Planning is a major key to success in many pursuits, and hiring is no different. If you’re planning on recruiting accounting talent for your team in the future, there are three key things that you should do now to make this process easier.
A position description is one of the most important, and often overlooked tools needed to ensure you find the right person. Without it, the whole process becomes subjective, begins to rely on gut instinct and can be very hard to manage. Before beginning your recruitment process, be sure that you have a very clear idea of the skills, experience and qualifications (where appropriate) needed to perform the specific position. Consider not only the current tasks needed to be performed but also what this position will look like in the future.
Once you have this information, it is essential that it aligns with all of the associated stakeholder's thoughts on the role, both in the hiring decisions and the ongoing management of the individual. By doing this, you will ensure all of the specific criteria that the candidate is required to meet are included in the position description. It’s then good practice to devise your interview questions around identified core technical and behavioural competencies, allowing you to critique applicants and interviewees against these criteria (resources like our hiring appraisal template are a great way to compare candidates against these).
Another advantage of a clear position description is that it will allow you to seek all of the required approvals in advance of beginning your recruitment. One of the biggest reasons that candidates withdraw an application is due to a slow or bumpy hiring process, often because of a lack of or sporadic contact or feedback and an overabundance of interviews. Having to pause the process whilst approvals are sought is definitely not helpful if you’re trying to attract the very best accounting talent.
Whether you hire frequently or not, Sydney’s accounting talent market is rapidly changing. To avoid your growth plans getting held up, it’s important to keep up to date with the latest market insights.
The first element to consider is the availability of talent. There may well be a glut of skilled professionals in your area of need, and therefore you can attract a higher-quality candidate. However, considering the market, it’s more likely that there is a scarcity of talent and you may need to carefully evaluate the list of skills that are absolutely essential to the role.
The availability of permanent and temporary staff also differs. You may find that it is more attractive to hire a temp or contractor whilst training internal accounting talent who can be promoted into the role that already appreciates the intricacies of your business
Remuneration is a big consideration. Whilst salaries haven’t varied too substantially over the last few years, there are still changes. What you were paying your previous Management Accountant could now be $10k below what the market is paying, or alternatively, this role could now attract different bonuses that hadn’t previously been necessary to include.
However, it’s not just salary and availability that matter, it’s also important to understand how much time it takes to hire a specific person, so you know when to start the process and can choose the most cost-effective recruitment channels.
Another equally important side to recruitment is to work on increasing your talent networks. This could include spreading word internally about an upcoming job in the hope of referrals or reconnecting with ex-colleagues and others in your professional networks. Do this at an early stage in the recruitment process because these people will likely be passive candidates who aren’t actively seeking a new job opportunity and therefore the process can often take longer.
As specialist accounting recruiters in Sydney, we are best placed to provide you with up-to-date information on talent availability and remuneration trends. If you are interested in finding out more, contact one of our experienced consultants to discuss your future hiring needs.
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