Kula Consulting Blog

My last posting discussed my job market forecast for 2010.  Once again I was swamped with responses - - - thanks Mom, for reading!  But, the beauty of blogging is believing you have something valuable to say, and that someone else will think so as well.  But, I digress.  Let’s start with a premise that I think we will all agree with:  There has been, is and will be a shortage of top accounting and finance talent in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Do you know any CPA’s or MBA’s with strong academic background and strong career progression who are worried about their jobs or prospects for getting the next big thing in their career?  Note:  If you do know one, please send them to me and I’ll place them.  The people who make up the 12% unemployed in the Bay Area are primarily comprised of folks who formerly worked in construction, retail, financial services, and non-high tech manufacturing.  Not many of the unemployed are experienced technical accounting and tax professionals.  Of course, in the past eighteen months many accounting professionals did lose their jobs due to mergers (thanks Oracle), failed start-ups, and down-sizing.  Most of these people were not out of work very long.  So, are we in agreement on my main premise?

Going back a few blogs, I presented a macro view of the local population of accounting professions who are CPA’s.  That blog showed that the market is not producing enough CPA’s to meet the market demand.  In fact the number of new CPA’s licensed in California has been pretty steady at round 3,000 a year for the whole state.  This means we are not growing the pool of highly skilled technical accounting and tax professionals required to meet both public accounting and corporate needs.  The supply of world-class accounting talent is even smaller when you, rightfully, limit your searches to the top twenty percent of this talent pool.  The talent pool is limited and the most talented are mainly employed.  Incidentally, if you feel this blog is not applicable to you because you are “set” for 2010, think one word:  Turnover.  People on board who appear “happy” until they learn there are great opportunities just waiting to be explored.  And, I do know they will listen.  Last year, we probably heard this a hundred times a week in response to our recruiting calls:  “I’m waiting for the economy to pick-up before looking.”  We kept all their contact info and are calling them now.

How To Attract Top Talent

Top Talent is often in the eye of the beholder.  What Google considers a top person may not be what a telecommunications start-up considers top talent.  But, every company seeks people who are:  technically strong, hard working, good team mates, creative (well, maybe not in accounting.  Perhaps “think on their feet” is a better way to put it.), self-motivated, good communicators, and meet deadlines.  And please don’t forget, they stay for a while when hired.  Top Talent people are career mindful.  They care about their results and the results of their team and company.  They are the people who are often classified as “passive” candidates.  Actually, I think they should be viewed as poised to look at better opportunities.  Top Talent are definitely not passive people.  But they are the seller’s in a seller’s market.  Here are a few tips for attracting them to your opportunity:  1. Make the job opening a compelling learning and/or career advancement opportunity, 2.  Be prepared and prepare others for the interview cycle, know what you want and make sure other stakeholders are in agreement with you, 3.  Let the candidate know who you are and make a case for why people work on your team, 4.  Share the dream with the candidate,  5.  If possible, hire when you find them not by a staffing plan (see New York Yankees/LA Lakers for examples), and 6.  Respond quickly with offers or rejections.

All six of these points are key, but the most key are numbers 2. 5., and 6.  I am a believer in preparation before execution.  Preparing a job or position description that is compelling and attractive to the “poised” candidate is step one in attracting them to your opportunity.  Make sure the people involved in the interview and evaluation agree with the job description and share your views on the attributes that define an ideal candidate for the position.  Without such preparation and buy-in, I’ve seen flame-outs after four or five rounds of interviews due to basic differences of opinion between stakeholders.  It’s always best to get these issues addressed prior to the start of a recruiting effort. 

When you find a “star” hire them.  In sales the number one maxim is “ABC”, always be closing.  In a seller’s job market, the mantra should be “ABR”, always be recruiting. When you see or hear or learn about a person who may be a “star”, bring them in and evaluate them.  If they meet your criteria, hire them immediately.  They will not be around when your staffing plan, or unforeseen need arises.  I hate to bring up this point, but, I think it’s important to “always be upgrading” your workforce. Top talent always increases the bottom line.  Yes, even accounting people impact the bottom line.  How much more money would a company make if they were able to close the books in two days versus ten?  How much more money would a company make if inventory turns were increased by 15%?  Or cash collected 15% faster?  Or, the daily dashboard was more useful? Or the revenue accounting team and sales were working towards the same goals? Top accounting talent make bottom line impacts, and the more of them you have, the more money your company makes.

A Few Other Points

I could write a book on how to attract and retain accounting professionals, and might someday when I find a good ghost writer, but will just offer a few other points to consider in this job market.  Check these out if you have a few more minutes to spare.

Don’t let H.R. take two weeks, or two months to “try to recruit” for a critical position before selecting a good recruiting firm or two to work on the assignment.  Everyone with a job board subscription and a LinkedIn account thinks they can recruit for any position.  While some H.R. departments actually can recruit top accounting talent, most cannot.  The time you spend waiting for candidates gets noticed by the passive candidate pool.  When jobs are on a company website, job boards or discussion groups for a month or more, red flags go up in the candidate community.  Stale jobs grow hair, and who wants a hairy job?  To avoid going stale, select a recruiting firm or two to compete with your internal resources from the beginning of your search.  You will get better performance from all your recruiting resources when they all leave the starting gate at the same time.

Take time, even during the monthly close, to interview top talent as they are identified or introduced to you.  Informational meetings are good for both the interviewer and the interviewee.  Let your staff, colleagues, H.R. and trusted recruiters know about the kinds of people you would like to hear about.  Often your best new hire will come from just being open to learning about people who are interested in your company, or industry.  If you don’t hire them, your competitor might.

Finally, think about trying to fill some of your openings with contractors who are open to regular fulltime employment.  The market for good contract accounting people is also on the rebound, but there is a window of opportunity right now to find some great talent who would start now and convert to employee status when both parties are confident that the match is a strong one.  Try before buying is a great way to go. We are here if you need us!