From Perception to Practice: Making the Transition to Financial Services

Within the next decade, 37% of today’s advisors are expected to retire, leaving behind a crucial gap in talent that Gen Z and career transitioners are positioned to fill.¹ At the same time, new professionals are signaling a disconnect. One in four Gen Zers report that job expectations are unclear, suggesting a difference in understanding between how the industry is perceived and what the work actually demands.²

Those statistics point to a larger issue: many people enter financial services with a mental image of the industry that doesn’t match reality — and it’s in that gap between perception and practice where the surprises and challenges begin.

Perception vs. Reality in Financial Services

“One of the surprising things for me...getting into the finance industry, I thought it was a lot about numbers,” said FinServe Network ambassador Ryan Swenson, RICP®. “But it’s a lot more of a relationship business.”

This realization can be disorienting for new professionals and career changers alike. Technical skills can be taught, licensed, and tested, but building relationships and trust requires a different kind of adjustment.  

This shift isn’t just anecdotal; it’s grounded in how firms are adapting to a changing labor market. A recent survey by TestGorilla, a talent assessment platform, found that 87% of financial firms were using skills-based hiring to broaden their talent pool. Rather than focusing exclusively on technical ability and credentials, firms are placing greater emphasis on communication, adaptability, and client engagement — skills that are often developed in other industries and highly transferable for career changers.

For many career changers, the move into financial services is driven by purpose as much as opportunity. Professionals often arrive from adjacent industries with strong relationship skills and a desire to do more meaningful work.

“I worked in [the pharmaceutical sales] industry for over a decade, and I wanted to get back to my roots of finance, “said FinServe Network ambassador Terrel Dinkins, ChFC®, RICP®. “That’s how I ended up in the financial services industry. I felt it allowed me to do something that was very passionate: helping people with their money.”

Still, the importance of soft skills like client communication and building trust aren’t always made explicit early on. Swenson’s experience runs counter to the image many Gen Zers — and career changers of all ages — might have grown up with. Movies, television, and cultural narratives tend to frame finance as purely technical, analytical, and transactional, introducing people to the industry and shaping their perceptions long before they ever consider working in it.

“We watch television or movies — the movies that come to mind for me are The Wolf of Wall Street or Boiler Room — and we think about the image that is projected through media. Oftentimes, we take on that persona. We believe that is the style that we're supposed to project, right? Well, in reality...this is the real world,” said FinServe Network ambassador Marco Williams, CFP®.  

The real world of financial services brings with it an emotional weight that many new advisors may not be fully prepared for.

“It was almost like you build a portfolio, you get them allocated, and you start doing well by them and making them money. Then, a life event happens,” Swenson said. “The relationship really matters there, when they’re coming to you about a death in the family or something else that happened. Those are the things that I wasn’t really prepared for.”

Williams frames this as a common yet fundamental misunderstanding of the industry.

“What I realized along that path was this is really not about wealth management or investment management or anything else along those lines. It's really more about personal finance, and what's the key word there? Personal. You can't get more personal than an individual or family's money, right? It's a very emotional business.”

Bridging Knowledge Gaps for a Sustainable Career

Understanding the reality of the financial services industry upfront is crucial. Gen Z professionals consistently report ineffective onboarding and unclear job expectations, and when career changers enter the industry with an incomplete picture of the role, those knowledge gaps can quickly become barriers at a moment when the industry urgently needs new talent.

For many newcomers, the surprise is not that the work involves numbers; it is that it involves people. Understanding that financial services is about guiding individuals and families through life’s major financial decisions — often its most difficult emotional moments — is key to a successful and sustainable career transition into financial services.

More on the Career Transition

• Learn more about attracting Gen Z with the Onboarding Gen Z Study
• Unlock more insights from the FinServe Network, FinServe Network Convenes for 2025 Summit
• Determine if financial services is right for you, Financial Services Practice Management for Beginners: Getting Started