Employment Opportunities

Head Office Role: Financial Planner

Full Time
Ontario
Pay Type: Salary plus bonus

Company Overview:

At IRONSHIELD Financial Planning, our CFP professionals are continually working to have an in-depth understanding of clients current issues and concerns and work to gain a clear understanding of their needs and goals. We recognize that each individual or family’s needs are unique, so we have structured our programs and services to provide complete flexibility through a wide variety of customizable options. We’re dedicated to helping clients make smart, educated and well-thought out financial decisions throughout all the various stages of their life.

Job Description:

Our financial planners are visionaries who provide clarity and confidence to their clients by taking them through a properly constructed financial planning process. They help their clients map out the best course of action to accomplish their financial goals. Your intention in this role is to build a service relationship with clients built on trust and provide clarity to them so they can make the right decisions… for them. Your ability to take clients through a well organized financial planning process looks effortless and you are keenly interested in each and every client. You pride yourself on being able to provide clarity to clients but also in your ability to proactively identify areas of concern. You are able to recommend changes and have an ability to identify opportunities that you can help clients with to support their overall goals. The only problem is that most of the time, doing what you are doing now, you never get the chance to fully showcase your financial planning skills because you have never been able to bridge the gap between true financial planning and the need to sell products. You get lured in to financial roles by name brand employers who say they want you to be a "financial planner" but then very quickly you are shown the products you need to sell and the quota’s you need to maintain - whether they are the right solutions for the client or not. You are not given the freedom to build a relationship with your clients because of the demanding sales pressures and always feel like you are seen by your clients as a salesperson, as opposed to the true financial planning professional that you are. It feels like no one will really let you actually DO what you do best. But what if you didn’t have these problems? What if every single day you came to work in a place that appreciated the work that you do? And trusted that YOU could do it better than anyone else on the team? Where you could truly care about the humans on the other end of the plan. And your team members acknowledged how much of yourself you put into your job, even though you make it look effortless and flawless. Where you are celebrated for your magical talents of connecting with the client and making them feel confident, seen and heard throughout your delivery.

You’ll Know This Job Is For You If…

  • There is no greater feeling of accomplishment for you than knowing that a financial conversation you had made people FEEL something.
  • You cringe when you see a "dog’s breakfast" of products supporting a client's financial affairs with no rhyme or reason for them being there.
  • You’re constantly on the lookout for the latest evidence based financial planning data and find yourself searching the words “financial planning” online - just for fun.
  • You sometimes write things on your to-do list after you’ve done them just so you can check them off.
  • And having a proven process that you can take everyone you know through, knowing that it will provide them with such clarity and confidence to make the best financial decisions for them makes you giddy on the inside!

What we’re looking for in a Head Office Financial Planner…

  • This role is a perfect fit for someone who loves financial planning.
  • Someone who has already obtained their CFP® and sees this as the minimum education requirement for the role.
  • You get excited to learn about clients and are truly interested to learn more about them.
  • You get a smile on your face after you've reviewed all of the data provided by a client and can’t wait to share with them your findings to show how those findings fit in with their family vision.
  • *IMPORTANT - This position is more than just helping people find good investments or insurance. We’re looking for someone to cultivate positive relationships with our clients, be keenly aware of our “do no harm” approach and be at the forefront of financial planning strategies to properly help clients manage what they can’t afford to lose.
How ‘bout we skip right ahead to the centre of the tootsie-pop? Our business is 97.63% virtual (in other words, we do have gorgeous office spaces we can use when no other online option will do). We are the largest virtual comprehensive financial planning firm in Canada! With member firms operating in three (soon to be four) of our great Provinces with a goal of having financial planners work with us in EVERY Province in Canada. We’re biased - but we are pretty sure we are the coolest place to work as a financial planner, forever. And we really believe that we are changing the way financial planning is delivered in Canada. Honestly though, the job is not all roses and puppy dogs - here is some good news and some bad news…

Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first:

  1. Although learning to take clients through our comprehensive financial planning process is a critical first step (we have full training available that you will go through), one of the expectations as you work with clients and prospective clients to identify opportunities that you can work with them on. So if you’re looking for a “service only” type of role where you are just expected to spend time with clients to get to know them better, then this is no longer the “coolest” job ever, it just became the “suckiest” and probably isn’t a good fit. You see the role is focused on financial planning first and from good financial planning comes identifying opportunities that will help the client move their financial vision forward. So you will be expected to help motivate them to do what is necessary to support their goals. So if you just want to sit and have meaningful conversations with clients without helping them follow through on implementing the right solutions, this is not the right role for you.
  2. We’re looking for someone who wants to be able to flex their financial planning muscles to enhance their overall compensation. So yes, this role has a sales aspect to it that rewards you through a very generous bonus program. However, this is not a role for someone who is looking to build their own business out of our business. That role is best served by becoming a branch owner, not from working as a head office financial planner.
  3. Review points 1 and 2.

Now, let’s talk about the good stuff…

  1. Our office is virtual… which means you can wear yoga pants, or pajamas, or a costume (well, really from the waist down because you will be on camera during client meetings). Just think of the amazing money you’ll be saving on ‘work clothes’.
  2. The work is fun, fresh and dynamic. You will be working directly with our team helping them with a mix of servicing clients with their financial planning needs, helping promote the firm's financial planning program through an online presence as well as identifying new opportunities to work on.
  3. We aren’t big on stress. However, we do work very hard. So while we will expect you to work efficiently and get things done, we focus on open communication and getting things done right the first go around.
  4. The hours will revolve around the client. The bottom line is that in our business, life can happen outside of normal work hours. So you’ll simply need to be aware of clients needs as they come in or as they are required. No we don’t expect you to be on call 24/7 but you do need to be aware if a client or team member has an urgent request over the weekend so that you can look like a hero and fix it for them.
  5. You’ll experience things, do things and make decisions on things that no big stuffy company would ever allow you to do. But in this company, this is expected of you to help build our brand and business.
  6. You’ll be working on cases you never thought you’d ever be working on. Once you get certified to take clients through The KAIZEN Financial Planning Process™ (and even get to the point of becoming a moderator for the certification process) you’ll be exposed to working on cases that will down right make you nervous. The size of the cases and the knowledge that you will need to possess will challenge you to be the best financial planner you can be.

What you’ll be responsible for related to financial planning:

  • Remember when I said that having your CFP® is the minimum requirement for the role? Well, you’ll be expected to become a master at taking clients through The KAIZEN Financial Planning Process™.
  • You will be responsible for quickly building rapport with clients in an honest and trustworthy manner. There will be no unsavoury sales pressure tactics allowed. We don’t need to convince clients of anything, we need to compel them to do what is right for them. Our clients are really smart and can smell the unsavoury side of our business a mile away.
  • Promote our methodologies by taking clients through our proven process.
  • Stay up to date with what’s happening in the financial planning space and bring what is progressive to the team's attention.
  • There will be a huge learning curve even though you are already a CFP®. You will unlearn what you have learned, prove out what works and what doesn’t and be expected to learn our process and challenge it if you don’t agree with it so we can always make it better. We don’t expect you to know everything but if you think there is a better way, we expect you to be able to prove it. We don’t care about what you think, we only care about what you know.

Now, let’s talk about the job requirements:

  1. You’re fired up about our mission to help our clients build clarity and confidence in their financial future so they can make better decisions to support their goals. We believe that by removing clients from the sales tactics of the investment and insurance community and by educating them first, they will be able to make the right decisions for them.
  2. You have experience in comprehensive financial planning. The majority of your time will be spent working on or with clients and helping them stay on track with their financial planning. You need to be able to think strategically about their bigger picture to help them build their confidence to implement the right decisions for their needs.
  3. You are always interested and are willing to help clients gain clarity through financial conversations that they have probably never had before. The conversations go well beyond investing, they dive into discussing their family vision, their hopes and dreams and their biggest fears. I’m not saying you need to be a trained psychologist (although this would be helpful) I’m saying that your need to be comfortable having deeper conversations will be an asset.
  4. You’re the type of person who gets joy out of getting things done. At the beginning of each week, you will create your “Ideal Week” (like we all do). Then, you will bang out that list of stuff. Fun stuff. Important stuff. Necessary stuff. You love lists, and checking things off diligently… and maybe you’re even one of those people who writes things on the list just so you can check it off. That’s great, we love people like you!
  5. You’re creative and tech savvy. An understanding of tools like Google Workplace (Gmail, Google Meet, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Salesforce.com, Social media, MindMeister, Google Chat) will serve you well here. Remember, we are 100% virtual so your ability to manage your day utilizing the wonderful world of online connected services will allow you to thrive in this role.
  6. Working here will mean some late nights, some weekends, and - especially being in a position of significant responsibility - paying attention to email/Chatter/Google Chat even during off-hours.
  7. You’re good with people. Part of this role will be communicating directly with clients, our team and our suppliers. So you need to enjoy talking with people and giving/getting direction. And be able to do it with love and empathy… even if you’re having a shit day.
  8. You think strategically and bring ideas to the table of opportunities that we haven’t yet seen or taken advantage of to drive business forward. You then need to be able to map out and execute those ideas alongside the team.
  9. You love taking the lead on your own projects. You love having full ownership over the creation, execution and results of your own projects. You’re constantly seeking to improve these projects asking yourself things like “What’s working? What’s not?”
  10. You’re always seeing things through our clients eyes. What is the perspective of the client? This will be important to ensure they are receiving the client service they deserve.

You’ll be mega successful here if you’re a human who…

  1. Is resourceful.
  2. Has a passion for financial planning.
  3. Understands that financial planning is soooooo much more than investing and buying life insurance.
  4. Can handle stress and tight deadlines on occasion.
  5. Works very well with other people and can build rapport quickly with both team members, our financial planning community and most importantly, our clients.
  6. Has great attention to detail.
  7. Is a high functioning communicator.
  8. Takes ownership and pride in their work.
  9. Embraces the ability to use technology to make you more efficient.
  10. Is not afraid of new challenges.
  11. Loves learning new things and can implement new ideas quickly.
  12. Adapts really well to changes on the go.
  13. Is technologically savvy.
  14. Has a very organized computer. (Just look at your computer desktop, it is clean or a mess?)
  15. Can handle direct and blunt feedback.
  16. Can juggle lots of moving pieces.
  17. Has actually prepared a comprehensive financial plan for a client before and loved doing it. (Please read this point again...)
In short, your job is to help us build client confidence. Not just in themselves, but in working with our firm. To help us enhance our brand of truly being a clients trusted advisory team. In short, your job is to help clients see us as an indispensable relationship that they can’t do without. To have them see us as the firm who is helping them manage what they can’t afford to lose. You’ll be working directly with our senior financial planner in an effort to service client relationships like never before and build out our financial planning division by helping to mentor and train other financial planners as they join our head office team. And to have fun. We do expect that you have had the opportunity to develop financial plans for clients and have had many opportunities to present the financial planning results to them. So you could say, we do expect you to be capable at your craft (you are a CFP so you should have a minimum standard of ability). We expect you to have a passion for financial planning, not product sales. We expect energy, organization, resourcefulness and a get-it-done attitude. We will certify you on The KAIZEN Financial Planning Process™, so don’t worry if you don’t know the in’s and out’s of that yet. We are looking for someone who is passionate about the work we do and continuing to improve how we deliver that work. This job description is not all-inclusive and certain activities, duties, or responsibilities may be required of you as needed. To learn more about what we do and how we do it, check out www.ironshield.ca.

APPLICATION DETAILS

We will likely get 100+ applications for this role and we simply don’t have time to interview that many candidates, so make your application stand out if you want a job that will change the entire trajectory of your life. If this is a job that gets you so excited that you would even do it for free, we would totally accept that offer from you. But, if you prefer compensation (and we totally get it… we prefer getting paid as well) this is what we offer:
  • The starting rate for this role will be $65,000 + generous bonus program.
  • This is a virtual role, so you can mostly work from wherever is most comfortable -- but we’d prefer someone who is within 3 hours +/- of the Eastern Time Zone.
In addition to being a detailed person, you must follow systems and processes. In fact, just to prove that you are detail oriented and can follow procedures, when you apply for this position you must use the secret subject line for the email -- it must include “Financial Planning is the key”. Yep, that’s our little trick to sort out the people who blanket send their resume to anyone and everyone, from the folks (that’s you) who are truly interested in this position. So don’t forget to put this in the subject line of the email. We are looking to bring our new colleague on board as soon as possible, but we will spend the necessary time to find the best fit both in abilities and culturally.

Here’s how you apply:

  1. Fill out and submit an employment application online: https://forms.gle/3Tuss9Fyiya8u1Ta7
  2. Download the Financial Planning Case Study Report.
  3. Submit the following to hr@ironshield.ca:
    1. Please ensure that you use the same email as the one you used in the employment application above so we can connect your application with your case study.
    2. Review the Financial Planning Case Study Report and prepare a screen capture video of you presenting this information to the client. Prepare the video as if you were presenting this financial plan to your client via an online meeting platform and you simply recorded the session.
    3. In the email, submit a link to the video as part of your submission. (One option is to post the video as an Unlisted video on a YouTube Channel. That way you can share the link to the video without having to worry about it being posted on YouTube for everyone to see).
    4. Have fun with this, and remember, financial planning is the key.

The Certified Financial Planner understands the financial needs of customers and provides appropriate advice and recommendations. The role will be the primary contact and resource of investment and in...

Read More