Setting the world of recruiting to rights

Well we have been honest as recruiters, advised candidates (and I am sure the positive impact of that advice is just around the corner… Honestly, so close). It’s time to really put the cat amongst the pigeons and advise the people who pay our bills… Clients.

This is my 21^st year in recruitment. I’ve placed a lot of people. The teams and companies I have run have placed an enormous amount of people. This is what we do and we have genuine expertise. A client telling me how to do recruitment is like me telling an CFO how to put together a set of accounts… 

Here are my thoughts. 

1. Your team, your plan, your business, your career, are dependent on the quality of the people in your business. It is absolutely a false economy to buy people (or recruitment services) based on price.
2. Your brand, in your market, is probably fantastic. I bet you have spent tens or hundreds of thousands of Dollars perfecting it. That doesn’t mean your “Employer Brand” is equally well developed, especially in niche functions that your business is not known for. Attracting talent takes work, not just an ad and a prayer. 
3. Talent is a scarce resource. PwC recently published that 72% of CEOs are worried about the availability of key skills. So, it’s a scarce resource, hard to find, of high value, but still recruitment budgets don’t represent that. Clients that allocate the right resources to securing the right talent win. I can provide lots of examples…
4. Interviewing is a two way sell. Now, don’t get me wrong. Put candidates under pressure, test them, challenge them constructively. I know I do when I am recruiting. However, be prepared to sell to them. Ask your recruiter about their needs, their hot spots, their drivers, then hit them. Don’t simply expect someone to want to work for you because of your brand / product / reputation etc. The best people are in demand.
5. Top talent is rarely responding to ads. There are exceptions. We place them. However, on the whole, they are not. Picture your best person. The most valued, successful, hard-working and engaged person in your team, the person you want to replicate. Is that person replying to ads? You’d hope not. So why would you assume the high calibre talent you want for your team is going to hit up your Indeed.com ad?? They aren’t. Identifying and wooing them takes work.

You won’t be surprised to hear that the answer to the above, in my (occasionally) humble opinion, is to find a recruiter you trust, with a network in the right area, and pay them the right rate to find the best people. 

Global Accounting Network can’t do that for all of your recruiting needs, but we are perfectly placed to help you with talent acquisition, benchmarking and retention strategies across all finance and accounting roles. Put us to the test. Visit www.globalaccountingnetwork.net, email me at aoc@globalaccoutningnetwork.net or call 404-900-3865.