Because we are growing rapidly and hiring a lot of young people, we’ve done a big refresh of our “employment brand” at United Capital so potential hires can see that we are a tech-savvy, fast-paced, team-spirited and very fun place to work. Our mission and purpose—to improve lives—is sincere and central to everything we do. Our website, our tools and our physical space are all pleasantly surprising to candidates. With the younger generation, they tell their friends, so we have a strong pipeline when jobs open up.
While all of us in the industry should look at our own companies from the eyes of that highly intelligent and creative person we’d like to hire, we need to do more as a group. Many of us support the CFP programs at universities like Texas Tech, but that’s not enough. I believe our industry marketing program should focus less on what we do (planning and investing) and more on why we do it (we love to help people, and that is super meaningful) and how we do it (it’s a lot more exciting and fun than you may think!).
Our industry is sexy, we just don’t show it. Let’s bring sexy back.
Gail Graham is chief marketing officer at United Capital, an innovative and fast-growing financial life management firm with a unique approach to the market. Having earned awards in retail investor and advisor marketing, Graham is driving United Capital’s brand development, marketing and lead generation across all channels. Follow her on Twitter: @GailGrahamUC.