It looks like financial planning job ads are now being placed with a higher requirement on experience. Holding just the PS146 RG146 qualification by itself may not be enough to secure a position in the financial planning industry as a financial planner, and maybe a junior role would fit as a start in the financial industry. This does depend on the location of the job.

For example, if you are trying to get a job as a paraplanner in one of the smaller towns such as Ballarat, good luck with it. The demand is just not there. However, Sydney and Melbourne, and recently Brisbane looks to be a good place to start with.

However, the market has started to demand candidates to have other specialized skillsets such as technical knowledge in Securities or Derivatives etc. These give the candidate a certain edge over the competition.

Though not a widely published fact, being a financial planner in the end requires you to have good social skills and therefore, the candidate's english skills need to be better than normal. Unfortunately, a lot of non-english speaking graduates find that they have issues when going for an interview.

There are less and less positions such as for paraplanning and apprenticeship schemes. These look to be outsourced instead.

Recently, there was a para planning conference where there were lots of paraplanners. From senior ones to junior ones. Being in this industry for quite some time, I have thought that para planning was but a junior ranked position but after talking to the senior ones, I find that there is a growth path directly up from being a para planner.

Nonetheless, the first step is to get a diploma of financial planning.