Young financial planners preparing to enter the industry should put more of their energies into passing the CFP exam and developing exemplary interpersonal skills, and less into obtaining specific licenses, an annual survey of planner career preparation and expectations found.

In all, some 71.2% of RIA professionals in the study recommended that students obtain a CFP certification prior to graduation, while fewer than 17% of students thought that was more important than other kinds of designations, according to Redtail Technology’s “Financial Planning Career Perceptions 2021” survey.

“For a lot of the students, it’s not that they don’t want to get their CFP certification. It’s just that adding another expense is a challenge since most of them already have student loans,” said David Mehlhorn, Redtail’s director of sales. “Meanwhile, if they get those licenses, they can start making money right away. The CFP doesn’t have that immediate translation in their minds.”

Meanwhile, he said, financial advisors see value in a young hire already having a CFP certification because that hire can immediately hit the ground running in all areas of client service.

Equally important, but with a much smaller gap between pros and students, was the emphasis placed on the interpersonal skills required for financial planners at all stages of their careers. Both felt it was a top priority, with 91% of professionals saying so and 77.6% of students indicating the same. Next important were technical knowledge of financial planning content, prospecting and marketing skills, and financial planning technology skills.

This year’s survey included 4,257 respondents, 93% of whom were working in financial services and 7% of whom were college students hoping to break into the field. In a change from the prior three years of the survey, Redtail partnered with Brigham Young University—Idaho in order to broaden they survey’s scope.

“One of the things we find important at Redtail is giving back to the financial community we serve,” Mehlhorn said. “We’ve given away [technology] licenses to universities that have these programs, and we thought it was a great opportunity to involve one of the programs we work with. It gave students some great real-life experience and gave us some outside perspective.”

The survey found another gap, this one around what’s really important when making oneself marketable in a post-college working world. Students perceived the highest hurdles to enter the profession would be getting licenses (56.8%) and certifications (41.8%). Meanwhile, the people who might be doing the hiring felt that having a thorough understanding of the financial realities of getting into the business (46.5%) was more important than licensing (38.1%) or certifications (20.6%).

Another finding was that while salary, company culture and the quality of management are common drivers to students’ and professionals’ perceived job satisfaction, the majority of students ranked salary as most important, and among professionals, culture was king.

And finally, industry professionals have turned the corner in believing that academic programs are adequately preparing students for financial planning careers. Back in 2018, another poll found that only 20% of respondents felt schools were doing a good job in this area, the survey said, but in 2021, a full 57% of professionals surveyed believed this to be the case.