While school days are a distant memory for a lot of people, there is one feeling that never fades: the sickly nervous churning of the belly the morning of an exam.
And a lot of people are mistaken when they believe the end of school marks the last time they will ever enter an exam hall or log on to take a test.
A lot of careers nowadays, especially in financial services, require further qualifications past those you receive at school or university.
And as thousands of students gear up to take their exams this month, it got me thinking about whether exams are indeed that difficult when compared to applying learned skills in the real world.
To become an adviser, individuals must hold a level four financial advice qualification and achieve competent adviser status.
Those taking their exams with the Chartered Insurance Institute will need to sit six exams in total.
Now don’t get me wrong, the idea of sitting six exams is not my idea of fun, but these are primarily geared towards technical knowledge and assessed via written examination.
It is down to the individual to sit and learn the content, process and internalise it and then be able to answer questions correctly on what they have learned. This is not dissimilar to what we all had to do at school.
We all learn in different ways and some people prefer to watch videos or listen to podcasts to take in the information, while others prefer to read and take notes.
All are valid ways of learning but the general format of exams does not tend to alter. You learn, you get quizzed, you get a qualification.
Now comes the hard part: putting it into practice and sitting in front of a client.
The leap to become client-facing
Speaking to individuals who have been carrying out their studies via an adviser academy, their anxiety has become more noticeable now they are close to having to meet and advise clients for real.
No, the exams weren’t necessarily easy, but they seemed a breeze compared to having to deal with a difficult client while being new to the profession.
So how do we make this jump easier?
This is something academies and training programmes have been getting better at over time.
A few years back, a lot of the focus on training advisers was on technical knowledge but now there has been more of a shift to paying equal attention to soft skills.
These are things such as how to communicate with clients, problem solving, critical thinking and time management to build rapport and show the benefits of advice.
While technical knowledge is essential, the ability to empathise, listen and deal with clients’ problems is what will set apart an average adviser and an exceptional one.
