The ones that exist at the moment have been in place for five or six years, and they now need to be updated, which is part of his role as chair to oversee the updating of the standard to completion.
Good practice
For employers, Hegarty explained that there are always a few challenges around the ability to recruit people into their businesses.
“That ranges from recruiting the right person, training them and then keeping them in their businesses as well,” he said.
“In terms of recruiting the right person, the employer needs to not just go for the aptitude of the individual, but also look at their attitude as well so the capability and the skill set of that individual to be able to learn and understand those roles.”
For financial planning, and paraplanning, there are four main skill areas that an adviser needs to look for: the capability of technical knowledge, adhering to the regulatory requirements around ethics, dealing with clients - the business acumen to being able to build and develop a good business practice and interpersonal skills for financial advisers.
“Pick the right person, do all you can to support them, and motivate them,” he said. “Review that regular list to see how things are going on the apprenticeship. Treat them well and pay them well so they don't want to leave and go somewhere else.”
Gideon Van Zijl, compliance and regulatory development consultant at Zurich, and former participant of a senior insurance professional apprenticeship programme, was also on the podcast.
As someone who did an apprenticeship, he said he was quite upset at having to g down the apprenticeship route when he first started but has since changed his mind.
“I thought that I could just do the Advanced Diploma in Chartered Insurance through the Insurance Institute and then I was told I had to do the apprenticeship,” he said.
“I'm actually glad to say that I was totally wrong in not wanting to do the apprenticeship. While it is a level six apprenticeship, so it is a lot of work, it has prepared me much better for my day to day activities and for my role.
“And the main benefit I had was the link between the technical knowledge which I achieved through the CII and being able to explain the knowledge that I've acquired, and that's where the apprenticeship added so much value.”
He said it also allowed him to meet many interesting people, and to be able to see a much wider picture of the business than he would have seen if it had not been for the apprenticeship.
“When I was encouraged to do it, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.”
