The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning would like to lure women who have interrupted their financial careers back into the profession.
The center and five financial firms are launching the Financial Planning Re-entry Initiative, aimed at increasing diversity in the financial planning profession and tapping a pool of talent that might otherwise be overlooked. The internships will be specifically designed to help women who have left the profession but want to return, the center says. Re-entry internships will be posted on the CFP Board Career Center as they become available.
The program is being run in partnership with iRelaunch, a firm that creates programs to help people re-enter the professional world after an absence. iRelaunch works with more than 40 Fortune 500 companies in a range of roles to develop re-entry internship programs, the CFP center says.
“Among our priorities at the Center for Financial Planning is to address the lack of diversity within the financial planning profession as well as the need for pathways into the profession,” said Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis, executive director of the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning. “Through the Financial Planning Re-entry Initiative, the center seeks to apply a successful workforce development model from other sectors to create a scalable re-entry model for personal financial planning.”
Participating firms in the pilot are Edelman Financial Services and United Capital, both of which are sponsored by TD Ameritrade Institutional; Fairport Asset Management and Yeske Buie, sponsored by Schwab Foundation; and Fidelity Investments.
Ed Moore, president of Edelman Financial Services, says his firm hopes to hire two or three interns.
“This is geared toward more mature people, not college students, who may have left the workforce to take care of children or aging parents,” Moore says. Compensation will be higher than for most internships.
“I would absolutely encourage other firms to join the program,” he says. “Edelman Financial has supported the Center for Financial Planning since its inception. There are mostly older white men in the profession and more diversity is needed.”
The initiative offers a dual benefit to those seeking to restart their careers as well as to firms striving to diversify their talent pools, says the center. The effort will result in a stronger financial planning workforce serving clients with diverse needs. Men returning from a career break are also eligible to apply for and participate in the FPRI program.
Firms that would like to participate in future pilot programs can contact Eddy Demirovic at the Center for Financial Planning at [email protected].