Joel Austin Craven, CFP, RICP, started his own practice out of his basement in 2004, he knew he needed help in terms of staff. He hired his first intern in 2006, and she worked with him from her junior year of high school through the end of college. While she was interested in staying with the practice at that time, the 11-year MDRT member from Verona, Wisconsin, USA, felt it would be better for her to get life experience, perhaps in a larger, corporate firm — and then, if desired, return to the business, which thrives on a type of autonomy that requires maturity.

That created the current internship program, for which Craven hopes people will stay for two years (ideally beginning their sophomore year of college), leave, and then return, where a bonus package and more will be waiting for them.

“I have to be able to sincerely and authentically offer people reassurances, and it’s hard for somebody who may not have their footing under them to make those promises. Clients can sense and feel that,” Craven said. “By going away and having other experiences, they come back with ideas, a more developed voice, and are settled enough to mean it when they say they’ll be there to help not just get clients to retirement but through it.

“I would rather have exceptionally happy, well-developed, settled people in my practice than people wondering if they should’ve gone and done something else. Then if there are reasons to come back, we’ll figure that out.”

In fact, Craven’s practice is geared toward empathy and support even in its clientele. Focusing on retirement and financial planning for educators from kindergarten through high school, Craven strives to make a difference for people who do the same for their students. The motivation stems from both marrying a teacher and spending the early part of his career, “helping millionaires making their next million.”

Who?

A few times, Craven has hired clients’ children for the internship program. More commonly, though, he partners with business schools at area universities to find potential candidates. This approach evolved from an initial connection with a high school teacher’s internship program, whose students understandably proved less ready to grasp the job requirements than college students several years older. And candidates don’t have to be focused on finance; Craven is also looking for people interested in human resources, English or other areas that help bring something different to the team.

The interview process involves meeting with Craven as well as the rest of the staff (including an office manager, a property and casualty specialist, and another advisor), and the group decides. First, though, the candidates are asked a set of 10 questions that aim to identify their ability to work autonomously. The most important part, Craven says, is how their personality fits with the team; if a person is hired, their skill set will determine if they are assigned to work outside the office (meeting with clients) or inside the office (focused on service and follow-up sales).

While at the time of this story Craven is without an intern in his office, he is currently looking, and usually tries to have two to three interns in the office at a time, with the hope that one of them will wind up employed with the practice full time.

What do they do?

Internships aren’t merely basic office duties but often focus on special projects that allow for greater contributions. (Craven doesn’t recruit differently for different types of interns; rather, their goals, abilities and education are the biggest factors in driving them toward an advisor role vs. a support role.) One of Craven’s first interns was responsible for creating the office’s marketing materials to define their vision.

“It’s not that I couldn’t do it, but it would have taken me a long time,” Craven said. “Having an intern do it with fresh eyes was really, really valuable.”

And beyond work like setting up appointments, interns have played a crucial role in developing technology and client communication, thinking of details and information necessary to include in service orders that Craven says he wouldn’t have thought of himself. They can also connect with area organizations (one was essential in creating a partnership with the Madison Education Foundation) and younger prospects.

For example, when Craven goes to a gathering of teachers, the intern can come along not just to help expand the practice’s reach (Craven can’t have individual meetings with 500 people on his own) but to provide a younger voice for teachers of a similar age to connect better with about finances and life planning.

By getting these young clients on board, Craven’s team can later help them with estate planning and other financial management as their income grows and life plans expand.

For how long?

Interns work full, 40-hour weeks during summers and breaks from school. During the school year, the work is reduced to 10-20 hours, with work in the office twice per week and other projects to do outside the office. When school is in session, school comes first.

“I love the fact that you want to come here and work,” Craven tells them, “but you have to get your degree.”

Additional benefits

Craven emphasizes the cost-effectiveness of this approach, noting that he has not been successful using traditional hiring methods. In other words, the time and money required to find a full-time staff member, pay a salary up front, and potentially train them, just for them to leave nine to 18 months later, seems less wise than a part-time intern who not only costs less but can potentially grow into a role where, by that time, it will be clear that a long-term fit is more likely.

What else?

The practice is a small family office, not a structured corporate environment. One intern used to the latter felt frustrated when Craven didn’t offer regular performance reviews with a direct relationship to raises. This element of who is a fit, Craven says, is hard to identify in the interview process and often only determined as the job is happening.

There has been one time that an intern left to join the manufacturing sector, came back to work as an advisor and help Craven with process improvements, and left again for a factory management position in his previous organization after determining he wasn’t cut out for the critical last step of closing the sale of a policy.

Usually, though, a return means someone is there to stay. Craven’s office manager, Alyssa, started as an intern, left the office, then returned and has been there since 2008. Anni, Craven’s first intern, left in 2010 and returned in 2014, helping clients with retirement and risk management planning ever since.

“If you try to force people into specific things, you will get the job done, but will you get the most you can out of it?” Craven said. “For all personnel, I want to build autonomous working relationships where I can give a general structure of how we do business, but you can find the solution. Then it becomes a partnership, and team members take ownership of their work as opposed to me telling them what needs to be done. I have found improvements in how we do business in the most unlikely places by letting people get creative in how they accomplish things. It allows them to challenge the status quo in a comfortable manner and has made me a better leader, business owner, and mentor, and I believe it allows them to more clearly see the bigger picture of our grander mission: helping people.”

Contact: Joel Craven joel.craven@horacemann.com