Tips To Help Find Talent

JIM WHERLEY

Senior Manager Creative Financial Staffing

Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP

jim.wherley@bakertilly.com

bakertilly.com

Topic: Accounting

When it comes to hiring a Chief Financial Officer—or any other member of the finance team—it’s important to not only hire a person with the right skills, but the right personality. The challenge is especially important for owners of closely held companies, who work daily with their finance staff.

Equally important, however, is the challenge of hanging onto top talent. The old football adage—“the best defense is a good offense…”—is also sound human resource advice. Take good care of the people working for you, because retention isn’t all about salary. Research shows most employees don’t leave companies. They leave managers.

The following recruitment tips can help companies find and keep their talent.

Common Recruiting Mistakes. Not using a trained interviewer. Typically, problems arise when a business owner interviews a candidate and thinks the job seeker’s skills are perfect. Unfortunately, the owner often misses warning signs along the way. There may be a gap in the candidate’s resume.

The interviewer may not feel comfortable pushing for answers. There is a tendency to accept vague answers, such as “I left my old job because there was no opportunity for growth.” Only one person interviews the candidate. Even if the position is not high level, it’s important for a second person to talk with the candidate.

Reason? People share different information, with different people, to the same question. It’s not that the candidate is lying. They’re just giving a different view of their personality.

Ineffective reference checks. Unbelievably, people do lie about all kinds of information, even about college degrees. Not matching personality types.

It’s critical to understand why the last person in the position didn’t work out, so the same mistake isn’t made twice. All too often, a breakdown occurs because of an intangible working relationship between supervisor and employee, i.e.: a supervisor who likes to closely manage, while an employee prefers working independently.

Morale Tips. In this economy, it’s often difficult to reward employees in traditional ways, i.e. raises and bonuses. Smart managers know that their employees need to be rewarded in new and innovative ways, including being challenged in their position and feeling appreciated by the management team.

On-Board Effectively. An employee’s experience the first two weeks on the job has a major effect on their ultimate success. Make them feel welcome right away. Is everything ready for their arrival—nametag, office, computer, software loaded? Will they get basic company information such as dress codes, hours, lunch policies, etc? Is a company tour and lunch scheduled with the boss and/or peers? Do they have a project to work on?

Treat Fairly. Exiting employees will often complain they were not treated consistently with others in the company. Take steps to guard against this as well as other common complaints about managers who under-appreciate their employees, over-work them, or take credit for their work. Show Appreciation.

Finally, remember to thank employees for extra time and effort on a job. Publicly recognize them within the company. Let them get involved in the business, not just their job.

Baker Tilly refers to Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP an independently owned and managed member of Baker Tilly International.