Recruitment group Growth Focus is in talks with industry superannuation funds about their plans following the introduction of new intra-fund legislation.
“Due to rule changes, we feel there may be an interest by industry super funds to recruit financial planners or other financial services executives to manage inquiries from fund members who can now access limited personal advice through their super trustee,” Growth Focus managing director Steven Fine said.
While there were no obvious signs since the intra-fund advice decision that industry superannuation funds wanted to hire financial planners, Fine said it was a possibility and something Growth Focus would discover through discussions in the coming weeks.
At the same time, Growth Focus would conduct a survey of industry funds to get a better understanding of their intentions following the government’s move, he said.
“We want to find out whether the hiring plans of industry super funds have changed and, if so, whether they’ll be looking to employ financial planners and whether they would want candidates who are at a junior and intermediate level or who are more senior,” he said.
“We also want to know their plans surrounding how they plan to give limited personal advice, whether it is face to face or through call centres.”
There was a sense industry funds had been more aggressive with their marketing to date and now, with the ability to provide limited personal advice to fund members, there was a real opportunity for expansion and to recruit further talent, Fine said.
Last month, Growth Focus reported that while job opportunities in the financial planning sector were not great, they were likely to pick up for the remainder of 2009 and return to more normal levels in 2010.
