CFP Board Announces New Career Center with Fidelity® as Founding Sponsor

Online portal provides information and career opportunities about the financial advisory profession, CFP® certification

News provided by

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.

Sep 25, 2014, 09:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) announced today that it is developing an online Career Center that will serve as the destination for those interested in a career as a financial advisor, the CFP® certification and job and internship opportunities.

As part of their efforts to help bridge the gap between financial advisors and talent, Fidelity Institutional will serve as the exclusive founding sponsor of the Career Center. According to Fidelity's Recruiting Redefined study also released today, only two out of 10 college students and young professionals are familiar with the financial advisor profession.[1]

The Career Center – which will go live in the first quarter of 2015 and be housed on CFP Board's website, www.CFP.net – will be a one-stop shop, complete with job and internship listings and useful career management content for financial advisors. There will also be sections on the site dedicated to students seeking internships, helping new college graduates find that first job and opportunities for career-changers.

"A top priority for CFP Board is to help meet an unmet need in providing employers, students, graduates and professionals opportunities for careers in financial planning," said CFP Board's Chief Executive Officer, Kevin R. Keller. "This new CFP Board Career Center is a terrific collaboration between CFP Board and Fidelity that will be designed to help find and fill the financial advisor jobs of the future. CFP Board is uniquely qualified to offer this Career Center as the marketplace where professionals can find these new career opportunities as well as information that can help advisors advance their careers."

As part of this effort, CFP Board is also developing a smartphone application for the Career Center. The site will be optimized for mobile devices, have interactive features and occasionally host educational webcasts and webinars.

"The advisor profession has an awareness problem among Gen Y candidates, and it is because firms and talent are having a hard time finding one another," said Jylanne Dunne, senior vice president of practice management, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services®. "Fidelity's involvement with the CFP Board Career Center underscores our mission to help advisors and candidates learn, connect and collaborate and to provide support throughout the full lifecycle of the workforce."

As exclusive founding sponsor of the Career Center, Fidelity is making a significant contribution to its success, providing funding for development of the Career Center website, CFP Board's scholarship programs and other resources. Fidelity will also be contributing informative content and making the Career Center available to the registered independent advisor (RIA) and broker-dealer firms that are clearing and custody clients on the Fidelity Institutional platform. Other firms and independent advisors will also be able to place job postings on the Career Center website.

ABOUT CFP BOARD

The mission of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. is to benefit the public by granting the CFP^® certification and upholding it as the recognized standard of excellence for personal financial planning. The Board of Directors, in furthering CFP Board's mission, acts on behalf of the public, CFP^® professionals and other stakeholders. CFP Board owns the certification marks CFP^®, Certified Financial Planner™, and the federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board's initial and ongoing certification requirements. CFP Board currently authorizes more than 70,000 individuals to use these marks in the U.S.

About Fidelity Investments®

Fidelity's goal is to make financial expertise broadly accessible and effective in helping people live the lives they want. With assets under administration of $5.0 trillion, including managed assets of $2.0 trillion as of August 30, 2014, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers: helping 23 million people investing their own life savings, 20,000 businesses to manage their employee benefit programs, as well as providing 10,000 advisors and brokers with technology solutions to invest their own clients' money. Privately held for nearly 70 years, Fidelity employs 41,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers.

Fidelity Investments, Fidelity, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, and the Fidelity Investments & Pyramid Design logo, are registered marks of FMR LLC.

Fidelity Institutional provides clearing, custody, or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Members NYSE, SIPC.

Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Inc., 500 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917

Fidelity Investments is an independent company, unaffiliated with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. The information and opinions expressed by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. in no way represent the advice, opinions, or recommendations of Fidelity Investments or any of its affiliates. The information contained herein is general in nature, is provided for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Fidelity Investments does not provide advice of any kind.

699739.1.0

[1] The 2014 Fidelity^® Recruiting Redefined study; 644 research participants, including hiring decision-makers at financial advisory firms, new financial advisors, students (College and MBA), young financial professionals, college counselors, and career counselors who were interviewed from April through June of 2014.

SOURCE Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.