1st Chartered looks to grads for growth

Chorley-based 1st Chartered is launching a graduate recruitment scheme to fuel plans for regional expansion.

Managing director Sylvia Bentham is talking to a local university about taking on graduates, and aims to train them as paraplanners, then advisers.

‘I intend to give the graduates a lot of client contact and work dealing with the client information so that they learn the business quickly. That includes writing up the notes from client meetings, which I will dictate to them,’ she said.

Bentham (pictured) plans to sell her systems and controls to local IFAs struggling to meet the demands of the retail distribution review, and has earmarked graduate trainees to eventually take over those firms. ‘I don’t want to put my brand on their businesses but by the time they retire, I will have trained graduates to take over,’ said Bentham.

‘There’s no point me coming in thinking they will become a trained adviser just like that. It has got to be a case of: here is the phone, here is the photocopier.’

He will return to the firm in a permanent role when he finishes his degree.