The key takeaways from this session
Top tips from our ACCA-qualified PR hosts, Heather Smith, Anastasia Chalkidou, and Lock Peng Kuan
The opportunity for small and medium sized practices to grow in today’s business environment is unprecedented. Digital transformation, in particular, is truly enabling smaller accountancy firms to reimagine the services they offer, but successful change is critically dependent on attracting, developing and retaining the right people. SMP is an exciting careers destination which offers a broad spectrum of opportunities and far more than just job security and good remuneration. SMPs also have a clear purpose of helping small businesses achieve their objectives and growth targets and provide recruits with the opportunity to see concrete results of their work. However attracting talent can be challenging as small practitioners are competing with larger organization and other sectors that have more resources to market their professional opportunities, furthermore the market has been significantly impacted by Covid-19 both leading to the “great resignation” and “ great rethink of careers purpose. So how can SMPs attract talent for future success?
Plan
Even before you begin to search for new employees, you need to have a strategic plan. This means answering questions like:
If you can answer these questions, then it’s likely you’ll be able to attract the right person for the right reasons.
Marketing
Once you have the job specification structured, and have a handle on what you can offer candidates, you then need to market the position. Company branding is a really important way to attract job applicants - without them having to come across your advert first. If you can communicate your brand, what you stand for, what kind of culture your company has, and can show people the human face behind the company, you’ll reach more people and they’ll have a better idea of what they’re applying to. You can always use ACCA Careers SMP section to advertise your opening
Outsourcing recruitment
Hiring someone else to do your hiring for you is a controversial topic. Some SMPs feel like they have to do this - some because they simply don’t have the time to do it themselves. But it can be expensive and it can also be a process that is less targeted than you might think. The most important thing is to work out whether it represents value for money - in the case of recruiting for more senior positions, it can be more useful. If you do decide to outsource, it’s really important that you interview the recruitment firm! That will give you the opportunity to explain to them the things you want from a candidate beyond the basics and it will give you confidence that they’ll be searching in the right places and using the right tools to select candidates for you to interview.
Be a magnet for attracting magnificent humans: tips, tricks and tactics
Attracting and retaining talent is by no means straightforward, so here are some of the top tips SMPs came up with in our Practice Room:
Links to useful resources:
Practice Connect – Developing talent
Careers in SMPs report- containing practical insights for practice leaders and candidates