Smart Match Network
We place IFAs and para planners. Then help them build their practice.
Specialist financial services recruitment
Most recruiters place candidates and walk away. We stay involved — introducing HNW clients, writing LinkedIn profiles, and connecting advisers to the right people. Because a great placement is just the beginning.
Place the candidate. Send the invoice. Move on.
Traditional financial services recruiters find a candidate, make the introduction, and collect their fee. What happens to the adviser after placement — whether they thrive, build their book, or struggle to find clients — is not their problem.
Place the candidate. Then help them build their book.
We stay involved after placement. Introducing HNW prospects from our classified network. Writing LinkedIn profiles and outreach sequences. Connecting advisers to founders and MDs through The Inner Circle. The practice gets an adviser who hits the ground running. The adviser gets a pipeline from day one.
The best advisers and para planners aren't applying for jobs. They're building books and managing relationships. We reach them through 15 years of financial services relationships — not a CV database — and introduce them with a written brief so you walk into every conversation already informed.
Placement guarantee
If a placed candidate leaves within 12 weeks for reasons relating to fit or misrepresentation, we find you a replacement at no charge. Excludes redundancy, business closure, or mutual agreement exits.
Employed advisers & para planners
Self-employed advisers — flat fee by AUM
Practice and candidate agree the salary or AUM. We invoice on that number. No debate about seniority.
Every adviser we place gets access to a single, integrated service — HNW client introductions from our classified network combined with the LinkedIn copy and outreach system to convert them. One monthly package. One outcome. More clients.
Full LinkedIn profile rewrite — the foundation everything else is built on
Headline · About · Experience · Custom banner · 60-min strategy call · 3 revisions · 5 working days
£1,500
per month · 3-month minimum
£2,250
per month · 3-month minimum
£3,500
per month · 3-month minimum
£100/mo
First month free
£250/mo
First month free
£500/mo
Capped at 15 members
The Inner Circle is a
For IFAs · para planners · financial services professionals
The best practices don't post jobs on job boards. They ask people they trust to find them the right candidate. Smart Match Network sits in the middle of that conversation — with 18,000+ classified financial services connections and a personal approach to every placement.
Opportunities you won't find elsewhere
Growing practices don't advertise. They ask trusted contacts to find them the right person quietly. By registering with Smart Match Network you're inside that conversation — considered for opportunities before they're ever made public.
A personal introduction, not a CV submission
You won't be competing against 40 applicants on a job board. When we introduce you to a practice it's a warm, personal introduction with context — the practice knows why we think you're the right fit before the first conversation.
Your current employer never finds out
Everything is handled with complete discretion. Your details are never shared with any practice without your explicit permission. You stay in full control of who knows you're open to a conversation — until you decide otherwise.
Salaried advisers joining a practice
Whether you're at a large network looking for a more personal environment or at a boutique firm ready for your next step — we find the practice that fits your client style, your ambitions, and your life.
Technical specialists and support professionals
Para planners are in genuine short supply. If you're diploma qualified or working towards chartered status, growing practices will want to talk to you. We make sure that conversation happens on your terms.
Advisers with a book considering a move
Thinking about moving your book to a different network or practice? We understand the sensitivities — the client relationships, the compliance considerations, the timing. We handle the conversations so you don't have to.
Register confidentially
Book a 30-minute call using the link below. Before the call you'll be asked three short questions — your current role, what you're looking for, and the best way to reach you. Nothing is shared with anyone at this stage.
A straight conversation with Nick
No forms, no tests, no competency frameworks. Nick will ask about your background, your client base or experience, and what the right opportunity looks like for you. He'll tell you honestly whether he thinks he can help.
We find the right match
When a practice comes to us with a need that fits your profile, Nick introduces you personally — with context, with a brief, and only with your permission. You won't be introduced to anyone without knowing about it first.
You decide
The introduction is the start of your conversation, not the end of ours. Nick stays involved to make sure the fit is right — and if it isn't, we keep looking. There's no pressure, no deadline, and no obligation.
Most recruiters place you and disappear. We stay involved — introducing HNW prospects from our classified network of 3,000+ Tier 1 signals to help you build your client book from day one in your new practice.
A strong LinkedIn profile converts introductions into clients. The Inner Circle puts you in a room with founders and MDs who are exactly the client profile you want to meet.
We understand what's at stake. Your client relationships, your reputation, your current employment. Everything you share with us stays between us — until you decide otherwise.
We have never and will never share a candidate's details with a practice without explicit permission. That's not a policy. It's how we operate.
Your details stay with Nick
Nothing is shared with any practice, any third party, or any database without your explicit permission at each stage.
You approve every introduction
Before Nick introduces you to any practice, he tells you who they are, why he thinks there's a fit, and asks for your permission. No surprises.
No CV required
We don't need your CV to start a conversation. A 30-minute call tells Nick everything he needs to know. Your CV never circulates without your knowledge.
No obligation, ever
Registering with Smart Match Network doesn't commit you to anything. You can walk away at any point and your details will be deleted on request.
Book a 30-minute call. Tell Nick where you are and what the right opportunity looks like. Everything stays between you.
Your details are never shared without your permission. No obligation. No pressure.
Your details are never shared without your permission. No obligation. No pressure.
I'm Nick Starbuck. Over 15 years across financial services BD I've built a classified network of 18,000+ professionals — IFAs, wealth managers, HNW individuals, and business owners. I know who is open to a conversation and who isn't, which is why our placements come from warm relationships rather than cold applications.
My background also includes recruiting agents for an alternative investment specialist, holding a master licence for a business club network that I subsequently sold, and working as a BDM in franchise sales for a specialist recruitment company. That track record across different recruitment and commercial contexts — combined with a deep financial services network — is what I bring to every Smart Match Network placement.
Smart Match Network is built on a simple belief: the best thing a recruiter can do is stay involved after the placement. An adviser who builds their book quickly stays in the practice. A practice with a thriving adviser team keeps recruiting with us. Everyone wins when the placement works.
Every placement, every client introduction, and every Inner Circle connection goes through me personally — with my name and credibility behind it.
Nick's LinkedIn outreach work has been transformational for us. As a charity, we simply didn't have the time or expertise to use LinkedIn effectively — Nick changed that completely. His work has helped us raise over £25,000 that we've been able to direct straight to the rough sleepers who need our help.
DEL THOMAS
Charity Development Officer · Off The Streets
Nick is incredibly intuitive and deeply knowledgeable when it comes to LinkedIn. We were completely lost, and he managed to put us on the right track — winning business we simply wouldn't have secured otherwise. A steady stream of quality leads now coming through.
QUILLER HAWKINS
Director · Wildfire Energy
Whether you're a practice looking to grow your team or an adviser ready to build your book — book a 30-minute call.