The training program has allowed Edward Jones to keep its sales force about the same size even as more than 10 percent of its brokers have left each year since 2007, the filings show.
Hiring brokers away from competitors isn’t a sustainable strategy for replacing those who retire, according to Bob Patrick, 51, director of education and development at Raymond James Financial Inc. The company, based in St. Petersburg, Florida, has extended its 138-person training program to two years from four weeks to increase its success rate, he said.
“We can’t keep rotating people around because we all keep getting older,” Patrick said. “We’re extincting ourselves.”