Frustrating, isn't it? Some will even have taken the plunge
and engaged a 'contingency-based' recruiter and still not found
the calibre of individual they seek. Why?
Well,
most of the techniques listed above all have one fatal flaw...
they are only reaching candidates who are actively looking to
move or are presently out of work. Even contingency-based recruiters
often focus on collecting resumes of individuals who respond
to advertisements, rather than doing any real 'head-hunting'
because of the nature of their engagement - on a contingency
basis.
Sure,
we advertise in CA Magazine too, but mostly for name recognition,
or 'brand awareness' rather than candidate generation.
As
a retained search service, we go elsewhere to find the talent
you seek - direct to CAs at work, those who are unreachable
by any other means, and because we write for the Bottom Line,
and CA Magazine, teach for the Ontario Institute of Chartered
Accountants (and all other provincial Institutes nowadays) and
have a published book 'The Succession Planning Toolkit' by none
other than the Canadian Insitute of Chartered Accountants, (with
5 more books commissioned by them) many candidates already know
of our name and are more likely to take our call.
But
the market right now is extraordinarily hot. Talent is in short
supply, and 'stars' are even fewer and farther between than
ever before. Even the assignments we are working on can take
time to fill. Candidates often have multiple offers (thought
they'd only get one offer through us) as the mid-sized firms
scramble to pick up people as their firms grow, and that can
effect salary levels being offered as a 'Dutch Auction' develops
for the best talent.
Many
firms are experiencing the disappointment of having good candidates
turn-down their offer in favour of another firm.
Unfortunately
it is simply a sign of the times. The economy is hot, and so
the war for talent heats up. For our own clients - public accounting
firms - finding clients is not difficult, serving those clients
is the battle many public accounting firms face, and that's
when having great people on-board counts even more.
Thus
firms are becoming more and more desperate to fill gaps in their
rosters as their major audits are coming up over the horizon
and are due for commencement.
Planning
is they key. Establishing a need early and sourcing the right
search firm to satisfy your recruiting needs with ample time
before you need to put 'bums on seats' will make the process
much more likely to be successful.
As
a retained search firm, we have to be careful which firms we
choose to work with and the circumstances behind the opening,
but you too want to be careful in which firm you select as your
recruiting partner.
So
here is some information about us and our process, which we
hope you will find useful.
Why
Us?
We
have been involved in the public accounting profession for
over 30 years. Here are just some of the lessons we have learned
in that time that we have built into our system:
Quality
Search Firm Experience
Our
founder, Steve McIntyre-Smith has been a candidate and a client
of search firms throughout his career in public accounting
and has spent the last few years in Canada (to 2003) working
with one of the GTA's leading 'boutique' CA search firms before
establishing his own 'shop'.
He
was also Vice President of one of Canada's biggest and longest-established
executive search firms, heading their accounting and finance
practice, and since early 2002 has been (and continues to
be) the human resources columnist for Canada's financial newspaper,
'The Bottom Line', where he has a national audience for his
writings on the trial and trivulations of being in public
practice.
Only
Public Accounting
We
are a specialist
consulting organization who ONLY work with public accounting
firms, on marketing, practice management, strategic planning,
recruiting, training and mergers & acquisition projects.
You are now at our recruiting web site.
As
a result, we know the public accounting marketplace better
than any search firm in the GTA.
No
Learning Curve = Quick Results
This
in-depth knowledge means that you have no learning curve to
guide us through when discussing a hiring need - we 'get it'
straight away.
We
also appreciate, when a hiring situation occurs, that time
is of the essence, and that you want results from your recruiting
partner.
Specialization
Some
of our competitors would take on your assignment, but also
search for a wide range of other people, from retail store
managers to forklift drivers, and from manufacturing workers
and labourers to call centre representatives. That begs the
question: 'What do these people really know about the accounting
profession?'
Others
happily recruit for the 'enemy' - accounting and finance positions
in industry, while also recruiting for public accounting.
How they balance the concept of serving two masters in direct
competition for talent is, quite frankly, beyond us.
The
answer often lies within the level of service provided by
these firms; the accuracy and detail of the job descriptions,
the quality of candidates presented, recruiting methodology
used and the time taken to find suitable candidates. Working
with a specialist usually gets better results.
Value
For Money
Unlike
working for a fortune 500 company, working with a Partner
in a public accounting firm means that you are investing your
own funds into a search, not dipping into the limitless coffers
of a public company.
So
a fee scale based on 30% to 33% of the successful candidate's
first year salary just doesn't cut it for you.
We
fully appreciate that, with Steve having been a partner in
a public accounting firm and a sole practitioner for many
years, so we have developed a unique service and competitive
fee structure designed to deliver maximum value for money
to our clients.
An
Unconditional Guarantee
We
back our own service 100%:
All candidates placed by us are guaranteed for a full 12 months. The industry standard is six months. We truly beleive in making
the right match and so we confidently offer a guarantee that
simply blows the industry standard guarantee out of the water.
We
double it and offer a full year's guarantee. If, during this
period any candidate we place leaves your firm, for any reason
whatsoever - at your request or theirs - we will conduct an
additional search, completely free of charge, until a suitable
replacement has been found.
Exit
Interviews
We
offer to conduct, free of charge, exit interviews with people
leaving your firm, whether we placed them or not, in order
to get a deep insight into what the reasons were for their
decision to see if anything can be learned from this experience
that will help your firm a better place to work in the future.
Realistic
Salary Counsel
As
we know the public accounting field intimately, we are able
to offer counsel on salary levels for your firm, to help keep
ahead of the curve and ensure that you are aware of what is
available elsewhere for your staff. This helps you to develop
a winning employee value proposition.
We
publish an annual salary guide, available as a 'pdf' file
from this site, free of charge.
Staff
Training & Coaching
We
can help you identify the rising stars within your firm and
develop tailored training programs to help you develop them.
This helps you to provide a more rewarding, enjoyable and
professionally challenging work environment.
Talent
tends to gravitate towards (and then stay at) places where
people are continually stretched and growing as professionals
and individuals.
In
turn, these professionals provide a better return on investment
to their employers by being more productive and capable of
managing higher value projects sooner than their less capable
peers.
Mentoring
Tomorrow's Partners
Public
Accounting is a tough profession. First an individual has
to tackle highly demanding professional exams, while still
performing at their peak in a full-time job.
Once
qualified, if they want to make it to Partner level, they
will have to acquire some critical new skills, fairly quickly
as they start to take on more responsibility with clients
and provide leverage for today's Partners:
Fortunately
these skills can be acquired through an effective mentoring
program, but usually the very people within the firm that
have the capability to pass-on such valuable experience are
the ones who least have the time to do so.
We
work with a number of firms, to provide a mentoring service
to their rising stars, teaching the key skills they will need
to develop their careers within the firm and to add value
to the clients they work with in the interim. This service
is usually sponsored by their employers, but we also work
directly with some CAs and CGAs who see the value in investing
in themselves.
By
now you may well have some questions, so let's address the
most frequently asked ones here and now...
A
Different Kind Of Search Firm…
…Dedicated
To Ontario's Public Accounting Firms.
Our
Group of companies is built on “The Seven Foundations”:
1.
Integrity
2. Honesty
3. Reliability
4. Value For Money
5. Responsibility
6. Diligence
7. Client Service
As
such, we have high professional standards in the way we conduct
our business.
Yes,
we know that the recruiting business unfortunately has some
- shall we say 'unethical'? - players in the field, so, let's
get the first question usually asked by clients dealt with:
Q:
"If I use you for my recruiting needs, you're not going
to entice my existing staff away to another client firm are
you?"
No,
we're not. When you become a client of ours, for either search
& selection, merger & acquisition work, or any other
project, you get our total commitment guarantee.
A:
“We will NEVER recruit people away from our clients,
either directly or indirectly. Period."
We
also guarantee NEVER to recruit away an individual we have
placed with you, and been paid a fee for doing so, for the
duration of their employment with you.
The
next question we're usually asked is this:
Q:
"What type of guarantee period do you offer for people
we hire through your firm?"
Glad
you asked. Here's our response:
A:
"The industry standard guarantee period is six months.
We offer a twelve month guarantee with every recruiting project
we undertake. We are also the only firm to offer a money-back
guarantee for retained searches."
Usually
we're asked about our previous experience and recruiting methods:
Q:
"Why should I use you when I have previously used XYZ
Inc in the past?"
Another
great question, let's look at the reasons...
A:
"We ONLY work in the public accounting field, and are
active in the market 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. We're
from public accounting ourselves, and so really do understand
the profession, the marketplace, the challenges you face and,
ultimately, what to look for in candidates with your firm
in mind.
We
have no conflicts of interest - recruiting for industry on
one project and for an accounting firm on the next, and we
don't recruit forklift truck drivers, salespeople or engineers
etc, we ONLY work with CAs, CGAs and CMAs, and ONLY for public
accounting roles.
Our
search methodology is based upon direct approaches to suitable
candidates who meet the criteria we are looking for, and are
not necessarily looking to move firm right now.
These
are often the best candidates. We do not rely on simply posting
an advert and waiting to see what the response is like - you
could do that yourself - but our exposure in the national
and regional professional press (The Bottom Line & CA
Magazine) gives us a high profile in the marketplace, meaning
that candidates usually take our calls."
Then,
we are often asked about pricing:
Q:
"How much is it going to cost to use your services?"
Another
good question. The answer is 'not as much as you might think':
A:
When we started out, we offered a three-tier service, 25%,
20% or 15% of the successful candidate's first year salary.
As we have matured and have a thriving search practice, we
now only offer the one option, 15%.
This
is an exclusive, retained search service (the only way we
work now) whereby you pay a modest registration fee up front to initiate
the project, and the balance only upon successful completion
of the recruiting assignment. The registration fee covers our research
and documentation for the project, but we don't ask for a huge sum up front,
it's more a sign of good faith.
Appointing
us on an exclusive basis and paying a modest retainer is a
sign of good faith on your part, and it secures our lowest
rate of 15% and our total dedication to your project."
Finally,
we are often asked about success rates...
Q:
"What is your track record like, and do you have references
I can check out before I write you a cheque?"
A:
"Our success rate is almost 100% on retained searches.
And yes, we have a long list of highly satisfied clients who
have kindly agreed to provide references should you require
them."
So,
what’s the catch?
There
isn’t one. Honestly.
We look to develop long-term relationships with our clients,
where trust, mutual respect and value-added all play an important
role.
The
retainer provides us with working capital which funds our
initial research into the marketplace for exactly the skills,
the experience and the personality that you require.
Our
understanding of your world, built over 30 years in the Accountancy
profession ourselves, gives us a truly unfair advantage over
any other search firm.
So,
what are you waiting for?
To get your project started today, or if you just want an
informal, confidential discussion, please call our President,
Steve McIntyre-Smith at 905-842-2284.
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