Recruiting Market Report - April

Find out what we are hearing from candidates and clients and get our predictions for the future of the hiring market in the April edition of The ASP Team Market Report: 

Quinn Finnigan, Partner - Recruiting Services

What are we hearing from candidates?
"Different industry, please" Many candidates have either been the unfortunate product of recent layoffs or see the writing on the wall with their current company. The overwhelming sentiment from this group is a hesitance to find a new job in the same industry (or in some cases, company ownership type) as they are in search of stability. The perception is that the likelihood of getting laid off again in the same industry is higher than in different industry. If you're a hiring manager this could be a great time to take advantage of bringing in highly skilled candidates with new perspectives who may not have sought your industry previously.

What are we hearing from clients?
"Things are a mess" Many Controller+ level vacancies lately are the product of companies moving on from underperforming employees. Whether this is the product of the company outgrowing the capabilities of the person hired years ago or just simply hiring the wrong person, the state of affairs is the same: behind on close, backlog of reconciliations, too many manual processes, inaccurate data, the list goes on. 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, an upside sell. ASP's Accounting Services team run by Eric Moore and Jason McGill has 125+ tenured accountants read to take on projects just like this.

What am I feeling about the hiring market?
Fight the urge! Don't wait for the perfect candidate - hiring is only going to get harder. As noted in January's addition, history is repeating itself with the decreasing number of accountants entering the market. Add rising salaries of entry level accountants onto that - entry level pay increased a staggering 21% through February compared with prior year - and we've got a recipe for an even tougher accounting/finance hiring market in the years to come. But higher level candidates' salaries are up as well - increasing 9% year over year as of February - signaling the market is still catching up to other professions. In my eyes, these are all indicators that a company with an open position has to hire quickly in this fast-changing market.

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ASP Hiring Statistics - 2023
28 - Days to Place (avg.)
$188,333 - Avg. Placed Controller Salary
67% - Percent of Diversity Hires
90% - percent of time we get interviews for our clients

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Recent Placements
Senior Accountant - Social services nonprofit - Snohomish County
VP Finance - Mid-sized fisheries business - Seattle
Senior Accountant - Mid-sized residential real estate - Seattle 
Controller - Mid-sized consulting firm - Seattle

View Our Current Openings

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Top Candidates
Take a look at some examples of accounting and finance candidates we are working with currently.

View Our Top Candidates