Recruiting for the accountancy and finance sector is becoming increasingly complex. Talented professionals have more opportunities available to them than ever before, particularly as remote working continues to thrive. At the same time, the “Great Resignation” is placing brands under increasing pressure, with more gaps to fill and more demands from potential candidates.
The only way to survive and thrive in this new world is to access the proper support. An accountancy and finance sector recruitment partner provides guidance and expertise to ensure you can unlock hiring opportunities other organisations can’t access.
However, while an excellent recruitment company has a lot of incredible value to offer, it’s up to you to get the most from your partnership.
Here’s how you can make sure you’re achieving the best results from your recruitment partner.
1. Build an Effective Employer Brand
Around 86% of job candidates read reviews and company ratings before deciding where to apply for a job. Increasingly, listing roles in the accountancy and finance environment means business leaders need to highlight what makes their company compelling.
What can you offer your would-be employees that other companies can’t? For instance, maybe you constantly provide training opportunities to team members to expand their skills. Perhaps you can give your employees a chance to plan their own work.
With your recruitment provider, look at the assets you already have to showcase your employer brand. Are you making the most of your website to share employee stories? Do your staff have a voice on social media to praise your company? How vocal are people about their experience working with your brand on review sites?
Working on your employer brand with your accountancy and finance recruitment partner will make it easier for them to sell your role to potential candidates.
2. Make Sure Your Offer is Appropriate
Logically you want to attract the best possible talent in a skills-short accountancy environment. In that case, you’ll need to ensure you’re offering the kind of salary and benefits appropriate for the candidate you need. Start by researching the average salary for the person you want to hire.
If you’re unsure what the best package is for a specific role right now, you can talk to your recruitment partner for more insights. They will give you an overview of the kind of income your ideal candidate would expect.
Don’t forget that salary isn’t the only thing your applicants will look for. You can attract more people to your role and help your recruiter generate more excitement for your position by providing the right benefits.
Look at things like increased holidays and flexible working strategies for your candidates. The ability to work remotely or in a hybrid environment is one of the most attractive benefits for many candidates today. Many employees would even take a lower salary if it meant they could work remotely.
3. Update Your Hiring Process
The accountancy recruitment landscape is evolving at an incredible pace lately. The pandemic and the changing requirements of candidates mean job seekers are moving in and out of positions faster than ever. If you’re still using an old-fashioned recruitment process, you may not be moving fast enough for your ideal employee.
These days, candidates have a lot of offers available to them, both from remote and local companies. If you’re not quick to keep them up-to-date on what’s happening with your hiring process, you could miss out on an excellent opportunity.
To ensure you don’t lose your ideal accountant, make sure you:
- Speed up the interview process using video interviews: Video is a great way to get through several interviews quickly, without asking your candidates to travel.
- Make decisions quickly: Use guidelines and competency-based interviews to help pinpoint the ideal candidates as quickly as possible.
- Communicate: Keep your candidates informed about their place in the interview process and when they can expect a response.
4. Set Up a Talent Pipeline Together
The best way to get the most out of your accountancy and finance recruitment partner is to consider the different services they can offer. Consider a more long-term approach rather than just turning to your recruiter when you desperately need to fill a gap in your team.
Building a talent pipeline with your recruitment team can be an excellent way to ensure you have contact details for potential employees when you need extra skills within your workforce. Your recruiter can work with you to constantly look for new people to add to your community and can even help to improve your reputation among those candidates.
Many accountancy recruiters like ourselves offer a retained and or exclusive search service. We can map out the talent market for specific roles as requested by you. If you want to know more, email us here.
With a talent pipeline, you’re less likely to have to manage a long and complex hiring process when you need to find new staff.
5. Stay Flexible
Finally, if you want to make the most of your accountancy recruitment partner, it’s essential to take advantage of the full breadth of access they have to talent in your industry. DE&I initiatives are more important than ever when it comes to not only improving your company’s performance but keeping your team members happy.
Taking a diverse approach to hiring and recruitment ensures you can access talent from different environments, ensuring you get the absolute best from your team. At the same time, it means you can explore a broader range of potential employees.
While it’s okay to provide your accountancy hiring partner with a list of crucial skills and specific characteristics you’re going to want in your new role, stay open-minded. Looking at potential applicants from various environments will make it easier to ensure you get the right person for the role. Don’t let bias get in the way of great hiring.
Thanks,
Matt Finch.
Managing Director.
How We Can Help You Build Your Finance Team
We recruit accountants for manufacturing and engineering organisations in various sectors and have over 250 happy clients.
These include food, FMCG, aerospace, electronics, building materials, automotive, and pharmaceuticals.
We recruit on a permanent, interim, or contract basis. To find out more, call BTG Recruitment on 0115 960 7000 or email us here.
