“I had the opportunity to build a team of paraplanners at that time and I just knew that it was for me.”
Now the firm’s commercial director, Hamilton supports a business that has £450mn assets under management and 26 staff across Scotland.
However, he admits that moving from managing his own workload to managing a larger team was not easy.
“I can be easily tucked up in a room all day just working on cases and that’s the bit that I love about the job," he said.
'I had never been a manager before. I’m used to sitting in an office and just typing away and being in the background, but I fully believe in getting people out of their comfort zone.
"I went from that to managing a team of six, to basically managing the whole business and giving speeches to 500 to 1,000 people. So from being a scared little boy to now has been a huge challenge and a huge shift," Hamiton said.
In his view, more people should know about the opportunities that can exist in paraplanning and he believes this is one of the biggest issues in the profession currently.
"Paraplanning as a whole is definitely seen as a bit of a stepping stone, when in reality it is a very, very technical role that requires a particular sort of person.
"I know for a fact that our business would come to a standstill if we stopped paraplanning today and I could probably say that for 99 per cent of firms," Hamilton said.
“One of the biggest challenges facing the industry right now is paraplanning. There’s a lack of paraplanners which makes it difficult for businesses to retain staff.
"At the minute there are so many recruiters out there offering huge salaries for paraplanners.
"For businesses that are relatively small, they can’t afford these salaries so it becomes easier to outsource paraplanning," Hamilton said.
In his view, creating a strong work culture is one of the key things firms can do to try and retain staff in the current environment.
"If you can show staff how valuable they are to the business and that they can grow as the business grows, that’s key."
jane.matthews@ft.com
