What is it Costing You to Have a Vacant Seat?

Currently, there are 2,830 open accounting positions and 1,923 finance open positions listed on Indeed in the State of Washington. According to a 2021 global study, by 2030 the projected cost of the ongoing talent shortage could reach $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenues. 

A vacant seat with a magnifying glass over it.

That figure is staggering but let's focus on your individual calculation. There are many different ways to calculate Cost of Vacancy (COV), but it’s not just the dollars and cents of salaries and benefits that need to be considered (although that is certainly at the forefront of hiring managers’ minds). You can also put real numbers behind morale, burnout, turnover, overtime, and the overall attitude of an accounting or finance department.  

​Cost of Vacancy
When discussing COV you have to look at more than just salary and benefits costs. You have to look at the attitude of your team and what kind of a situation they are in due to an open role:

• Who is doing the work for this vacancy? (Are they working overtime?)
• Is the morale of the team low?
• What kind of special projects are they working on?
• How automated are your processes?
• What is your turnover ratio within your department?
• What does the growth of the company look like right now and what is it projected to be in the future?

These are all factors that should be considered when determining Cost of Vacancy on top of salary and benefits costs.

A study by Harvard University aims to quantify these costs by multiplying an employee’s salary by 3 to determine their overall value to the organization. Keep in mind that this study has a multiplying factor of 3, but you will determine based on the above questions whether that number might need to be a 4 or a 5 to more accurately reflect your specific costs. 

To find the exact cost of your specific role, use our proprietary Cost of Vacancy calculator tool.

Hiring By the Numbers
​According to current recruitment statistics:

• It takes an average of 42 days to fill an open role.
• A job vacancy costs a company $98/day on average.
• 73% of potential candidates are passive job seekers (which means that they are not actively looking for a new role, but they are open to hearing about new job opportunities).
• 60% of applicants will quit in the middle of applying for a job online if they feel the application process is too long or complex.
• Top job candidates only remain on the market for an average of 10 days.

 
This is why we encourage our clients and prospective clients to evaluate their COV figures and take the time to truly understand why it is important to decrease their time to hire. The benefits of a streamlined hiring process can be extremely beneficial for them. Most importantly, they get the right candidate for their position and do not have to settle for a potentially less qualified candidate, saving them a substantial amount.

A Cautionary Hiring Tale
Every day we work with companies that need to hire an accountant or finance professional. One of the things we see over and over again is that hiring managers are largely unaware of how important it is to minimize the amount of time that a role remains vacant and how quickly they need to move once they have found a good fit to hire top talent.

As an example, I had a client in the Seattle market that engaged us to help them fill their vacant role after it had been open for 31 days. I asked the client what they saw as the biggest barrier to filling this position. The client stated they had made an offer to a candidate and the candidate declined. I asked the client how long it takes them to make the offer and they were very excited to say, “It only takes us three weeks!” So, I informed the client that according to recruiting studies, an average top candidate is only on the market for about 10-14 days. By the time they got around to making the candidate an offer the candidate already had multiple offers and took one before our client ever extended their theirs.

On a separate occasion, a client engaged us for the role of controller and The ASP Team went to work. I took the opportunity to talk with a client about how we could help them shorten the process. Within 48 hours the ASP team had delivered three excellent candidates. We followed up with the client the next day and explained that these candidates would not be on the market long. In less than a day the client set up phone screens for all three candidates and then did face to face interviews with each the following week. The day after conducting these interviews they made a verbal and written offer to a candidate for a market rate salary and the candidate accepted. Our client's role was filled in six days.

Not all positions are like this, but they could be if a client recognizes the significant Cost of Vacancy and decides to use an accounting and finance recruiting company like ASP to fill their vacant role.
Find out more about our recruiting services >

How We Hire
At The ASP Team we have close to 100 years of combined recruiting experience specifically focused on accounting and finance roles.
We use a process with proven success and communicate throughout the process to keep it moving forward. To start we have an in-depth conversation with our client so that we can understand what will and what will not be in the job description. That helps us to know which types of skills you are looking for as well as what kind of fit will be best.

On average it takes 45 days to fill an open role, but at ASP we have been able to get that down to 28 days. How do we do that? We're laser focused on your position. We have all of the latest tools at our disposal and an incredible proprietary Applicant Tracking System (ATS). We don't waste time fitting square pegs in round holes. We formulate a long list of prospective applicants and then we have in-depth conversations with them to narrow it down to the two to three candidates that we're going to submit. We do such a deep vetting process for our clients that the candidates we submit are qualified not only by their technical skills but also for their fit within the organization.
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Think about your own process. Do you look at resumes within 24 hours? Do you set up phone interviews within 48 hours? And if you're talking to somebody that piques your interest, are you selling your company? This is what makes the ASP team so unique. We work for you! We will help facilitate the phone interview and the in person interview all the while continuously listening to the candidate, selling them on your company, selling them on your leadership, and allowing the candidate to see their future with your company.

Find out more about how our accounting and finance recruiters can help you find the right person for your open role in a fraction of the time!

Download our free Cost of Vacancy calculator tool

About The Author
Perry Paden – Recruiter at The ASP Team

Perry brings over thirty-five years of recruiting experience to The ASP Team. Upon graduating high school, Perry served in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. He has traveled the world, both in the Navy and his career, traveling to Europe, Asia, Australia, India, and many others. Perry began his career in recruiting, spending four years in Salt Lake City recruiting medical professionals and never looked back. Joining The ASP Team fits in line with Perry’s purpose, helping organizations by recruiting top accounting and finance professionals while giving his candidates the career progression and culture fit they deserve.

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