Early career recruitment strategies for SMPs
With the struggle to find and keep quality finance talent a factor the world over, many firms are focussing efforts on hiring promising young candidates, with the hope they’ll remain with them, develop their careers there, and grow with the practice and its clients.
But this is no small task, especially for small and medium-sized accountancy practices (SMPs), who perhaps don’t traditionally have the reputational clout or attractive resources of larger firms.
But they do have a lot to shout about, which is the best place to start in hiring early career professionals, which might be people straight out of school or college that you hope to train or offer an apprenticeship that includes time, financial assistance, and access to professional qualifications, such as ACCA.
Or it might be graduates or people self-studying, a bit further along in their studies but not yet qualified and seeking their first professional roles to help them gain the requisite professional experience or pass the last few exams.
1) Talking to Gen Z
Recruiting Gen Z and younger means assuring them that they’ll be listened to, given responsibility and shown trust, rewarded fairly, and provided with all the necessary resources to support their career development. This means a structured training programme in partnership with local and/or national educational institutions, whether it’s an apprenticeship scheme or tailored traineeships; a clear path of progress and assurances around promotional timeframes; education funding and support; access to mentors; and client facing work.
Proving to people that they will gain ACCA membership while working for you is another huge recruitment tick in the box for early career professionals. Kreston Menon in the UAE works closely with ACCA and universities in the region to ensure a continual feed of fresh accounting graduates. 'It is true that mid-tier firms have to be more creative in their recruitment campaigns to overcome the Big 4 bias. We ensure our interactions highlight the personalised growth prospects and benefits the graduates will derive from exposure to diverse clientele from varied industries,' says says Kreston Menon's HR and administration director Shibu Abraham.
'In a study among recruiters, it was found that most discussions of Gen Z jobseekers rotate around the environmental and social aspects of the employer. They are drawn towards purpose-driven organisations that promote wellbeing as well as diversity and equity within the workplace, follow high ethical and quality standards, and reach out to society. For them, these attributes have become non-negotiable,' says Abraham. 'We have implemented green practices at our workplace and we involve our people in charity, volunteering and other activities that have societal impact.'
2) Build a recruitment brand
Your customer brand needs to be complemented by and run hand-in-hand with a recruitment brand, and communicated via social media, websites or careers fairs. This will clearly help articulate the proposition to employees, including rewards and benefits, career opportunities, workplace culture, work–life balance, and the nature of the work itself, which should include how you use and the opportunities to learn technology; the size and variety of clients you work with; and any specialist areas you focus on, such as charities, tech startups, digital transformation, or sustainability consulting.
3) Develop and share your culture
Embedding then communicating an attractive work culture is vital also; it gives people an idea of the environment they’ll work in and helps round off the ‘overall’ package of a practice that will guide, support and train. An openness to new flexible ways of working is high on the list for young people.
‘I believe our hybrid and remote working policy has been key to recruitment of both early careers and more experienced team members,’ says Michelle Westbury FCCA, director of West & Berry, a female-led firm specialising in charities. ‘In order to make this model work we have had to think differently about team communication and building working relationships.’
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‘We do a genuine four-day week,’ says David Nicholls FCCA of Brett Nicholls Associates. ‘People get paid for a full week, but, if targets are met, they don't work Thursdays. We sincerely believe in striking a good work-life balance and working hard, efficiently and effectively when we're in the office, so that we get to spend one day a week not doing that, doing other things and recharging ourselves.’
4) Create and communicate meaning and purpose
Employees increasingly look for careers that are purposeful and for jobs that have ‘meaning’. Clearly framing and articulating the broader purpose of your organisation will help you become more attractive to potential employees and is a powerful employee retention tool. Explain to your teams how the purpose of work translates into concrete behaviours – lead by example.
'We are proud of our values and we ensure that the message of a purpose driven organisation is communicated through our career pages and social media. We have positioned ESG as the focal point of our EVP (Employee Value Proposition) to attract the younger generation, as they do prefer to work with organisations that have a futuristic vision and have the sustainability of the planet at the core of what they do,' says Abraham.
Use the SMP message:
1. SMPs help businesses and wider society
2. SMPs offer personal growth, development and a ‘long-term’ career
3. SMPs have a spread of ages from 17 to 70+ and are already learning how to manage the multi-generational workforce.
4. SMPs offer variety and are a springboard to career mobility
5. SMPs are creative and work at the cutting edge
6. SMPs offer work/life balance
7. SMPs are ethical
8. SMPs provide opportunities for participating in the success of the business
9. SMPs provide the opportunity to see the concrete results of one’s work
10. SMPs are people’s businesses.
5) Become a member of an international network/community
Joining international networks allows staff to share knowledge and network with their global peers, or even work abroad on secondment, which is highly attractive to prospective candidates, particularly younger people who may not yet have families or too many commitments. A growing number of virtual SMP networks and communities can offer similar opportunities and therefore favourably position the SMP recruitment brand.
'Being part of the Kreston global network and ranked 6th in the UAE helps us position ourselves as one of the preferred employers in the region,' says Abraham. 'Kreston Menon has been awarded ‘Superbrands’ status for 10 consecutive years by the Superbrands Council of UAE, bearing testimony to the market acceptance and employer brand recognition of our organisation.'
It also gives them access to the ‘Kreston Kommunity’, a platform for inter-firm interactions, which provides avenues for professionals at all levels to connect, something the firm showcase during its recruitment process, be it the trainee group - Emerging Stars, the Future Managers group, the Connected Leadership Group, or the functional expert global groups.
6) Become an ACCA Approved Practice/Approved Employer
By recognising and rewarding employers’ training and development, the Approved Employer Scheme gives a clear signal to potential employees of your commitment to developing their careers.
More information
ACCA has produced SMP career toolkits to support employers and finance professionals. Download them here