We’re living in a world where the demand for talent significantly outweighs the number of available candidates in search of accounting roles. Accounting teams are experiencing skill shortages, and countless worldwide companies are struggle to fill critical positions.
Factors like the rise of remote working, and changing employee priorities have made it harder than ever for senior finance leaders to fill their employment pipeline. In this environment, businesses must access the right support.
A specialist accounting recruitment partner with expertise and experience in your industry makes it easier to find the people capable of transforming your team. Here’s how you can identify the right one to work with in 2023
Why Senior Finance Leaders Need Recruiting Partners
Currently, senior finance leaders say they have difficulty filling accounting positions due to a lack of available skills. As unemployment levels continue to drop, the quest for talent will likely become even more challenging for everyone.
A specialist accounting recruitment partner can be the ultimate way to stay one step ahead of the competition and ensure your business can thrive in the years ahead. Firms like ours have spent years cultivating networks which offer extensive access to top talent.
We can tap into “passive” candidates who may not be actively searching for new roles. As recruitment experts, we are skilled at positioning businesses to the right candidates by offering help with social media marketing, job description writing, and interview setting.
An accounting recruitment partner gives your business the extra support to quickly track down the right talent and build a pipeline of available experts. They know where to look for talent and can help your business to appeal to every part of the workforce.
How to Choose the Right Recruiting Partner
A recruitment expert has the potential to save firms time, money, and headaches in the search for accounting talent. However, the success of your new strategy will depend on your ability to choose the most suitable firm for your business. Here’s how to get started.
Look at Their Brand Presence
Branding and online presence are growing increasingly important to the recruitment landscape. Countless candidates check a firm’s “employer brand” before deciding whether to work for them. They’re also increasingly active on digital channels when searching for jobs. Around 90% of candidates now use social media in their job search.
To ensure you can adhere to the changing recruitment landscape, you’ll need an accounting recruitment partner with an excellent image and strong online presence. After all, if the firm fails to market itself effectively online, they may also struggle to promote your vacancies.
Search for active social media pages across LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. It’s also worth looking at how frequently your recruitment team shares thought leadership content and blog posts to support their sector.
Prioritise Industry Experience
Every industry has its specific nuances to consider when it comes to recruitment. People in the accounting landscape are looking for different things from their employers than those in the engineering space. These groups have different messaging, unique priorities, and different expectations. As such, finding a recruitment partner who knows your space is important.
A specialist accounting recruitment partner will understand your landscape and the kind of candidates you’re trying to reach perfectly. They’ll know how to position your job descriptions, what types of copy and content to use to attract employees, and even where to look for passive candidates.
A recruiter with deep industry knowledge of your sector will also be able to match a specific individual’s skills more easily to the goals and requirements of the role in question.
Explore Recruitment Service Options
Different accounting recruitment partners can offer different kinds of services to their clients. Some work on specifically filling roles as they emerge in the firm, while others fill talent pipelines with various candidates. This may even involve reaching out to the 70% of candidates who aren’t actively searching for a new job when you’re hiring.
Various recruitment partners can also offer different levels of assistance with the recruitment process. Some can help with writing job descriptions and social media posts, so you can improve your chances of reaching the correct audience with the right language. They may also be able to offer help with your interview and shortlisting process.
The level of assistance you need and the extent of the service you’re looking for will help you to determine which partner is right for you.
Check Case Studies and Testimonials
Reviews and testimonials are an excellent way to get a behind-the-scenes look at the kind of support you can expect from your accounting recruitment partner. Your chosen firm should have a website to showcase case studies and details about previous client interactions.
Look through the messages left by other firms, and find out as much as you can about how happy they were with the speed, accuracy, and guidance offered by the recruitment team. Aside from checking the company’s website, you can also look in other online environments for additional business comments.
A recruitment company’s social media pages can be a good place to look for quick messages from happy clients or posts showcasing recent reviews.
Speak to the Recruitment Company
Finally, once you have a shortlist of the accounting recruitment partners you might want to work with, it’s worth reaching out and arranging a time to talk. A conversation with your recruitment partner can help you to answer a lot of questions you might have about their service, how much support they can give, and how they’re going to communicate with you in future.
Speaking to the recruitment experts also allows you to test their knowledge and expertise and build a rapport for future interactions. A good recruitment company should be ready and willing to arrange a meeting with the stakeholders in your time where you can discuss all of your concerns. Depending on their location, they may offer various forms of communication, such as video conferencing, calling, or face-to-face meetings.
At Hedley Scott Recruitment we have been helping businesses with their accounting and finance talent acquisition for over 10 years. If you want to find out how we can help you, call us on 02 8877 8700 or contact us here.