Accounting Recruiting Advice: Rethink Your Hiring Expectations

The Rolling Stones famously sang, “You can’t always get what you want” and if recruiters are being honest, they will tell you that famous line is applicable in today’s accounting/finance hiring market. But that’s not all. Music fans will remember that the rest of the lyric is, “But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.” And again, this fits well with the current hiring landscape. 

A businessperson rethinking an idea.

Employers need to realize that they may not find an accountant that checks every one of their “nice-to-have” boxes, but if they work with an experienced accounting recruiter, they will find someone that fits their “must-have” needs. And, the sooner they can figure this out, the better because having an open role costs an average of $98/day, and rehiring an accounting employee after letting go of a bad hire costs over $50,000 on average! Therefore, to minimize hiring costs employers need to rethink their expectations around work flexibility, compensation, accounting improvements, and training when looking to fill a role.

​Hybrid Work is a Requirement
Much has been written about whether employees prefer fully remote, hybrid, or in-office work and what employers can to do support them in these types of work arrangements. And each employer will have their own perspectives on which is best for their unique business needs and culture. But, regardless of your opinions, offering at least hybrid work has become non-negotiable for today’s job searchers. As our Recruiting Services Leader, Quinn Finnigan, has said, 

“It’s important to maintain at least an openness to hybrid work schedules when hiring (even with the ‘return to work’ mandates from big companies that may make it feel like it’s okay for small/mid-sized companies to lean into that too). One unintended effect of the pandemic is that, even for people who are okay with working 100% in-office, their commute radius has shrunk significantly because almost everyone had some work-from-home time and realized how awful it is to commute long distances. That means a geographical search radius for a fully in-person role now is smaller than it was pre-pandemic. Therefore, the main benefit of offering a hybrid work model is that it increases the size of the candidate pool by expanding the geography of the search.

Simply put, finding the most qualified candidates today requires opening up the role to at least some remote work to cast a wider net during the search, otherwise many potential candidates will self-select out to avoid a commute.

There is No Substitute for Compensation & Benefits
Do not assume you can get a bargain deal on an account, because these days, you can’t! With the amount of competition in accounting and finance hiring right now there is no way to get around offering a great compensation and benefits package. Accountants are in greater demand now than in decades past, which means they know what they are worth (especially when they are being approached by recruiters without even actively looking).

If employers skimp on salary, they will need to have an amazing benefits package to attract top talent, but even that may not be enough. In a time when accountants are already being offered top-notch healthcare, increased PTO, retirement matching, retention bonuses, and other supplemental benefits, a lower average salary is likely going to be a dealbreaker for top candidates because they can likely find the same benefits package you are offering elsewhere with a higher base salary included.

You Will Not Find a “Fixer”
A “fixer” does not really exist in today’s hiring market, so if your books and processes are a mess you need to think beyond hiring a full-time accountant. As Quinn explains when offering accounting recruiting tips, “While there are replacement candidates who can take on the "fix it" type role, they are few and far between and most often the best solution is to bring on contract help to improve the situation internally so that hiring a full-time person becomes a more attractive proposition.” Hiring this type of work out to a third-party accounting services provider is a great way to get your payables, receivables, reconciliations, and payroll functions in order in a way that is not only cost-effective but also sets your existing accounting staff up for success.

Ongoing Support is Crucial
Accountants need support after being hired in the form of ongoing training, mentoring, recognition, and executive buy-in. Employers cannot expect to hire them and then just forget them or overwork them with newly added responsibilities. It is important to remember that the job itself won’t keep top talent in the role, but the company culture will. Accountants are looking for a place where they can:

• Find fulfillment.
• Have their input valued.
• Experience consistency in processes and objectives.
• Be respected for the work they do.
• Eliminate busy work.

Where they can find these things, they will not only do their best work, but remain with the organization longer, which is a win-win for employers.
When you need accounting and finance recruiting, we can help you find the right candidate! Our team of accounting recruiters has extensive experience in the industry and will help you find the perfect person for your role. We work with companies looking to hire an accountant, senior accountant, accounting manager, senior accounting manager, or controller. Find out more about our accounting recruiting services today!