DO YOU REALLY NEED TO TICK ALL THE BOXES?

What has been the best hiring decision that you’ve made in your career?

With a great end to 2017 and an exciting beginning to the new year it seem that businesses in the local market are recruiting at the fastest rate we seen for a long time.

It’s no secret that carving out a high-flying career in accountancy and finance hinges on more than just good grades. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re an executive with decades of experience, can you recall what led you to this career choice? In today’s fast-evolving workplace, accounting and finance professionals must demonstrate everything from razor-sharp analytical ability and stellar interpersonal skills to a sharp understanding of international accounting standards. So, how do you know whether your resume will reach the top of the pile or it’s destined for the recycling bin?

Here at The Acquire Group we will continue to invest as much time as necessary in securing the right talent for our clients. That said it’s still disappointing to see that some companies (they will remain nameless) see the recruitment process as a black and white process, where any successful candidate must tick all of the boxes and where little value is seen in approaching things in any other way. On the other hand, thankfully there are a growing number of companies within the market who can see that value isn’t just black and white. Our approach has always been to help educate our clients on the market and how it is important to look past the facts and focus on the individual, their personality and what they can bring to the role.

EXPERIENCE VS CULTURE FIT

Do we still need to focus so much on formal qualifications?

Working in a global market we are now seeing record numbers of university graduates coming away with top degrees, but do academic qualifications really mean that it’s they are the best person for the job? Obviously having a great degree illustrates a certain level of dedication and an ability to assimilate information but does it really add true value in the workplace? Having a degree may give someone a theoretical understanding of something or the ability to analyse data and some research has indicated that candidates with a degree can learn new processes and technologies quicker and more in depth than those without a degree but in my opinion a lot of companies have “policies” or “hiring managers: who simply get blinded by where a candidate was educated. You need to look beyond this and see the bigger picture – take a risk, what’s the worst that could happen?!

In some industries, sparkling talent combined with real-world experience and the comic timing of Robin Williams can often be enough to land your dream job! But a career in finance and accounting, a sector ruled by rigorous processes and standards as well as commercial best practices, a glowing resume simply isn’t enough. According to recent research, about half of all employers expect accounting and finance hires to hold a formal accounting qualification. Unfortunately far too often that means your education is at least as important as your expertise when securing a job in this industry.

CULTURE CLUB

I’m throwing it out there but i stand by every word when i say that cultural fit should be the biggest factor in all recruitment decisions. A candidate with a strong cultural fit is more likely to work well with other successful employees and stay on long-term. If you can tick the “smarts” box as well as the “fit” box then everything else from a technical nature can be taught on the job. We all spend a lot of time working whether in the office or remotely and with that it is paramount that you employ someone who will fit in with the existing team and be interested in being a friend as well as a colleague. It’s a fact that if you hire someone who is a bad cultural fit, the chances are they will be more likely to leave your company for another opportunity that is more aligned with their own values.

How Do You Assess Cultural Fit?

Some simple questions:

• What gets you out of bed in the morning?
• How would your parents describe you?
• If you were given a magic wand, what job would you do?
• What type environment do you thrive in?
• What does your ideal work day look like?
• Tell me something I don’t already know about you?
• What will be your legacy when you leave your current job?
• Who was your best boss?

So which one wins?

It’s true to say that many recruiters and hiring managers will judge qualifications and experience when making the decision to interview. However, once through the interview room door the highest amount of value should be placed on cultural fit which can only be demonstrated properly face to face during the interview process. Every single time when faced with two candidates who have similar experience and qualifications, the person who will fit in with the existing team will have the edge.

HUNTING PERFECTION

The problem with “perfection” is, other than not actually existing, it tends to look better on paper (how many times have you been disappointed when you meet a candidate in person after being impressed by their CV?). I think it’s true to say, from my experience, that the people with whom we have the best relationships in our lives are not perfect and it’s their particular quirks that make us love (and want to work with) them.

Within the restraints of the wonderful world of accounting and finance, there are times when of course the candidate should be qualified. But sometimes (role dependant) there should be a little leeway in interpreting what that actually means in relation to the role, the team and the wider business and its needs.

As a leader and a hiring manager, it is critically important to be honest with yourself about what pre-existing skills and experience the role actually needs and which can be developed on the job (after all, you’re going to hire someone smart and savvy, right?). Time after time so many managers will set out on their hiring journey in an attempt to tick off all the boxes on a huge list of skills and qualifications and it is this approach that more often than not will eliminate the best candidates, the ones that you want – the ones with the right attitude and the right fit.

My advice to any hiring manager out there is that personality determines success.

Recruitment is like dating, having a “great personality” isn’t a euphemism for someone being a loser, it actually winds up being more important than how attractive a candidate is on paper.

Basically, some CVs look less flawless than others but these flawed “drifters” might actually turn out to be the stronger candidates in the long run. Many of the world’s top entrepreneurs (Steve Jobs) have seemingly erratic (or at least non-traditional) profiles. You’ll never know whether you might be passing on a Jobs, someone who didn’t go to the right school and has an unusual work history, unless you interview them.

Obviously with the specialisation of some accounting and finance roles, technical knowhow is important and you’ll want to hire a candidate who has some runs on the board. But how important is it that they’ve done this in the same or similar industry? Surely if a candidate has the smarts they will be able to pick up their core trade and navigate the nuances.

THE “DRIFTER” AKA THE MILLENNIAL

Imagine the scene, you’re reviewing the CVs in your inbox and you find a great candidate, they tick all the boxes except for one – the number of jobs they have bounced through as each  each year they’ve tried something new. Is it time to think a little differently, should we stop looking at job hopping as a negative and think of it as a positive?

There’s no denying the stigma around a job hopper but is it worth taking the risk? In days gone by employers valued a working person’s tenure with a single employer and back then, it was a huge advantage to stay put and build a career around internal goodwill. When I think about my parents for example, my Dad started his career at in local government and stayed there until he recently retired some 40+ years later. I think the older generation always thought of the future and their big superannuation funds (or pensions in my Dad’s case), but there have been drastic employment changes in the last 40 years and the new generation tend to live more on impulse. This may be down to the fact that it is now more acceptable to move jobs regularly to “get ahead” in the employment stakes.This is especially true of the millennial generation who are also the ones most influenced by the constant technological shifts in today’s economy.

Baby Boomers and Generation X are now in more senior management position, doing the hiring and job hoppers break the traditional convention of one employer. But younger generations perceive switching jobs entirely differently; they look at it as broadening horizons and furthering themselves, only much faster than working their way up one company’s overcrowded ladder. Generation Y, those born in the late 1980s and 1990s now account for a massive percentage of the workforce and are considered as the inventors of job hopping. With monetary gains of up to 15% per job move, it makes sense as to why there’s a job-hopping movement (after all Sydney property prices aren’t getting any cheaper!). While they still pose as an investment threat, think about what can you take from the 1-2 years of them being part of your team. Well, they have the potential to breathe fresh air into businesses, a must have for competitive businesses in today’s economy, especially start-ups and SMEs. Changing jobs is a healthy process to go through and quite often stressful, so it can serve as an example of a candidate’s drive and ability to take control of their own career. As an employer it’s up to you to ask them honestly why they’ve moved around so much. When interviewing them, you can probably tell if they’re embellishing what really happened and if there is a conclusive pattern there.

To wrap this Viewpoint up I would advise all hiring managers to move with the times and accept that young people aren’t like previous generations. Forget the phrase ‘we’ve always done it this way’. After all a “drifter” might be just what you and your team need to kickstart the new year and smash those goals. As i said earlier, take a risk what’s the worst that could happen!