Sourcing methods that can boost recruiting efforts

As the aging population moves into retirement, staffing becomes an increasing concern to the CPA profession. Because recruiting is important to your success, apply marketing concepts and consider all potential avenues and creative approaches for attracting your ideal candidates.

First, name one person in your firm to own your overall recruiting process and one to own recruiting for each position. Meet with the lead “recruiter” for each open position to brainstorm where/how to find ideal candidates.  Use a variety of recruiting sources for each open position and mix it up so that “tried and true” methods are combined with new, test sources to reach as many potential recruits as possible. Too often, firms employ only one or two methods and then wonder why their results aren’t what they need. 

Consider using a mix of these traditional activities:

• Local newspapers and their associated Web sites
• Other Internet recruiting sites including Careerbuilder.com, Hotjobs.com, and Monster.com
• OSCPA Career Center
• Catalyst C
• Alumni sites for the Big 4 and for universities and colleges in your area
• Professional recruiters

In addition, consider:

• Developing a career center on your Web site. Many firms work hard to drive traffic to their Web site but don’t leverage the natural recruiting role it can play. Create a careers page that clearly answers the question, “Why would I work for you?” 
  
  
• Enlisting the help of your firm’s people. Create an employee referral program that pays a  “recruiting fee” to staff who refer qualified friends and colleagues that stay with your firm for an established length of time.
  
  
• Making friends with university and community college accounting professors and letting them know about your firm’s openings.
  
   
• Alerting family, friends, and colleagues about select opportunities. You won’t want to do this for every opening, or you’ll risk burning out this source, but for the very strategic or hard-to-find positions, write and describe the open position(s) and the skills and behavioral attributes you seek in potential candidates along with the recruiting differentiators of your firm. 
  
  
• Explore social networking sites. LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, and even YouTube offer the potential of attracting staff. Your younger staff members can be a wealth of information related to online resources for finding quality candidates. 

Consider using a blend of both traditional and out-of-the-box sourcing activities to market your openings and position your firm for growth.  Then, you’ll be able to focus your energy on screening the plethora of candidates you’ll receive.

Jennifer Wilson is co-founder and partner of ConvergenceCoaching, LLC, a leadership and marketing consulting and coaching firm that specializes in helping CPA and IT firms achieve success. Learn more about her company at www.convergencecoaching.com.

More news