MLC is enticing would-be financial advisers with offers of paid training to tackle job shortages and succession planning.
Seventeen recruits from an initial intake of 25 are the first to graduate from MLC's two-year Adviser Scholarship Program. Sixty-one are currently going through the program and another 25 will begin the course in July.
One scholarship is being offered per practice to MLC's self-employed licensees, which include the Garvan, Apogee, MLC and Godfrey Pembroke brands.
Students are trained in soft skills such as client relationships, sales, leadership and time management. They are also taught practice management, strategic advice and technical skills.
The program has a retention rate of 85 per cent and around 60 per cent of students are female, a spokeswoman said.
"Financial planning is a fairly male-dominated industry so this is bringing women in," she said.
The majority of students are around 30 years of age but the program is not limited to that age group, MLC general manager business growth and succession Wayne Handley said.
"The students range in age from 25 through to their early 30s but we do have some in their 50s as well. It's not exclusively for young people."
Handley said there is a scramble for talent in the marketplace and so the program is offered to para-planners within practices as well used as an incentive for job-hunters.
The program is part of transitional packages for MLC's self-employed advice businesses, launched two years ago, that include user pays options and a system free of licensee splits.
MLC's succession and acquisition program was launched in October 2006.
