“Financial Planning? Isn’t it all just pensions, ISAs and spreadsheets?” . . . erm nope.

High up on the list of character traits of all the best Financial Planners and Wealth Managers is the ability to listen, ask the right questions and build relationships. Closely followed by an inquisitive nature and a genuine passion for helping people.

You would be joining an office of 165 people, you will be spending the next 4 years on your training contract working towards your CII (Level 4 Diploma in Financial Planning) as part of a lively, 17 strong Financial Planning team.

The Financial Planning Operations Manager describes the team as “Complete team players, all working to each other’s strengths”. 

Unlike a lot of training contracts, you aren’t worked into the ground, you’ll have a life, get exposure to complex schemes and feel supported and looked after. This is where Angie our Learning & Development Advisor steps in, supporting your progress through your training contract and onwards.

Once you have successfully gained your Level 4 Diploma in Financial Planning, you typically continue building on your knowledge and study towards your Level 6 Advanced Diploma, working towards becoming a Chartered Financial Planner or utilise your technical analysis skills and become a Senior Paraplanner.

In a nutshell 

You will receive structured training and fantastic support from your team, many are at different stages of CII study themselves so will have a really good understanding of the focus needed to juggle working and studying simultaneously.

As well as undertaking research, GAP Analysis and pulling together data from various sources you need to be comfortable writing lengthy reports and complex correspondence, this is going to form around 30% of your job role and can suit History, Geography and English graduates.

Individuals use the services of a financial planner for many different reasons from pension, life insurance and ISA advice to inheritance tax (IHT) planning, bonds, trusts, protection insurance, as well as more complex non-standard planning including final salary pension schemes, QROPS and corporate financial planning.

Your team covers the whole market advice process which means they are not tied to one product provider.  They offer a holistic financial planning service which means you get exposure to all areas of financial planning, not just focusing on one area of an individual’s finances in isolation. You need to be able to look at the bigger picture and take it all into account (this is where the asking the right questions and the being inquisitive bit comes into play!)

Rest assured you aren’t going to be let loose from day one! Your time is going to be structured, as you go through your RO exams you will be able to gain more exposure and be given more responsibility in certain areas.

As a graduate signing up for 4 years, what do you really want to know?  

• Hours – Monday to Friday, 35 hours week, flexi time (yes really, we put a big emphasis on work life balance, enabling you to recharge your batteries).
• Who are we? – Top 50, City based full-service accountancy firm with 20 Partners and 165 staff.
•  What is life like at CBW?  Check out the social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn) by searching ‘Carter Backer Winter’.
• COVID-19 – Find out how we supported our teams during lockdown and how we are supporting our teams moving forward within the FAQs section on our careers page.

Interested? 

Whilst we appreciate it’s a graduate training contract and your experience is going to be limited, there are a few things that we do need you to have: –

• 280 UCAS points and have or are expecting to achieve a 2.1 degree or higher. For the record we are totally open on degree subject, it doesn’t have to be finance or accountancy related.
• Strong IT skills – with the numerous industry platforms we work with, it goes without saying you will need to be comfortable working with different software. Obvious systems are Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Excellent attention to detail – bit of a no brainer, but pretty essential when working with large quantities of data and looking at important numbers.
• Great writing skills – a really important part of this role will be pulling all of your research together and compiling it within a well written report for Advisor review and complex client letters.
• Managing your own time and working successfully to deadlines – We tend not to breathe down your neck when you undertake work, you will be given work to complete within manageable deadlines and it’s up to you how you do it most of the time.
• Excellent communication skills – this applies to team members, colleagues and clients, also the ability to listen and follow instructions is going to form a crucial part of your training and development.
• An understanding of what is expected from you – CII training contract, working towards your Level 4 Diploma in Financial Planning – if you don’t know, google it, check out the CII website, the RO exams and understand what you are signing up for and how you can use it moving it forward.

What now? 

• Select apply now to be taken to our website and complete our online application form
• The closing date for applications is 12pm on Friday 21st August 2020  
• You can get more information on the job role, the full process and key dates by visiting the graduate vacancies page on our website

 Everyone who applies will receive a response with the outcome of their application.