Securing the perfect employee can be like buying the perfect house

You know that feeling, I’m sure, when looking to buy a house, after viewing several nightmare properties you walk into THE one.

It’s a feeling that defies description, but you know it when you feel it.

Searching for that perfect house takes time, resources and patience. The buyers’ success depends on a number of factors including flexibility, their ability to negotiate and the skills of the real estate agent representing them.

Indeed, the housing market often swings from being a buyer’s market to a seller’s market – and back again - from time to time, depending on a variety of factors.

The talent market tends to swing back and forth less frequently and usually less violently but with the aging population, decreasing enrolment in the CA program and the lure of industry to the recently qualified, prospective employers find themselves in a sellers market. And it’s going to stay that way for a while, so just get used to it!

For every qualified, experienced CA or CGA looking to make a career change there are many potential ‘buyers’ - firms who are anxious to employ them.

That means that, similar to the housing market, when you find what you want you not only need to move quickly but in addition have to be a savvy negotiator, present your firm in the best light, hire the best people to represent you in your search, and be realistic about start dates and salary levels.

Once you make an offer on a house and it is accepted you enter into a binding contract that is near impossible to extricate yourself from. Unfortunately once you make an offer of employment to a candidate the same is not true.

How do you avoid having your offer declined or worse accepted and then rejected later on?

Presenting yourself and your firm in the best light.

What separates you from the other firms out there trying to lure your superstar prospective employee? A lot of it has to do with the candidate experience during the interview process.

Here is an example we had in our organization recently. One of our candidates went out to interview with a medium size firm. He was qualified, personable and very much in demand. His feedback from the first interview was very positive and both the candidate and the prospective employer were excited. On the basis of the first interview the candidate was invited back to interview with two other partners.

All the partners agreed, based on the candidate performance during the two interviews, to make an offer.

The offer was made and subsequently declined. Why?

The answer is a simple but avoidable misunderstanding. During the second interview two of the three partners were engaging, interested and forthcoming. However the third partner sat and stared out the window the whole time and not once asked a question or showed any interest in the candidate.

The interview took place on a Saturday morning and maybe this partner was thinking about his golf game that afternoon or maybe he was just naturally reticent and let the other two take the lead.

Whatever the reason, the outcome was unavoidable. The candidate walked away with doubts about the culture of the firm as well as feeling uneasy about the prospective role when it came to dealing with that particular partner.

The upshot is he took another position with a firm that he felt projected themselves in a more favourable light – his perception was that the first firm were indifferent to him, where the second firm were genuinely interested in him.

In today’s market the little things can make a big difference.

Managing expectations around salary.

Candidates usually have a definite idea of what they would be willing to move for when it comes to money. Ninety percent of the time candidates’ salary expectations are in line with what the market will pay.

Although you don’t want to pay more than what the market rate is by the same token you don’t want to lose a qualified candidate over a few dollars.

The candidate or the recruiting firm representing the candidate will let you know what their bottom line is when it comes to salary. Listen to them. It’s what you’re paying a recruiter for – not just finding you a warm body with a degree – but you’re buying their counsel and advice too.

There have been offers that have fallen apart because of a difference of five thousand dollars in annual salary.

If because of internal salary levels, budget or other considerations your offer is substantially lower than the candidate’s bottom line there can still be creative ways to reach an accord.

There have been a number of offers accepted based on a starting salary with a review in three or six months. Alternatively, salaries can be topped up with an annual performance based bonus, an initial signing bonus or other financial perks.

For more experienced candidates money isn’t everything. If fact, when asked what their most important consideration is when making a career move the majority of them would answer that geography, work-life balance and the nature of the work take precedence over compensation.

Nature of the Work

This is where a recruiting firm is worth their weight in gold. Because the consultants at the firm have already pre-screened the candidates they are aware of what each candidate is looking for. They will not send someone out to a firm that does mainly notice to reader work when the candidate is only interested in audit and assurance work.

This is generally one area that is out of your control. In theory a candidate should not be interviewing for a position that does not provide the nature and variety of work that they are interested in.

It is almost certain that your offer will be rejected if the type of work that your firm does is not in line with candidate expectations. If the offer is accepted know that because your firm does not provide the type of work the candidate is interested in it may come back to haunt you months or years down the road.

To avoid this situation it is important that both you and the candidate do your research on each other before, during and after the interview stage.

The Counter Offer

There are two types of candidates who are offered and accept counter offers after they have received or accepted your offer.

The first is just dipping their toe into the water so to speak in order to encourage their present employer into making it worth their while to stay. This candidate should be weeded out in the pre-interview process in order to ascertain whether they are genuine in their search.

This is another area where a recruiting firm can save you time and money. Unfortunately some will still slip through the net and it can be a frustrating and time-consuming process for the hiring firm. The most important way of avoiding this situation is to thoroughly explore the candidate’s motives for moving before the offer stage is reached.

The second is genuinely interested in making a move. An example comes to mind. A qualified CA who had difficulty getting along with one of the partners felt that moving on in his career was the only way to get out of an unhappy situation. He interviewed in good faith and was made an offer by a new firm.

When he met with the Managing Partner to give in his notice he was asked to hold off while they tried to work something out. They came back to him with more money and more importantly had retooled his department so that the candidate no longer had to report into the partner he had the conflict with. He stayed.

Although there was nothing the hiring firm could do after the offer had been made it is important to know that 90% of candidates that accept a counter offer end up leaving their employer within five years.

Then, of course, there’s the ‘Work/Life Balance’ issue.

That is an issue all on it’s own, and that’s exactly what I’ll be discussing in the next issue.

See you then!

© MFA Group Inc, 2007