How to Hire an Accountant During the Transfer Portal Window

For those familiar with college athletics, March is known for the Division I college basketball championships.  You may not, however, know how a few years ago the NCAA allowed student-athletes to change schools with no loss of eligibility by creating the “Transfer Portal.” When an athlete declares that they want to leave for another school, their name gets put in the Transfer Portal database. Voila, other coaches see this and say, “I want that center” or “I want that point guard” and reach out to them.

What does this have to do with hiring accounting professionals?
​
Well, the transfer portal concept is not just for college athletes. There’s also a career transfer portal – it’s what happens out there in the world of recruiting. Using an external recruiter is the best way to ensure you are accessing accounting employees that are in the transfer portal.

---

Understanding the Career Transfer Portal
Can’t you just post an opening and wait for interested job seekers to apply? You can. However, when a company posts its open position the only accounting employees that will apply are those who have the time to look at job boards and follow the companies they are most interested in. There are plenty of accounting employees that are ready to leave for a new opportunity but are too busy to look for job postings. These accounting employees are out there in the transfer portal. Often, this is where you find top accounting talent because the most experienced accountants don’t need to go looking for a new role. Instead, they know they will be sought after if they declare they’re on the market.

How do you find out who’s on the list? This is where the external recruiter comes into play! There are two ways an external recruiter knows who is in the transfer portal:
1. Professional Network
The long-term transfer portal in external recruiting is the recruiter’s professional network. A good recruiter is constantly managing their database by staying in contact with top-performing employees so they know what is of interest to them. They will routinely ask questions like:

• What kinds of characteristics are you looking for in your next team?
• How do you see yourself contributing to the team/company’s overall success?
• What kind of atmosphere are you seeking?
• What are your income requirements?

The external recruiter’s database is the transfer portal that they will leverage for a company seeking to fill the accounting position.

2. LinkedIn
Many years ago, LinkedIn created a label called “Open to Work.” A person can have this label attached to their picture on LinkedIn to publicly declare, “I am in the transfer portal, I am looking for a new position!”  However, there are also ways a person can do this where it’s not available for the entire LinkedIn membership base to view. (This is beneficial for an employee who is employed and wants to leave but doesn’t want their employer and the public to know.) Instead, the label is only viewable by recruiters who have a premium paid subscription. Typically, only large companies can afford to pay the membership fee for their internal HR staff to have access to these features, making it far more cost effective to utilize a recruiting company to leverage their access instead.

Hiring in the Transfer Portal
Once a top athlete puts themselves in the transfer portal, the coaches pounce on them and the heavy sales job starts. If your recruiter says a candidate is looking for a new opportunity, that means you need to do the same and move fast! There could be many recruiters working to get that candidate to another employer making for stiff competition. You need to give the pitch about why they should come to you quickly and make an offer quickly because you can be sure that your company isn’t the only one knocking on their door.

Have a role you need to fill? As accounting recruiters we know who is in the transfer portal and we are ready to help you get top talent to add to your team! We are accountants hiring accountants into accounting roles, so you can be sure that when you use our team, we will be able to identify the top accounting candidates for your open position better than other non-specialized recruiters. Contact us today to find out more!

About The Author
Alex de Soto – Recruiting Practice Leader, CFO Selections

Alex de Soto anchors the CFO Selections search practice and brings over 30 years of experience in accounting, finance, human resources, and executive search to his role as leader of the search team. Since 2008, he has spent most of his time helping CEOs and CFOs of Pacific Northwest based companies find that unique match they seek in a CFO or Controller.
​
He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Compass Health, a large community behavioral health organization serving the five northwest counties of Washington.  Alex’s years as a Board member, former CPA and CFO, HR consultant, and recruiter provide a unique combination of experiences enabling successful CFO and Controller placements.

---