My Career: ‘I meet people preparing to retire... it’s a huge life switch’

Name: Hazel O’Connell

Age: 42

Lives: Glenville, Co. Cork, with husband and three children.

Job title: Retirement & Investment Consultant at Cornmarket, Ireland’s largest public sector financial services broker.

Salary bracket: Currently comfortable, I try to practise what I preach on the financial planning front.

Education background: Graduate Diploma in Financial Management, Qualified Financial Advisor (QFA).

Hobbies: Anything sports-related! My children are involved in soccer, GAA, and dance so my other full-time job is attending matches and dance competitions. I coach the U14 girls’ soccer in Watergrasshill and it has been such a joy watching them grow in their confidence, skills, and teamwork.

Describe your job in five words: Financially preparing clients for retirement.

Describe yourself in five words: Energetic, organised, friendly, enthusiastic and reliable.

Personality needed for this kind of work?

You need to be a people person and good at communicating. I meet clients who are preparing to retire, and this is a huge life switch for them, so they need financial advice that is clear and uncomplicated. I help design an individual plan with each client that meets their needs for the next stage of life.

How long are you doing this job?

I have worked as a financial consultant with Cornmarket for the last three years, but recently moved to a specialist role on the retirement and investment team.

How did you get this job?

My background has always been in financial services. After college, I started out in the banking sector, where I covered multiple roles over a ten-year period from cash desk and customer service to lending, savings and investments. During that time, I also obtained my qualified financial advisor (QFA) qualification. I studied and sat the exams in UCC. The experience gave me great insights across several areas and a brilliant grounding for my future career.

I went on to work in asset management for a year, before spending six years in a savings and investment role with a leading international bank.

I first joined Cornmarket in 2023 as a partnership consultant. This role involved meeting public sector clients such as teachers, nurses and civil servants, either at home or at their places of work, to discuss their financial needs.

I gave presentations around the importance of pension and financial planning during working life, and then met them either virtually or in-person to plan for their individual requirements.

Earlier this year, an opportunity came up to join the retirement team in Cornmarket, which I was delighted to take, and I am thoroughly enjoying. I get to meet clients after a lifetime of work, who are looking ahead to the next stage and want to get sound financial advice on their retirement needs. It is a great feeling to be there to hold their hand through such an exciting new chapter.

Do you need particular qualifications or experience? Yes, you need to be a qualified financial advisor for this role. Strong customer service experience is also important, and ideally a background in financial services.

Describe a day at work: My day at work usually involves prepping for client meetings. This includes reviewing client emails prior to their appointments. They would often send through a lot of documentation in advance, which we use towards running our calculation of retirement benefits.

Typically, my retirement client appointments take place online, but could be in-person depending on their preference. I am lucky that the people I meet are usually in great form as they are looking forward so much to finishing up work and spending more time with their loved ones. I love hearing about their plans for retirement, whether it’s exotic holidays or taking up a bit of DIY at home!

The rest of my day might be spent preparing paperwork for the clients to complete, doing callbacks, following up on queries, sending meeting invites, and so on. The day is very busy and varied so it is essential that I am as organised as possible.

How many hours do you work a week? 38.

Is your industry male or female dominated?

A mixture of both really. Traditionally, it was more male- based but now it is certainly more balanced.

Does this affect you in any particular way?

I enjoy working in a mixed and diversified workplace. We have regular in-person team meetings, which is brilliant as we tend to mainly work remotely. It is great to spend time together with my colleagues where we can all learn and share a wealth of experience together in one room.

Is your job stressful? How? Rate it on a scale of 1-10: Depending on the day and how busy I am, it can go right up the scale to 10 but that is rare to be fair. I’m a pretty calm person overall so I’m quite good at managing stress. I think being organised and prepared is half the battle.

Do you work with others or on your own?

Mainly on my own, but I can reach out to any of my colleagues or managers at the drop of a hat if I need them for anything.

When do you plan to retire or give up working?

As soon as I win the Lotto, but seeing as I usually don’t win as much as a box of biscuits, I’m here for the long-haul!

Best bits: Happy clients, great colleagues, flexibility, career progression opportunities.

Worst bits: The inbox never stops pinging so staying on top of all the correspondence can be a challenge.

Advice to those who want your job?

Absolutely go for it! If you are customer-focused and enjoy a busy and varied role, then you will love it. My advice before applying would be to build up as much experience as you can in a customer service role, ideally in business/financial services, and get your QFA. Be open and adaptable. Cornmarket has a fantastic training programme for new entrants that will get you up to speed also.

Any other comments? Cornmarket is Ireland’s largest public sector financial services broker, specialising in financial and retirement planning for public sector employees. With over 50 years’ experience and 200,000 customers nationwide, the team provides financial advice across pension planning, salary protection, budgeting, insurance, savings and investments.

To find out more, visit www.cornmarket.ie