How to Launch a Mentoring Program for Financial Professionals

A recent trend in the financial service industry is shifting the focus onto financial professionals. Like all employees, financial professionals need career development opportunities. However, specific restrictions are often present in the industry. Mentoring is a great way to overcome these restrictions and provide customized career development to these financial professionals.

Why Finance Mentoring Programs

We’ve looked at the advantages of general mentoring in the workplace. However, mentoring is especially effective for financial professionals. Here are 4 reasons to consider a finance mentorship program:

• New Graduates. There are a lot of new college graduates entering into the finance industry. Mentoring is a great way to get them acclimated into the professional world. It is also a great option for turning their incoming knowledge into practical skill sets.
• Career Pathing. Mentors can offer financial mentees a chance to look at their career paths. This is especially effective when the mentor is one or more career levels ahead of the mentee. The mentor can share their experiences and offer advice related to career development.
• Networking. The financial mentees can inherit the networks of their mentors through their mentoring relationship. The mentor is also a great advocate for their mentees when it comes to referrals for promotions.
• Continued Learning. Mentoring helps the mentee continue learning. This is essential for members of the finance industry because it is a constantly evolving field. It is also particularly helpful when learning specific technical skills or new trends in the industry. 

Benefits of Mentoring for the Financial Organization

The financial sector has many opportunities for employee development that can be facilitated with mentoring. Mentoring also comes with many benefits such as…

• Attract Top Talent. We’ve seen many financial service organizations use mentoring to attract talent. It is a benefit for job candidates that not every organization offers, making your organization more appealing. A good selling point is that having a mentor often leads to a higher chance of growing their career.
• Increase Employee Retention. Employees are more engaged when they have a mentor. Higher employee engagement means they are more likely to stay with the organization for longer. This means less turnover expense as well as higher productivity.
• Develop Leadership Skills. Most financial service organizations use mentoring as a tool for leadership development. This is especially useful for succession planning, as high-potential employees can be targeted. Mentees tend to be especially engaged in this type of program.
• Global Knowledge Sharing. Traditional mentoring relationships promote knowledge sharing between mentors and mentees. With the addition of technology, this knowledge sharing can take place across the globe. Financial professionals will have access to a much larger database of industry-specific information this way.

Launching a Mentoring Program for Financial Professionals

Launching a financial mentoring program is very similar to starting any type of mentoring program. However, there are a few areas that will need special attention…

• Clarify your business objectives. Then, agree on qualifications for participants that will help you meet these objectives.
• Provide an easy way for participants to enroll. A great solution is mentoring software, as it keeps track of all participants and their qualifications.
• Include mentor training materials and workshops. You will need to provide some guidance to your participants, including mentors and mentees, program administrators, and managers.
• Take the time to properly match your participants. Mentor matching is very importing within mentoring programs. Unsuccessful matches will lead to unsuccessful programs.
• Check in on mentorships periodically. The role of the program admin does not stop once the mentorships have begun. They must ensure that the relationship is progressing as it should. Checking in also makes sure the mentor match was successful, and the mentor and mentee are both thriving.
• Send out surveys. This is an important step in measuring the success of your program to prove the ROI to stakeholders. It is also another step that checks on mentorship compatibility and progression.

Matching Mentors and Mentees in Finance

While all of the above tips are important, specific emphasis is required for matching participants. This is an important step in the overall success of the program, as unsuccessful mentor matches lead to unsuccessful mentoring programs.

It should begin by determining the business objective for the program. The organization then needs to list the skills and competencies that are going to fill the business objective of the program. If the program is heavily focused on career development for financial professionals, then matching by career level is a must.

Another focus for mentoring programs is skill development. In this case, mentees should be able to see the potential mentors’ areas of expertise on their profile. They can then choose a match that aligns with their developmental goals.

Matching should also be facilitated by mentor matching software. Software can keep track of participant profiles, allowing easy match by career level or other criteria. It also facilitates both mentee self-matching and program admin matching.

For more information on the benefits of mentoring for financial professionals, request a demo today.