Growing Your Retirement Plan Career Using Designations: Enhancing Your Resume and Your Workplace
Highlights From TPAbenchmark Talent Solutions February 2023 Career Forum
Presented by TPA Benchmark
Special thanks to Tiffany Hanks , Director of Education, ARA (ASPPA) for delivering fantastic insights to TPA owners and retirement plan professionals (employees) on how designations can enhance your workplace and career progress.
Below are some highlights from our first career forum.?Please be sure to use the registration link below and join us March 1st 2023 at 12 noon EST for our second session with Kelsey N.H. Mayo Partner, Poyner Spruill- for insights on how staying current on legislative changes such as Secure Act 2.0 can enhance your career and workplace. Your can register for this free event here:
?Key highlights from our February 1st session with Tiffany Hanks are listed below:
?●????New remote work environment in the retirement plan (TPA) industry places greater emphasis on remote training.
?●????Some practical pointers raised by Tiffany to address TPA owner training needs, include:
a.???Gaining input from current employees on training needs helps develop training agenda.
b.???Partnering senior employees with newer employees to provide mentorship and coaching can be very effective; and
c.???Tailoring training plans to specific job functions and individual needs is very important.
?●????The scaffold in learning (an adult education concept) starts at the basic level and each successive learning builds on and reinforces foundational concepts already presented.?This is how ASPPA has structured their designation ladder.
?●????IRP and RPF are great examples of the scaffold of learning concept.
a.???IRP sets a great foundation for employees with no industry experience.
b.???RPF builds on this (IRP) and deals with additional fundamentals of retirement plans (e.g., lifecycle of the plan, how the contributions and distributions work).
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?●????As candidates start to advance in their retirement plan career, leveraging designations is a great way to grow in our field and advance in a TPA firm.
?●????QKA is the first designation and is a great place to start. Attaining a QKA designation demonstrates that an employee is committed to the retirement plan marketplace and is willing to learn and grow. A QKA designation is great for administrators, client relations professionals and even sales professionals.
?●????QKA is a big plus, comments Dawn Hynes , on candidates resumes. It demonstrates an aptitude for continual learning and is highly valued by TPA owners.
?●????Designations, Tiffany elaborates, is a great differentiator in TPA marketing. Smart advisors and clients will look at how many designations exist within a TPA firm.
?●????Dawn concludes that TPA firms that offer and support designations, make TPA employersmore attractive to potential job candidates in a very competitive hiring environment.
?●????After QKA, QKC is a great next step. This is a great designation for candidates looking to move to a supervisor or reviewer role.
?●????CPC is the pinnacle for retirement plan professionals and for a TPA to show they have a CPC on staff, is very prestigious.?Having a CPC shows many years of training and CE cycles completed and is the top of the ASPPA training scaffold.
?For more details on our TPAbenchmark.com partnership with ASPPA (including discounts for TPA firm owners) please contact Dawn Hynes at [email protected]. If you are a retirement plan professional, interested in advancing your career, we would be happy to speak with you about the many opportunities that exist with our over 100 TPA firm owner members, here at TPAbenchmark.com.
?To register for our March 1st webinar please use the link provided:
?Or if you prefer, you can email us at [email protected].
This webinar is open to TPA firm owners and retirement plan professionals, at no charge.
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