Top tips on Recruitment within Practice

Dave Riordan ACA, Recruitment Specialist & Career Coach, Chartered Accountants Ireland Careers Team, writes:

Recruitment into practices, large and small, is a challenge in the current climate. We know this. So what can we do to make our recruitment processes easier and more effective?

Here are some tips that I deem essential to attracting and onboarding suitable additions to your team:

1. The senior management team should incorporate into their Practice Strategy some core objectives and KPI’s on the firm’s candidate attraction (and retention) approach. This needs to be a permanent fixture in quarterly management meetings for the firm and constantly updated.
2. Conduct one comprehensive, all encompassing, interview that allows you make a quick decision about the candidate – no second interview needed. This way you have a time advantage and first mover advantage versus competing practices.
3. As well as traditional jobs boards, use social media channels to get the word out LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. Align your message across each and post simultaneously to each platform for full reach to your audience on the same day.
4. Develop your Practice Brand as an employer of choice in the practice-sphere. This will mean differentiating your firm to increase attractiveness.
5. Train your own – take the longer term view and hire trainees to grow them in your culture.
6. Hire Part-time/ flexible workers – the world is shifting towards the ‘gig-economy’ mindset, so why not employ FCAs who are seeking part-time roles? This way, you can benefit from the vast experience they can bring to the role, and they benefit too as they can balance their role with wider family needs. Many members are now very focused on work-life balance and, even if they are nearing retirement, they could be in a position to contribute some of their best years to your firm. Many FCA’s with 30 years+ experience would be delighted to contribute a wealth of experience to a role in practice for a few days a week, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be at a senior level. Flexible core hours or work to facilitate school drops and pickups are another obvious element in this.
7. Consider ‘Returners’ (members who have been off work travelling or developing home life for a few years). They may often be a ‘little’ flexible on salary to get a foot back on the ladder that then enables them to restart their career. Returners not only have a wealth of experience to bring to a role, but they also have maturity and life experience that can be hugely beneficial.
8. If it’s hard to find the Audit and Tax people you are seeking, why not start to build a branded presence on LinkedIn. Raise the profile of your firm so that ACA’s are aware of it and how good your practice is to work for from an early stage in their career. This will ensure you tap into a pool of passive candidates and attract interest over a period of time.
9. Offer different elements in your remuneration package: e.g. gym membership, social Fridays each month, pension, commission structure, phone paid etc.
10. Often a well run internal candidate-referral reward scheme can be a highly effective way of incentivising current employees to bring in ACA’s that they feel would be a fit for your firm. Done well, this can extend your reach into the market for candidates significantly and also help maintain a consistent culture.
11. Use a highly regarded recruitment agency. Partnering with an agency closely can be very advantageous in the market if you do it right! Some tips on this:

• Meet the consultant you are working with;
• Have a regular scheduled update call (e.g. weekly);
• Accept speculative CVs from the agent;
• Be flexible on the fee rate. If you get an exceptional candidate they can be worth it and remember it’s contingency based, so no fee is applicable if the process is incomplete;
• Keep updating the agent about the news in your firm;
• Offer to work exclusively with the recruitment firm, but ask what steps they will go through to find/headhunt the right candidate for you;
• Make sure you have created an excellent job spec and offer to assist with the advert text;
• Recruiter fees can appear high on the face of it, but a good recruiter can allow you get on with the day job of billing clients while they streamline the candidate selection process saving you time and money;
• Make the partnership a positive one where you share background (but always confidential) information with the recruiter, ensuring you are on the same page & wavelength regarding the person and role;
• If you trust your recruiter to know what you are looking for and he/she recommends a candidate that does not look like an obvious fit on paper, give the recruiter the benefit and trust their judgement and meet them.

I would also be generally open minded on applications. For example, if a candidate is not a right fit for your current active role, consider whether they might be suited to your firm in a different role where they will add value, or perhaps consider them as a short-term contract addition to the team if that could alleviate a work backlog for you.

Candidates in the practice market in 2021/22 are savvy and have built shortlists of their preferred employers that match their career pathway. You need to be on their shortlists as an employer of choice.

As an interviewer, be clear and well-practiced in the selling points and differentiators of your firm and communicate them warmly during the meeting. Refine your interview techniques and get honest feedback on them to ensure the interview experience for the candidate is a positive professional reflection of the organisation.

As an additional guide I can highly recommend a Chartered Accountants publication by Mary E Collins – “Recruiting Talented People”if you are looking for additional detail.

I always recommend looking for opportunities each quarter/year to stay close to the Institute, and so partnering with the Careers Team in Chartered Accountants Ireland for your recruitment needs is a good idea to ensure you are attuned to the market, and first in line for ACA candidates who prefer to tentatively explore a practice career move with the confidentiality and assurance of their own Institute.

If you would like to speak to the Chartered Accountants Ireland Careers Team, please email us at careers@charteredaccountants.ie.