Ian Simons explains how members can get the most out of the Professional Map
As we previewed in the summer edition of Personal Finance Professional, the Professional Map is now live, and being used by members and employers alike.
We have heard many different examples of how different people with different challenges are using the Professional Map to achieve personal career goals or business growth. In this article, we recount three example case studies that demonstrate the fact that whoever you are and whatever stage of your career you are at, the Professional Map can help you to:
- Self-assess your existing competencies.
- Identify career future pathways.
- Prepare for appraisals and development plans.
- Find relevant learning solutions to fill competency gaps.
How Ben expanded his career
Ben is a financial services administrator, working for a regional financial advisory group, where he started as an apprentice two years ago. He enjoys his job but can’t decide if he might be more suited to a client-facing role. He has seen some of his colleagues’ interactions with clients and is interested in seeing whether he might find a career as a financial adviser or financial planner more in line with his skillset.
He has assessed his existing technical expertise against those outlined in the Professional Map for ‘supporting functions’, and is now looking with his line manager at what technical expertise he would have to develop in order to become a Band 1 financial adviser, to see if this might be a realistic future aspiration.
How Elena identified a growing skills gap
Elena leads a team of mortgage brokers for an online mortgage broker specialising in non-standard construction methods. The digital nature of their business means they have an increasingly rich stream of customer insights that are beginning to be used to segment and target different types of prospective client with different propositions.
Assessing herself at Band 3, she feels she needs some specialist training to be more confident in meeting the competency standard, ‘use data and technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of processes and drive operational change’. She seeks out a practical data science course and applies that new competency to setting up new automated process for matching clients with specific sets of circumstances with brokers who have most success in achieving success for those types of customers.
How Paula professionalised her company’s HR practice
Paula is the Head of HR and talent for a fast-growing financial advisory group. It has acquired a number of smaller firms in recent years and she has inherited a wide array of incompatible competency frameworks, job families and recruitment processes. She needs to harmonise performance review processes, recruitment forms and personal development plans.
Looking through the best of the competency frameworks that she has in her businesses, there is a lot of commonality with the Professional Map, but she feels it needs a little adaptation to really reflect their business. With a bespoke competency framework that has 90% commonality with the Professional Map, she finds it easy to adapt the templates on the website to roll out behavioural interview plans, performance review templates and competency assessments.
Get the best from the Professional Map
So, whether you are just starting out on your career like Ben, running a business or leading a specialist practice, there’s something in the Professional Map for everyone. To take a self-assessment to see what it could do for you, visit: www.ciigroup.org/self-assess-your-skills
Ian Simons is customer director of the CII
