alisdair Walker is a mentor and mentee with the programme and said it helped expand his network.

He said: "It is really hard to overstate how important I think mentoring is. I advise any personal finance professional to do it. It can be difficult for people to find mentors outside of their organisation but Connect is full of professionals that not only have the experience you could need but have also put up a signal saying: ‘I am willing to help you.'"

Walker explained the system was akin to online dating, where people match profiles with each other based on topics they can teach on or learn about.

"It's a little bit like a dating site for mentees and mentors - if I log on as a mentee and find a mentor, and I can filter by things I'm interested in talking to people about. You build your profile, select a load of things you think you can help with and then you and people can search for those issues," he said.

Walker, who has worked in the sector for eight years, has engaged other advisers on career development, preparation for exams negotiating and adapting to change.

PFS president Adam Owen also uses the programme and said mentoring was a "vital asset" throughout his career.

"The great thing about the adviser community is that people are very keen to share their experience. [The programme] gives people the opportunity to do that in an environment that is moderated and offers a platform for people to find the right person at the right time for their professional needs," he said.

"The platform offers a gentle introduction, the opportunity for both parties to make a decision as to whether they are right for each other, and then a process that takes you through step by step to the point at which you can reach a conclusion. People can commit for a period of time that is right for them."

PFS chief executive Keith Richards said the mentors and mentees benefitted from one another's experience.

"The benefit of using a digital platform means that relationships are not restricted to the UK alone and our affiliation with the European Financial Planning Association will allow professional advisers to remain united, irrespective of the ultimate outcome of Brexit."

 

 

 

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