âYouâre not just recruiting employees, but are sowing the seeds of your reputation.â Do you agree with this quote? Many accountancy firms havenât had much luck with recruitment. In fact, they find it to be quite time-consuming and expensive and a process that doesnât always get results. This is quite worrying as every person that you hire represents you and your firm, so you want to get it right. In this article, we show you 5 ways that you can find accounting staff that you want and attract them to you.
Use âyour differenceâ to find accounting staff
What will attract people to your firm? Why should people choose to work for you rather than your competitor down the road or any other firm?
When thinking about how you can attract high-quality staff to your small accountancy firm, you need to think about your unique selling point (USP) or perhaps points. You use your USP to attract the type of client you want so what is your USP for potential employees?
If you find that youâre lacking, what areas can you afford to change so that you become desirable to the staff that you want?
5 USPs that attract high-quality staff
1. Do you have or can you offer flexible working?
Flexible working is incredibly attractive to a lot of workers, whether they would like flexibility with their hours or the location of where they can work. Could you make this possible in your firm? Any way you can make the lives of your employees easier, e.g. allowing parents or people with a horrible commute to start work later or making occasional working from home an option, the more happy and productive your current employees will be and the more attractive you will be to potential employees.
2. Is job sharing a possibility?
Do you need a full-time employee or would half an employee do the trick? One of the best ways to find accounting staff that are highly motivated and skilled is to tap into the part-time workersâ pool. This is typically made up of experienced older workers who arenât ready for retirement and mothers who have taken a break from work but who want to return, but each have the talent to do great work for your firm. Could you offer a shared workload as your USP to attract these workers?
3. What perks and benefits can you offer?
Your perks and benefits that you offer can make or break a decision to work with your firm, so consider how you can give your employees the most value. As well as the benefits that come with the position, such as insurance and travel assistance, what types of perks can you offer that will set you apart from your competitors? Perhaps you offer more support and career development opportunities or it can be something as simple as allowing your staff to bring their dog to work, providing free food or organising family fun days.
4. Can you give back to charity and/or the local community?
Another great USP that can attract high-quality staff is how involved you are in the local community and/or with charities. Many people are looking for environmentally-friendly businesses or firms with a social conscience, so getting your brand out there in a positive light can allow you to find accounting staff that may have overlooked you otherwise. Make it known if you sponsor local sports teams or schools or organise charity fundraisers that your employees can raise money together as a team.
5. Do you have a unique work culture?
When you think about a unique work culture, your mind may go to Google. The kind of place where people think âwow, it would be cool to work in a place like that.â This may already be your USP and if itâs not, you can make it so. Your workplace should value employee happiness, so find out what would make your staff motivated or what would attract them to a firm and make it happen. Whether itâs pizza Wednesday, dress down Friday or opportunities for some fun (and friendly) competitions every week, anything that mixes up the work week can be very attractive to prospective employees.
Attract the type of employees that you want
As your employees reflect your reputation, you need to make sure that you find accounting staff that really want to work for your firm and who value the same values. Make sure that you think about what your ideal employee may want from you and your firm, think about what makes you unique and what you can do to make your business attractive to them.
If you do this and you do it well, youâll find that high-quality employees that are right for your firm will seek you out without you having to spend the time, money and effort to find them. You can access more tips on how to attract the right accounting staff in our blog 4 big secrets to attract rather than recruit the right accounting staff