Hardest Roles to Fill for Accounting & Finance (and How to Fill Them)

The accounting and financial service industry has long been recognized as an area of cutthroat competition, high stakes, and, often, high rewards. It follows that the roles within this sector carry a significant demand for specialized skills and extensive qualifications. For finance recruiters and hiring managers, identifying and filling these pivotal finance jobs presents a unique set of challenges.

This comprehensive guide will explore the complexities of talent acquisition within the professional services sector by identifying the toughest positions to fill, deep-diving into the contributing factors, and offering a toolbox of strategies to tackle this issue head-on. We'll also evaluate the role of AI and talent acquisition software in the modern recruitment landscape, and explore how specific tools such as hireEZ can revolutionize the approach to these critical hires.

Identifying the Hardest Roles in Accounting and Finance Staffing

Accounting and finance industry roles vary widely, but certain positions are consistently harder to fill due to a combination of specialized skill sets, stringent regulatory environments, and competitive market conditions. Roles such as Financial Analyst, Risk Manager, and Accountant are some of the hardest roles to fill in accounting and finance.

These positions require a candidate with a blend of financial expertise, analytical thinking, and strategic foresight. Risk Managers, for instance, need to be astute in identifying potential risks and opportunities, often requiring a deep understanding of market conditions and regulatory frameworks.

The nuanced requirements of these roles mean that qualified candidates are a rare find, creating a bottleneck in the recruiting pipeline. And the inability to fill these critical roles has even had real-world impacts on company financial statements.

Factors Contributing to Difficulty

Specialized Skill Requirements

In accounting and financial services, success is closely tied to expertise. Technical proficiency, industry certifications, and a thorough understanding of legal and financial principles are non-negotiables for many accounting and financial service roles. The high entry barriers can significantly reduce the pool of qualified candidates, making it challenging to find a job seeker who checks all the boxes.

Market Competition

Top talent in corporate accounting and finance recruiting is a hot commodity, with leading firms vying for the same select few qualified candidates. This level of competition can lead to bidding wars and fierce retention strategies, ultimately making it difficult for smaller or less established organizations to attract a prospective job seeker.

Evolving Regulatory Landscape

The corporate accounting and financial services sector is one of the most heavily regulated, and with good reason. The post-2008 financial crisis environment has seen an uptick in regulations, particularly in risk management and compliance. This fast-paced regulatory landscape can leave even seasoned finance professionals trailing, and only those willing to stay abreast of the changes will thrive.

Difficult or Lacking Tools/Technology for Finance Recruiting

Historically, finance recruiters within the accounting and financial services industry have faced the dual challenge of outdated hiring practices and antiquated technology. This not only hampers their ability to source qualified candidates efficiently but also makes the hiring process less attractive to a job seeker. A modern finance recruiter needs modern tools to excel in the finance recruiting arena.

Strategies for Successful Hiring

Leveraging Niche Job Boards

Specialized job boards for finance jobs and accounting jobs cater to a very specific audience, providing greater access to finance professionals in the roles that most need to be filled. By targeting platforms that specialize in finance jobs like eFinancialCareers, a finance recruiter can tailor their messages to resonate with a more receptive and relevant candidate pool.

Building Strong Employer Branding

In a competitive market, your brand as an employer is a significant driver in talent attraction. In fact, 75% of job seekers consider an employer's brand before even applying for a job. Highlighting company culture, growth opportunities, and employee success stories can make your organization stand out as a desirable place to work, attracting passive talent in the process.

Offering Competitive Compensation Packages

Salaries and benefits are powerful enticements, particularly in the corporate accounting and financial services sector. Tailoring compensation packages to the preferences of a potential direct hire and acknowledging the value of their expertise can be a game-changer in a tough market for finance recruiting. Gain essential accounting and financial service industry insights with EZ Insights in hireEZ.

Developing Talent Pipelines Through Internships and Training Programs

By engaging with students and recent graduates, finance recruiters can create a steady stream of potential candidates who are already familiar with the organization. Internship and training programs can serve as extended interviews, providing hands-on experience while also marketing the company to a future job seeker.

Investing in Talent Acquisition Software

The best talent acquisition software can make a significant difference in the financial services sector. AI-driven platforms such as hireEZ can streamline sourcing, candidate engagement, and data analysis, taking the grunt work out of finance recruiting and allowing hiring teams to focus on relationship-building and making strategic hires.

What is Talent Acquisition Software for the Corporate Accounting and Financial Services Industry?

Talent acquisition software, or recruiting software, has evolved to be an indispensable tool for finance recruiters, particularly in high-stakes industries like corporate finance. Modern platforms integrate AI, machine learning, and advanced algorithms to identify, engage, and nurture top talent.

Brief Overview of Talent Acquisition Software

Recruitment software for finance is a suite of recruitment tools designed to streamline the hiring process, from sourcing to onboarding, while providing actionable insights and automation that enhance recruiter productivity and the candidate experience.

Introducing hireEZ's Next-Gen Recruitment CRM

hireEZ presents a next-gen recruitment CRM tailored to recruiters' needs in the accounting and financial service industry. With cutting-edge features in sourcing, analytics, and automation, hireEZ is designed to be the finance recruiter's best friend, guiding them through the intricate hiring process that comes with the territory.

What are Some Features of hireEZ That Help Finance Recruiters Fill Hard-to-Fill Roles?

hireEZ equips finance recruiters with a variety of candidate sourcing tools and talent intelligence features specifically designed to address the challenges of filling difficult roles.

Campaigns: AI-Assisted Auto-Generated Email Campaigns

hireEZ's Campaigns feature uses AI to generate engaging personalized email campaigns that resonate with the right candidates. It streamlines the outreach process, ensuring that a job seeker is not left waiting in the recruitment purgatory of unopened emails and missed connections.

Applicant Match: Identifying The Right Candidate

With its advanced applicant matching capabilities, hireEZ helps finance recruiters quickly identify qualified candidates for hard-to-fill roles. By cutting through the noise, Applicant Match narrows the field to those most likely to succeed in the position.

Strategy Hub: Your Window Into Recruitment Performance

In an industry where metrics can be the difference between a fill and a flop, hireEZ's Strategy Hub provides comprehensive insights into your recruitment strategy's effectiveness. Understand the ROI of your recruiting process with meaningful data at every stage.

Candidate Profiles: The Story of a Talent Journey

Candidate Profiles on hireEZ tell the story of a job seeker's talent journey with your organization, allowing for deeper engagement and personalized communication that can tip the scales in your favor.

Talent Pools: Categorize and Nurture Relationships

Creating a talent pool within hireEZ allows finance recruiters to cluster candidates into groupings that make sense for them and nurture those relationships over time. It's a strategic play that ensures you always have a pipeline of qualified candidates ready to fill future roles.

Projects: Sync Work Across Your Team

Projects sync all activities from your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and offer an overview of your recruiting process, highlighting projects needing attention and ensuring that everyone is working toward the common goal of filling every finance position.

How to Measure Talent Acquisition Software ROI in the Accounting & Financial Services Industry?

Metrics That Matter

In the accounting and finance industry, measuring the ROI of your recruitment software can be challenging. Specific metrics like candidate engagement, time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, quality of hire, and more serve as barometers for software effectiveness. Understanding and improving these KPIs can unlock significant ROI potential.

• Candidate Engagement

  : Track the level of engagement with candidates, including the frequency and duration of interactions. This can include email opens, click-through rates, and responses to outreach.

• Time-to-Fill

  : Monitor the time it takes to fill open positions from the initial identification of a candidate to the final hiring decision. A well-implemented talent acquisition software can streamline processes, reducing time-to-fill.

• Cost-per-Hire

  : Evaluate the overall cost associated with hiring, including recruitment marketing expenses, technology costs, and time spent by recruiters. Talent acquisition software should contribute to cost-effectiveness in the hiring process.

• Quality of Hire

  : Evaluate the performance and fit of candidates hired through the talent acquisition software. Assess metrics such as onboarding success, job performance, and retention rates to determine the quality of hires.

Real-World Examples

For a finance firm, the proof is in the placements. Real-world examples of how software has directly led to successful hires and improved talent pipelines can demonstrate the tangible benefits of your investment in talent acquisition technology.

Consider these examples of how hireEZ helps companies improve the quality of their candidates and reduce time-to-fill for hard-to-fill roles:

Amtec Inc.: Increasing Placement Fees and Quality Candidates

Amtec Inc., a staffing agency, sought to improve its sourcing for high-quality candidates across various roles. With hireEZ, they found 80% more high-quality candidates and increased their placement fees by 28%, a testament to the platform's effectiveness in finding the best talent for hard-to-fill roles.

WilsonHCG: Building Talent Pipelines in Banking, Finance, Insurance, and Sales (BFIS)

To address the issues of rising requisition loads and shrinking resources, WilsonHCG partnered with hireEZ to triple candidate response rates, strengthen market research effectiveness, and reduce tool spend while helping some of the world's most admired brands build comprehensive talent acquisition functions in the BFIS industry. Using hireEZ's automated email sequences, the WilsonHCG team was able to triple candidate responses using sequence emails.

Visa: Leveraging EZ Insights to Lead In Diversity Recruitment

Visa utilized hireEZ's EZ Insights to develop talent strategies aimed at diversity recruiting. EZ Insights helped Visa's talent acquisition team create engagement strategies tailored to their specific diversity objectives, enhancing their efforts and solidifying EZ Insights as a leader in fostering inclusion and diversity in recruitment.

Will AI Replace Finance Recruiters?

The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) for recruiting has been met with varying degrees of trepidation, especially in an industry where the human element is pivotal. While artificial intelligence is transforming the process, it will not replace the need for human intuition, relationship-building, and strategy. In professional services, where personal and professional risk is part of everyday life, the role of the human recruiter remains an essential part of the equation.

Navigating the treacherous waters of finance recruiting requires agility, foresight, and the right tools for the job. The strategies outlined, complemented by the powerful capabilities of talent acquisition software like hireEZ, can significantly enhance a hiring team's ability to not only fill these hard-to-fill finance jobs but to do so with the precision and success that defines the professional services industry.

By investing in technology that supports proactive and strategic talent acquisition, finance recruiters can break through the barriers that once stood in the way of achieving their recruitment goals. Remember: the success of your organization is intertwined with the talent you bring in, and in the dynamic world of corporate finance, that talent is priceless. Find priceless talent with hireEZ.