AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
03:18 MA: Some businesses had to take pause, some industries took a direct hit, but several others flourished. Different places, like logistics, manufacturing, healthcare, accounting, IT, delivery services, all grew within this time frame, and really those that took some of the major hits, of course, were in hospitality, leisure, restaurants, and some of those other places, that are still struggling a bit to this day. In regards to talent and hiring, in this current time frame, we’ve been up against things like, the extra $600 in federal unemployment assistance, where at some point it made it that individuals were making more staying home than they were going back to their jobs, and folks that were furloughed weren’t looking to necessarily make a move, they were really wanting to try and get back to their original employer.
04:14 MA: We had lockdowns, childcare and school closings, a recession and election, and really just overall uncertainty and all of those things play key indicators in the psyche of both candidates and hiring managers, and so that’s just setting the stage of what the mindset is in the market today. So we are going to go through just a little bit in regards to general recruitment strategy, what are some ideas, some things that as a business owner, as a hiring manager, you can implement to really go out and attract great talent, whether it’s during a crisis like we’re in now, or when it’s in times like we were just last year with record employment and record competitiveness. So let’s go through a couple of different pieces. One of the first things is to create a job ad that gets noticed. Since most job candidates do their searching online, the chances of them finding your job posts are going to be largely determined by what words they use to search. So while you might call a role one job title or another, they might be searching for the same position using different words. So when it comes to title, make sure you cast a wide net.
05:35 MA: One of my favorite job titles is Vice President of first impressions, I love what that does from a people culture perspective, but when you go and post that online, most folks aren’t gonna recognize that you’re looking for a receptionist. So ensuring that you have the correct titling, that you’re calling the position what the market in general calls it, surely from an advertising perspective. Once you hire that individual, you can certainly call that position whatever you would like, but ensure that you are doing some market research, you’re getting noticed because you’re using the correct words, correct titles, correct actions that an individual would be doing in general in that position.
06:19 MA: Second, post your jobs in the right place. Paying for the right ad will boost your ad’s visibility and get more candidates in the door. My recommendation is to post on multiple sites, especially depending on the level and tenure of individual that you’re looking to target. If you’re looking for a mid-level manager level, I would absolutely recommend on posting on something like LinkedIn. This is gonna be polished individuals that have a bit of active look in the marketplace, but it might also pick up some great passive candidates. To round that out, I would also recommend posting on sites like Indeed or CareerBuilder, those that generate more interest are gonna drive more views to your role and be able to get it out there further. So posting to the right job board based off of the position industry you’re in is definitely critical in regards to attracting the level and quality of talent that you’re seeking.
07:17 MA: Three. Broaden your search by not limiting yourself to one profile type. Many times in recruiting, when we’re looking for a position, especially in small mid-sized businesses, we try to really bring multiple positions together or to really narrow based on industry or other specifics, what we’re looking for in an individual. By broadening your search, you allow for a larger pool to pull from, and by mitigating some of the requirements to nice-to-haves can really help get you some candidates you may not have seen otherwise that could absolutely do the job and might be just the right culture fit you’re looking for for the organization. Number one, above all, is offering unique benefits and perks. Today, the desire for non-traditional voluntary benefits is on the rise. This means that health, dental and 401K plans are simply expected. To make you stand out, you need to offer more, whether it’s tuition reimbursement, health wellness, perks, car care, transportation, incentives, or even right now, it’s extremely popular, and I think it’s here to stay is remote work.
08:34 MA: So offering unique benefits and perks that they may not have at their other firms or other places of employment are absolutely going to draw and bring in some great talent and give them some unique benefits that they might not have anywhere else. And then number five is to brand your company, so what does branding your company mean? For many of us, when we think about a brand story, we’re generally targeting our customer or client base, but all of the same marketing tools that you are engaging with in order to drive customers to your business can also drive or detract great talent and great candidates from your business as well. General things like your brand name, logo, slogan, all important.
09:22 MA: Website design plays a huge part in talent acquisition, all of the candidates in today’s market are very savvy, they’re looking at your website, they’re looking at your social media presence, they’re looking at your online reviews, they’re looking at your pricing, your customer service, all of those aspects before they may even engage in the first conversation. When thinking about your website, is it attractive to the individuals that you’re looking to bring on? Is there a diversity and inclusion within your website? Does your website speak to your company culture and what you do for your employees and how you engage with each other, or is it just a platform you’re utilizing to spell out what it is your business can do for your clients? Your brand voice is extremely important, and again, tying back to the website and your social media presence. What are you doing to be involved in the community? What things outside of the normal 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM work hours is your team engaging in to build a strong company culture, to build camaraderie, to build different aspects outside of the day-to-day work scope?
10:32 MA: Online reviews are another really important factor. These reviews are generally employee-driven, and so if you have negative reviews for past employees, that can certainly hamper any efforts to identify new talent. And some ways you can combat that is to have an individual that goes on and responds to the reviews in a positive way, stating something like, “We’re so sorry that was your experience, please contact this HR representative. We’d love to connect further.” And then have your current employees that enjoy and love what they do in your organization, log on to the some online review boards and leave their thoughts. That’s a great way to counteract any negative online reviews that you might have by encouraging current team members to help balance those out.
11:21 MA: All of these aspects play to not only, as I mentioned, the brand story that we’re telling to our clients and customers, but what we’re telling to talent on the marketplace that might be interested in your position. Any question so far around brand story or the five aspects of really drawing strong attention to your position?
11:45 CC: You’re doing a great job. I’ve got no questions for you yet.
11:48 MA: Perfect, so let’s move on to attracting top talent. So one of the first things that you need to do is start by defining the job and the right person for the job. It’s really important to have this planning process, and start by defining what top talent means for each job you hire for, basically spelling out the specifics of what this person absolutely has to have in order to execute the role, and then what things are really more on your nice-to-have list that if that individual didn’t have, they would still be an extremely great contributing member of your team. Learn from the competition. Research what companies in your area and industry are doing to attract talent, learn from them and try to stand out with your own unique employer value proposition. Use a variety of platforms. We discussed that already in one of our previous slides and posting in multiple areas. Post the position on your website, post the position in your social media, ensure that your teams are also sharing that content with their circles and really building a great network of talent from a variety of platforms.
13:04 MA: And then present information that will interest top talent. Your job ad and other content you put online should only present info that top talent would find interesting. For some help, you can ask high-performing people in your company or industry what kind of content they like to read, and examples of info they find interesting. Another important aspect is a lot of people are doing their job searches now from their phones or their tablets, so not over-extending the amount of information in the job description or in your reach out, so that way they’re able to view it on a mobile device, find the pertinent information they need as to whether they feel they’re a fit ore not, and then able to easily apply to your positions.
13:51 MA: Another important key factor is to offer the best employee perks for your employees. Perks created to support the job demands placed on the employees will absolutely attract top talent. And this again, goes back to making sure that individuals that you’re hiring feel set up for success, that you’ve got tools and resources available for them to grow in the role that they are in, and then again, you’re offering those unique aspects that that individual would be seeking from a benefits perspective. And more important than not these days is show the world how great your employees have it. The more happy employees you can feature online, the better candidate first impressions of your employer brand will be.
14:37 MA: Again, it’s speaking back to, yes, much of the marketing dollars are spent in attracting clients and customers to the role, but it’s also important to ensure that you are highlighting how great your employees have it, and that way you are attracting individuals that want to also become a part of that legacy or that story that you’re painting with your organization. Play to your company strengths. Always present your company strengths to top talent. If you’re in a rural location for instance, that means you have great appeal to talented people who enjoy that setting. Play to the area you’re in, the business that you’re in, maybe any perks in the buildings that you have. Again, those unique benefits that you might offer that others don’t. Maybe it’s additional PTO day on your birthday. There’s so many different aspects and unique ways that individual companies can really highlight and offer strengths in the recruiting process. Another key piece is to have company leaders play an active role. If company leaders personally meet with top talent for key positions, it shows candidates that your company sees their value and that you have friendly leaders.
15:56 MA: In this competitive market that we’re still in even in today’s marketplace, it’s extremely important that if you find talent that you are interested in, that you’re keeping them warm and engaged because they do have other offers on the table, they do have other firms engaging with them, and so having them meet with top leaders quickly in a very efficient interview process is critical in order to be able to attract and maintain top talent all the way through to the offer stage. Connect candidates with your company’s mission. If someone connects with your company’s mission, hiring them will be a breeze. And so including those aspects in your interview process, maybe even in the job description. If your company’s mission and values or something that’s extremely critical to you and your organization, highlighting those will absolutely attract individuals that feel the same way about your company mission. And finally, connect candidates with your employees. Whenever possible, get candidates to interact and connect with your employees. This way, talented professionals already have friends in your company, if they take the job. Many include this as like a meet and greet, as maybe one of the final interview steps, making sure everyone on the team is able to work well together, get along well and accomplish the company goals. Any questions regarding attracting top talent?
17:28 CC: Michele, one of the questions we get asked all the time with all the stuff that’s going on now, interviewing people remotely, any tips for that?
17:37 MA: Absolutely, and there’s been a large transition to that space, and I know for technology in some other industries that’s actually been the norm for a long time for them. When interviewing online or via Zoom, I always recommend, of course, to do a video type interview. That way you guys can interact, give eye contact and look for different attributes as you’re going through that process. Zoom, Skype, and there’s several other tools that can be utilized in order to conduct that interview, and really it can be conducted in the exact same way a face-to-face interview would be. The only thing you might be missing is the handshake and sitting across physically from that person, but in 2020 as we kept growing as a nation and as businesses because we are so fortunate to have the type of technology like what we’re utilizing today, can keep us all still connected, continue the same interview process, behaviors and get maybe down to your top one or two, and then depending on the state or where you’re at, meeting those folks in person at some point, if that is something that you’re able to do.
18:54 MA: But really with the Zoom technology, with the Skype technology, the face-to-face technology we have today, it really shouldn’t change too much in regards to the interview process.
19:08 CC: Okay, perfect. Thank you.
19:11 MA: Absolutely. So let’s move on to evaluating past recruitment efforts. So one of the things that you would want to do is to effectively attract and retain employees is you need to evaluate your past recruitment efforts and learn from what went right and what went wrong. So kind of determining, “How many candidates did I get from each job board, recruiter the last time I was hiring for this position? How many of those candidates were skilled enough to interview? And how many finalist candidates were interested in future job openings?” So with a successful recruitment effort, the last time, who was also a part of maybe that final interview process and can may be brought back to see if there’s still interest in the role now that a new opening has become available.
20:03 MA: Asking questions in regards to the ad placements that you made and did you get enough candidates, did you receive enough of the right candidates. Any job ad is really going to attract about 80% that’s not necessarily equivalent to the role you’re looking for, and then another 20% that’s capable of completing the role as defined by the job description. And then really it’s just honing into specific behaviors and skill sets, soft skills regarding just hunger, eagerness to learn, drive, things of that nature that are really inherent in an individual and can’t be taught. So making sure that you’re evaluating any past recruitment efforts and making any changes that you need to make. If your ad didn’t drive a good number of candidates to it, let’s go back and look at the job title. Let’s go back and look at the requirements.
21:02 MA: Did it read out as just maybe a job description or were there there enticing things about what you do as an organization, things you do outside of the organization as a company, benefits, unique benefits? What attractive offers are you including in that job ad to catch interest and get people to not just view your posting, but click and actually apply to the role as well. Many of the job boards do have things that allow you to see how many have viewed your applications, how many have actually applied, and how many candidates have actually moved through the process. For larger companies, a good applicant tracking system is also highly recommended, and an ATS is really gonna help you look through the entire recruiting process, where each individual landed within that process, and then it gives you a great database of individuals to go back to if and when you do have an additional position that comes up and that you may have hired for in the recent past.
22:12 MA: So let’s move on to recruiting myths. So myth number one, candidates flock to great companies. This might be true and rare, but notable exceptions, but even for many great companies out there actively acquiring new talent is essential. Top candidates usually find it easy to get hired and keep jobs. So your best fit for the position may be happily working without actively looking. And this is why smart companies know it’s essential to have talent acquisition strategies in place to help them find great people.
22:50 MA: Another myth, technology is the best recruiter. Because the hiring process relies heavily on technology these days for posting openings, getting the word out, tracking applicants, many companies mistakenly believe that they can rely on technology to deliver the best candidate. The truth is that a smart recruiter is the backbone of a solid talent acquisition strategy. The recruiter can use all of the tools available today, but his or her experience and wisdom provide far better results in terms of the right fit for each position. And let’s be honest, recruiting, it takes a lot of time, and as a business owner, sometimes the time that’s needed to effectively recruit is just not available to you. So utilizing a recruiter to help get you past those initial administrative burdens of looking through hundreds of applicants, narrowing down those applicants to maybe the top five, and then getting interviews scheduled for those top five, moving them to your next step in the interview process can be very time-consuming. And so that’s where a great recruiter can be a great asset to an organization, helping to take some of that burden off of their plate. A myth busted. The interview is the key to hiring the best candidate. Unqualified candidates can present themselves very well in a resume and in an interview and appear to be the right fit for the job, but then fail to meet your expectations once hired.
24:19 MA: Likewise, great candidates can undersell themselves in the interview or create underwhelming resumes because they aren’t comfortable with the process. So ensuring that you take a holistic approach to the recruiting process and looking closely at each piece of information you receive about top candidates, including feedback from others, references and things of that nature is more likely to lead to hiring the best fit for the position. And then number four, the perfect employee is out there. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. No one is perfect and no candidate is going to be perfect and check every box you have that you desire for this role. Particularly for higher level and upper management positions, the hiring process can drag on, and if the exact right candidate isn’t appearing, it can really create a negative effect in the whole marketplace. As a position has been posted for a significant amount of time, individuals begin to believe, “Oh, they’re just pipelining, they’re just looking for somebody, but they’re not really hiring.” The longer a role stays out there, actually the less talent you will likely see. Keep in mind and remind other stakeholders in the hiring process that training and leadership development can make up for perceived weaknesses or imperfection in an otherwise great fitting candidate.
25:49 MA: Many times you’ll look to see that some great talent that’s hired, maybe checked seven out of the 10 boxes, and some of those three items that individual might be missing are trainable aspects. So always really looking at the full picture and looking at the candidate overall and what they can bring to the organization and their ability to complete the basic skills necessary for the position is always critical to look for. Number five, the recruiting process starts with a job opening. This is one of the most common pitfalls we see, and companies making. A true talent acquisition strategy is constantly in motion before, during and after the task of filling a position. Start by thinking about where you want your company to be in one year from now, what types of candidates and positions will be able to make that a reality? And then when positions need to be filled, you can engage in conscious hiring to find the right fit for today, and well into the future. By making the investment in your future talent, your company will reap the rewards for years to come. Busted myth number six. There should be a plethora of candidate options because unemployment is high.
27:04 MA: As we spoke to in the beginning, and setting the stage of last year and where we are this year, yes, unemployment overall is high. A majority of those are coming out of the restaurant industry, leisure, hospitality, and some other market spaces that just weren’t ready to weather the type of storm that we faced beginning in March. But there’s also multiple companies, multiple industries that have not only survived, but thrived during this time. And so even though that overall unemployment number is high each month, we’ve seen a large chunk of that number come down, and that leads us to know that we are getting back into a competitive spirit in regards to hiring candidates, especially great candidates, still have a lot of options. And so even though you might see overall a high unemployment number, it’s very likely not resonating with the types of individuals, the types of positions that most are actually looking to hire for at this time.
28:14 MA: Another myth busted is that a prior employee’s commute or behaviors will dictate how a future employee will act. So if you’ve had to narrow your search to maybe 10 or 20 miles from your office because your last two hires both took other jobs closer to home, or they were constantly late because of their commute, whether an individual from a certain company or maybe two individuals you hired from a certain company have acted in a certain way or maybe not caught on as quickly, really making sure that you’re not using any of those expectations around the commuter behaviors of others to dictate how another candidate or another employee might act. You can lose out on some incredible talent by narrowing your scope too small around the commutability to your office or role, or behaviors that might have been specific to an individual, but not an overall organization.
29:13 MA: For instance, I happen to drive 55 miles one way to my office, commuting does not bother me. I enjoy being in the vehicle. That’s my me time. For another individual I might be recruiting for in California, 10 minutes in the car is just too long. So really making sure that you’re not putting an overall spectrum across all individuals that are commuting a longer distance or coming from a certain company, but truly being open to interviewing those individuals and identifying whether or not there could be a potential issue based off of the key behavioral-based questions you’re asking during the interview process. Myth number eight. If a candidate is really interested in our firm, they’ll wait until we see all candidates. If you talk to an individual that you’re excited about, that you feel could be a great fit for your company, so does somebody else. And so generally, in the law of offers, the first offer to be made is generally the first offer to be accepted. As a candidate is really interested in your firm, they wanna know that you’re really interested in them too. Sometimes the reason that first offer is the one that’s accepted, it’s because that firm showed as much interest in the candidate as the candidate was showing in the firm.
30:33 MA: So my recommendation is if you talk to somebody you know can do the job, you’re excited about them, move them in the process, keep them warm and don’t wait until you see more candidates. Which takes us to number nine. What if we miss out on an even better candidate later in the search? In fact, the best candidates often come around during the initial stages of the search. Waiting to see who else comes along often leads to those top individuals being hired somewhere else. The staler a search becomes the less interest you receive. Candidates are savvy, may know if your role has been posted multiple times, if it’s been up for months, and they know what former employees are saying about you online.
31:18 MA: So again, those two really tie importantly together. And not being afraid to make a decision, even if the very first individual you meet, you just feel like this is a great person, I’d love to see them on our team. But so often hiring managers then become afraid that they’re gonna miss out on somebody better, and nine times out of 10, I’ll tell you guys as a recruiter, those hiring managers come back and wanna hire that first or second person they met with, and unfortunately, another firm also really liked them, picked them up, they’ve been offered a position and they’re no longer on the marketplace. So just making sure that you are comfortable and know what it is you’re looking for, because you’ve built out exactly what the requirements were, what you needed, and if that first or second individual meets those requirements, you feel like they’re a solid fit, pull the trigger because somebody else will instead.
32:14 MA: And then finally, number 10. Waiting more than a few days for the second interview is no big deal. Again, this plays into what we were talking about in number eight and number nine. The amount of time you put between first or even receiving the resume to the first interview, to the second interview, and even just an elongated interview process, just gives another firm or another company an in to be able to say, “Hey, we were so excited about you, we knew instantly, we’re gonna make you an offer.” And that is happening quite often between first and second interviews where candidates are being lost because the process has drawed out for so long. So top candidates are interviewing just as much as you are interviewing them, they read between the lines, and if it takes longer than a few days to move to the next step, they feel like they’re not the top candidate and they will begin to look elsewhere. So all of those aspects play into some of those myths that we wanted to bust in regards to top talent and what they’re seeking. Any other myths or any other questions around just recruiting in general?
33:25 CC: So two questions. One, where do we find some good ads like the ads that we would place, good examples of ads that have worked in the past, or ads that hit all the right key points?
33:42 MA: Absolutely. So from an ad perspective, it’s kind of a combination. It’s both a job description, calling out what are the absolute requirements of the position, but a good ad is going to have an introduction at the top, introducing them to your company. Who you are, what you do, what you stand for, and that first blurb really catches the interest of your candidates. And that might be something that came off your website, something in regards to your mission statement, but really starting an ad off with who and what you are, what you stand for as an organization, is a key piece to building out a great ad. The body of the ad should be your basic requirements calling out what a day in the life looks like for this individual, and then below there, what are the specific qualifications you’re asking this individual to have in order to even be reviewed for the position. And then ending it with what are the benefits of working for us, calling out some of the important aspects that are both universal, whether that’s a great PTO policy, the 401k, health benefits, and then any of those unique perks that we called out and to really help close out the ad and really draw in an individual to say, “Hey, we have the same mission values, I can do this job. They value their employees. Look at the benefits that they offer. I want to apply.”
35:15 MA: You can absolutely Google online, various positions that you’re looking to hire for and get some templates and some things like that, just from a general search, what are some other competitors or others in your industry posting, and then how can you make it better to attract individuals, but really starting with that headline, who you are, day in the life, what qualifications are necessary, and then benefits, like, “Hey, you come join us, this is what we’re offering,” that’s gonna be a really great ad to help attract top talent.
35:48 CC: Okay, excellent. And maybe if you’ve seen a couple of those, I can include some links with the distribution of this afterwards too.
36:00 MA: Sure.
36:00 CC: Another question, I love this question. So it seems like the best candidates are already working at other firms. How do I get my ad or how do I get the message that I’m hiring for this position out to those candidates, so when they’re ready to make a change, they’ll consider coming to my room?
36:21 MA: Absolutely, and there’s a couple of different ways to do that. Number one, I’m gonna say a great recruiter is gonna be able to tackle those passive candidates that are already working, that might be perfect fit. So and we kind of dangle that carrot in front of them, let them know the amazing things that are going on with the organization we’re recruiting for. And a great recruiter is gonna be able to break that mold. And you also have folks that are following your industry on LinkedIn, and so checking out your LinkedIn profile as a company, an organization, who’s following you, what content’s coming through there. That’s a great way in order to attract industry-related talent to your space, letting them know what’s going on, letting them know that you’re hiring and utilizing LinkedIn as a tool of communication to passive individuals that are in the marketplace, but maybe not necessarily looking for a position. Posting the ad, does that as well. A great recruiter is gonna be able to go out and go to the job boards, but those are mainly gonna be active individuals, so posting an ad in the right places depending on level, industry. If you’re an association, getting involved into some association postings and some of those boards that attract specifically that type of talent.
37:41 MA: If you’re a non-profit, there’s several job boards that focus entirely on the non-profit space, and so you target and put those ads up in the spaces where those people interact. Another really great tool that’s being utilized right now is social media and job postings within Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, other programs and platforms of that nature to go out into the marketplace and share that you have the position. So it’s really about knowing your specific industry, where do your current employees spend their time, and then targeting the same spaces that your employees are engaged in is generally gonna find other individuals, like minded individuals in those spaces too.
38:28 CC: Excellent, and a question about non-compensation perks and benefits in the accounting and finance space. What are you seeing right now, you know, important perks, important benefits that are attractive to candidates right now in that space?
38:46 MA: In accounting and finance in general, especially in public accounting, it’s work-life balance. It’s the ability to work remote, flex scheduling. So much of that was taboo, really kind of prior to March, and then many of us were kinda forced into the remote work place or the flex scheduling, dealing with childcare issues, things of that nature. In 2008, of course, we had the great recession, there was a lot of layoffs and the great talent that was left was taking on two or three different jobs. And so there was kind of a burn-out/exhaustion factor that took place with some top talent and as employment numbers were improving, a lot of those individuals were making moves not to make more money, but in order to have more balance in their lives with their families because they had worked so hard for so many years, just trying to keep their positions during a difficult downturn in crisis. And so that same translatability is going into today’s marketplace in regards to flexibility. In accounting and finance, we know that there are absolutes around month-end, quarter-end, year-end, taxes, season, things of that nature, that of course are extremely critical, but it’s really about being able to find that balance, because right now, family is truly one of the most important aspects candidates are communicating with us that they’re looking for in order to both have a wholesome family life and balanced family life and still drive great performance at work.
40:31 CC: Awesome, excellent information. No other questions at this time. So please carry on.
40:38 MA: Fantastic, and that’s a perfect question in segue, now that we kind of really dive into accounting and finance and the market realities in there. So when thinking about accounting and finance specifically, most candidates with two plus years of public accounting experience are looking to get away from the public arena once they qualify for their CPA. Many candidates are coming out of college, going and working for public firms or under a CPA in order to earn that accreditation, and then once they’ve completed that, the majority are then looking to get out of that space, mainly due to work-life balance. And work-life balance is a number one reason candidates look to leave public accounting or roles in general. Talented candidates with three plus years of experience are generally on a path to a senior manager or a partner, and will only move for a growth position in significant compensation to make that move. Recruiting after the end of September, generally yields few results, most are waiting on their year-end bonuses followed by the new season starting again in January, so kind of the end of the year can be kind of a stagnant timeframe to try hiring some.
41:52 MA: An important aspect is to know and understand what’s going on in that industry and in that space, because those individuals are definitely kind of going through the same thing you are at that time, as I kind of call out here, work-life balance is the number one reason folks look to leave or what they’re looking for out of their next move. Big Four firms offer significant referral bonuses to attract new talent. One of my former colleagues in recruiting is actually a resource manager at a Big Four now, and we were talking just about hiring in this space, and I was blown away at the numbers of what they offer in regards to referral bonuses for positions, $10,000 for somebody to stay 90 days in a senior or managerial level type role, because it is that competitive to get individuals in, especially in that public space. Big Four firms though, one of the things they really do well is they have a strong campus recruiting strategy. So if you’re open and willing to finding talent coming right out of college, and let me tell you, right now is one of the best times to find some exceptional talent coming out of college without as many kind of entry-level or organizations willing to train up an individual. Their, Big Four, strategy, their campus recruiting strategy, truly works in building incredibly great talent in the accounting and finance space.
43:27 MA: And if it’s something your organization is able to do, whether it’s through an internship program or hiring at that entry level role and truly molding and bringing somebody up in the way of how your organization would handle the accounting functions, can really pay dividends in the end. Sharp candidates can learn skills they may not know quickly. In the several months it might take you to find a highly qualified candidate, that sharp up and comer could have been trained and off to the races already. So there’s definitely a market equity there in the length of time that you’re searching for this highly qualified candidate, and again, and it goes back to the very beginning where we were talking about calling out the requirements and the ability to do the role. If you have somebody that has the inherent soft skills, they’re hungry, they’re eager, they’re ready to learn, they’re detailed, they’re analytical, and they’re ready to take on the position, that person could be up and running and trained in that same amount of time that you were digging for that highly qualified candidate. Timing is everything. Recruiting during season, month-end, quarter end, year-end can be challenging as these candidates are also heads down trying to get their work out the door too. And then accounting is in high demand and you must set yourselves apart from the competition. You’ve got to offer something they don’t have now where they are currently working.
44:52 MA: As we were growing heavily in 2019, accounting was one of the number one positions that was difficult to fill, because as companies were growing, they were needing more staff accountants, more senior accountants, more individuals at that level to take on the additional data, the additional AP, the additional AR, the additional ledger and journal entries and everything that was growing in the organization. And I was speaking to a friend that was in the contract accounting and finance space, and she was telling me in late 2019 that she was really struggling to find individuals to come in and do temp work in accounting, because there were so many full-time direct hire accounting positions available, and there were so many choices. At one point, towards the end of 2019, there were over two million job openings that did not have individuals qualified to do the work.
45:51 MA: That again has changed with everything that’s transpired in 2020, but strong, great accounting talent is still being highly sought after, and they are receiving competing offers, and so it’s really about being able to pull the trigger quickly, it’s about offering things that they’re not getting currently, whether that’s an increase in pay, the unique benefits, the work-life balance, the team camaraderie, the family-type feel, working for a small or a mid-sized business, it’s really calling out those attributes in that ad that’s going to attract the right type of individual that you’re searching for. So any questions there?
46:36 CC: Michele, a question about part-time candidates. Any specific tips or tricks with hiring for part-time positions?
46:46 MA: And part-time can be very difficult and it has been even more difficult in the last year or two, again, with just the number of full-time positions that are available. You have kinda certain market segments that are interested in part-time space, maybe it’s somebody that has other responsibilities at home, but really wants to engage in the workplace still. Maybe it’s somebody who’s retired from their full-time aspect, and so they’re looking to, you know, stay busy and pick up some of that part-time work. Depending on the number of hours and the pay rates, it can be extremely difficult to locate part-time individuals because many time, part-time positions aren’t offering things like health benefits, some of those other factors that might be a necessity for some talent. And so I would say part-time is definitely a little bit trickier. I think it’s calling out possibly flexibility in the schedule, how many hours in that job ad, calling out how many hours are expected of that individual, what’s the flexibility, and how many days a week they can come in, and for what lengths of time? I think spelling that out specifically even in that job ad will attract the right individual that’s looking for that part-time aspect.
48:13 CC: Thank you.
48:14 MA: Perfect. So I’m gonna kinda close out and just kinda sharing some really great things we have going on here at Insperity and how we might be able to help with any of your recruiting needs as an organization. Of course, 2020 has been a year that has really been difficult for some businesses in regards to just overall business or whether that’s recruiting or the other aspects, and so we’ve got a couple of different offerings, it’s kind of depending upon what your relationship with Insperity is. So first, this is our retail offering. So these are clients that don’t have any type of relationship with Insperity. Right now, we are offering a single flat rate fee for our full recruiting services that would include a $500 upfront non-refundable payment. That payment would help in addition to placing ads, going out into the marketplace, going out onto LinkedIn, going after active/passive candidates, and really that recruiter’s kinda front-end work to develop that search.
49:23 MA: Every one of our searches is treated like an executive search. We start from scratch, we go based off of what the qualifications are that you have outlined that you’re looking for, and your recruiter then goes out into the marketplace to identify candidates that have those attributes. At hirer. We would then charge a $2000 at hire fee. And so the total for that recruiting offering would be $2500 no matter the difficulty of the search, whether you’re searching for a receptionist or somebody to replace the C-suite individual on your team.
49:58 MA: This again is for any of our clients that are not utilizing Insperity in any sense. We’ve also got a fantastic sourcing package, maybe you have some internal HR or recruiting, but you’re really just trying to source or identify the right types of individuals for your organization. And we do have pricing available as well for different sourcing options, whether it’s just a resume source, a three or five-day search, or what I highly recommend is a 10-day qualified and interested search where our sourcer will go out into the marketplace, identify great talent, reach out to them, make sure they’re interested in the role. You’ll receive not only those that are interested in the position, but at the end of that search, a full spreadsheet along with every resume that we identified, or LinkedIn profile that we identified in that search. And that’s just two really great options that we have. Another option is our traditional employment offering. So these are individuals that utilize Insperity sheerly for our technology or other platforms that are not in a full PEO relationship with us. And we are offering a flat rate pricing to those individuals at $1000 at hire, again, for any position that they might need assistance in, from an admin to C-suite.
51:22 MA: Finally, for clients that are fully engaged with Insperity in a full PEO platform, meaning we’re handling their full outsourced HR functions, we’re supporting them, we’re helping to mitigate risk from different things like unemployment as well as workman’s comp and some other facets, as a full PEO relationship, we are offering our recruiting services at the inclusive. Meaning, in order for that client to need recruiting, we will not charge any fees for that recruiter, that client is only responsible for any ads, assessments or backgrounds that they would run during that time frame. So there’s another great way Insperity is stepping in to help the small and mid-sized business community really just come back this year and grow and really kind of move into 2021 even stronger. Another great offering that we have is clients that do come on with us in a PEO offering. By the end of this year will receive six months of the inclusive recruiting from the time that they do sign on with Insperity for their first payroll and HR service offering.
52:33 MA: So a lot of kinda different things that we’re doing to really support businesses across the country as we are all looking to rebound from some of the things that kind of transpired this year, and just a couple of ways that we’re able to go out and then help in different ways in regards to recruiting. So in the next steps, if interested in any of these aspects, we are going to send this out, I know in an email at the end of the session, and some great ways to kind of dig and see if any of these offerings might be of assistance. We do have various disciplines, anything from professional C-suite, IT, health care, accounting and finance, sales and marketing, administrative and light industrial, and there are some spaces that we’re not that strong at. Some things in specific areas that we might be able to offer you some other ideas or some other recruiters or organizations that might be better suited for your need, but we’re definitely up for the conversation. So are there any other questions that I can answer at this time?
53:44 CC: So you’ve done a fantastic job, Michele, I wanna thank you. I’ve got no other questions at this time that are popping up.
53:53 MA: Fantastic.
53:54 CC: So I wanna give you a virtual round of applause from all of our attendees and myself, and thank you very much for taking the time to do this. As we said, we will be sending out the recording, contact information for you guys and some of those links that we talked about as well. And then I wanted to thank everyone for attending and their questions and the interaction. And also one of the things we also send out is a survey asking for topics. So this topic was a direct result of the feedback that we received from our previous surveys, so keep giving us good feedback and we’ll keep going out and finding excellent presenters like Michele to come in and give you that timely and relevant information to help you manage, secure and grow your CPA firm. So with no other questions, we’ll go ahead and call it, and let everybody get on to a productive day.
