To inject more energy and innovative thinking into its services, Sun Life Financial seeks to recruit more Generation-Y individuals to be financial advisors as Hong Kong’s financial planning sector becomes increasingly professionalised.
The company has implemented a holistic approach to helping university graduates identify their career aspirations, nurturing them to unleash their full potential by providing full support to motivate them to achieve their goals, helping them engage clients, as well as optimising work-life balance. “Currently, we have around 2,000 financial advisors and we aim to increase the number to 3,000 by 2020,” says Belinda Au, General Manager, Distribution & Marketing at Sun Life Hong Kong.
Sun Life has recently unveiled its spacious “Brighter Gen CHAT” facility, which is a vibrant environment that blurs the lines dividing work, entertainment and networking. With the vibe of a high-tech firm’s office, the innovative open space features workstations for impromptu meetings, and tracks for smart balance boards and so on. “We developed the interior design based on suggestions from our Generation-Y colleagues. The environment was designed to encourage interaction and engage our advisors,” she notes. “There is a networking zone where people can unwind with video games on a big screen and there are dart boards as well. The core concept is to inspire advisors’ comradeship and encourage interaction and exchanges of ideas.”
Sun Life is the provider of a comprehensive range of insurance, wealth and asset management products, covering all the life stages and needs of its clients. Its MPF service is widely recognised as one of the market leaders. For over 125 years, the company has continued to offer its services underpinned by the same values: honesty, integrity, knowledge and humanity.
The company welcomes degree or sub-degree graduates from any discipline with less than two years of work experience to apply for its Business Management Associate (BMA) position. Updated and tailored to suit the needs of Generation Y, the comprehensive training including diverse life and group insurance product knowledge, MPF knowledge, communication and interpersonal skills, time management skills and professional image training. “The programme aims to cultivate professionalism among our advisors. It focuses on interactivity, supported by our e-learning platform,” Au adds. The ultimate goal is to develop BMAs into “Most Respected Advisors” on four core values: caring, professional, inspiring and winning.
Au says the training brushes up on BMAs’ communication skills so that they not only bring a conversation to life and engage their clients, but also inspire trust and confidence. “We will help advisors build client relationship through many networking sports and lifestyle events in which both advisors and clients participate. Many such events are linked to charities because Generation-Y people are socially conscious.”
Candidates who would like to apply for BMAs should be passionate about helping others and have a plan for personal growth. They should be diligent, driven, self-disciplined and action-oriented and have a positive attitude to overcoming challenges. “Sun Life has a holistic two-month BMA-specific training programme with many success formulas. Practice makes perfect – BMAs are expected to actively participate in training arranged by their leaders, who guide them on a one-on-one basis in joint fieldwork, setting goals, and coaching and progress assessment,” she notes.
As soon as new recruits join Sun life as BMAs, they benefit from a well-developed mentoring arrangement through which seasoned advisors will share their experience, support the mentees to overcome challenges, deal with the difficulties in building client network, give guidance on rules and regulations and ways to handle clients’ enquiries, Au says. “Mentors and mentees will be carefully matched, based on their profiles and careers paths.”
BMAs have a clear career blueprint. A fast-track promotion is designated for outstanding BMAs. Based on the individual’s goals, BMAs may advance to team manager, and will then, in turn, recruit, provide training and coach team members to become successful advisors. Or they can choose to become assistant manager, financial planning to focus on services for their clients.
Undergraduates in their final year of study, who want to learn more about financial planning, identify their life aspirations and goals, can join Sun Life’s University Student Program (USP) as interns. In addition to free training, the interns can also attend various activities and seminars to enhance their soft skills. Once they graduate, they will be selected to join as BMAs.
Regional Director, Duncan Lee, is the past president of the General Agents and Managers Association (GAMA) of Hong Kong. Lee is committed to enhancing the professionalism of the financial planning sector. “To maintain Hong Kong’s status as a financial hub, the Insurance Authority regulates the financial planning sector and has tightened its control over the quality of financial advisors through a statutory licensing regime. The Government seeks to nurture the second generation of insurance agents/financial planners and aims to encourage seasoned practitioners to pass their expertise to the younger generation,” Lee says. “With training in analytical judgment, university graduates are well-suited for financial planning. The complex financial need analysis also requires the analytical skills of graduates.”
Lee has four Generation-Y members in his team and he engages them with the interesting aspects of their work, such as the client-advisor sports and lifestyle activities that enable them to build relationships. “I treat them with respect and recognise their contributions. At meetings, I let them spend more time sharing their innovative ideas,” Lee says. “Although I have been in the industry for more than 30 years, I try to bridge the gap by livening up meetings and training sessions. I first gain their trust and then inspire them and stimulate their thinking.”
Another Regional Director Corey Hui first interned at Sun Life when he was studying manufacturing engineering at the City University of Hong Kong and then joined its training programme for graduates. “I enjoy working with my team, consisting of my high school and university classmates and friends. It’s truly ‘work hard, play hard’. We attend many team functions and travel together and, at the same time, make concerted efforts towards our shared goals,” Hui says.
“Several years ago, my team beat several other service providers to offer an MPF scheme for a listed company with several hundred staff members. It was the first time I worked for such a large company. I derive job satisfaction from providing wealth security for my clients. We get commendations from them and some have sought us out for other wealth protection solutions,” Hui continues. “My team has grown from three members to over 90 currently. I believe in ‘life influences life’. I have incorporated a management system to help team members develop sources of clients. Some members have become COTs (Court of the Table), whose productivity is three times as much as MDRT (Million Dollar Round Table). My goals as a member of Sun Elite Executive Director (SEED) Programare to become an agency director and grow my team to 230.”
“Young people with a positive attitude and demeanour will have many opportunities. They should work hard and work smart to identify good and effective solutions,” Hui notes.
