CPA_Practice_Advisor_November_2020 - 21

THE STAFFING & HR ADVISOR

HIRING REMOTELY?
HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

BEFORE 2020, REMOTE hiring was nearly foreign in finance and accounting fields. In-person
interviews and meetings - getting face time - was ingrained in the business culture.

PAUL McDONALD

Senior Executive Director
Robert Half
paul.mcdonald@cpapracticeadvisor.com

Then a global pandemic hit. Firms
that wanted to stay operational had
to shift many aspects of their operations - including recruitment - to
adapt to the new normal. And some did
so with remarkable speed and agility.
Research by global staffing firm Robert
Half reveals more than half (53%) of
organizations have hired new staff
remotely since the pandemic began.
With this trend set to continue at
least in the near-term, hiring managers
in finance and accounting are finding
advantages and fine-tuning the process - and establishing de facto best
practices any company can learn from.

EMBRACING CHANGE
Switching to fully remote hiring may
seem daunting, but there are big
benefits to making the leap:
■ A bigger talent pool - The move to
virtual teams means businesses are
no longer restricted to people in their
geographic region. This opens up
a much wider candidate pool with
access to specialized or hard-to-find
skills across the country - or even
the world.
■ Increased automation - HR tech tools
are helping streamline recruitment,
from evaluating resumes to onboarding. Many firms now use AI-powered
hiring to shortlist candidates, along
with applicant tracking systems to
instantly access candidate info and
share feedback online.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
With these advantages to hiring remotely
also come a few pain points. Here are 11
tips on how to overcome them:
■ Adjust your advertising approach.

With job fairs and networking events
canceled for the foreseeable future,
the nature of advertising open jobs
has changed. Savvy recruiters are
focusing their efforts on social media
platforms, web-based job boards and
online job portals to access finance
and accounting talent.
■ Use specific job titles. You want the
role to sound interesting and dynamic,
but it's best to stick to traditional titles
that candidates will actually type
into search fields. Advertising for an
" Accountancy Wizard " or " Rockstar
Excel Champion " is meaningless
outside your office - and unlikely to
rank well in search results.
■ Include remote-related keywords.
If you want to interview candidates
for a remote-only position, make
your wording cr ystal clear. Use
commonly searched terms, such as
" work at home, " " remote, " " virtual "
and " flexible " to ensure your listing
appears in searches by candidates
looking for remote roles. And be
explicit about what remote and
flexible actually mean. For example,
are employees required to attend
occasional in-person meetings? Can
they implement windowed working
hours when logged in from home?
Will the position eventually change
to being in-office?
■ Be transparent. Being upfront about
what the job involves is even more
vital when the role is remote. As well
as listing desired CPA qualifications,
the job specification should describe
a typical workday and be forthcoming
about any remote-related challenges.
Not only does this set realistic
expectations about the role, but
you're more likely to attract the right
candidates and avoid a deluge of
unsuitable applications.

■ Imagine your ideal candidate. This is
a good place to start when recruiting
for any job, but especially if you won't
be meeting candidates in person. If you
believe a certain personality type would
work best for a remote position, include
that in your listing. To narrow down
your shortlist, ask candidates to take
an online assessment or behavioral test
as part of your initial process.
■ Focus on soft skills. Hiring for a
virtual team means looking beyond
vocational expertise. Candidates
must also have the skills needed to
excel at working remotely. These
might include great communication,
time-management, self-discipline and
accountability. Plus, an analyst who
can't present their data effectively
on-screen or a public accountant
unable to strike a virtual rapport with
clients will struggle to do their job
effectively using remote working tools.
■ Emphasize company culture. Evaluating candidates for the ability to mesh with
and even energize your existing team
can be challenging face to face, let alone
when the interaction is virtual. Start by
identifying your company values, and
translate these ideas into assessments
or interview questions that you can
score candidates on. For instance, if one
of your values is " always be learning, "
ask candidates to tell you what they've
learned professionally over the past year.
■ Offer fair compensation. The hiring
pool may have grown dur ing the
pandemic, but salaries are expected to
remain stable, according to research
from the 2021 Robert Half Salary Guide
(www.roberthalf.com/salary-guide). For
example, despite challenging economic
conditions, CPAs are in high demand
to help firms stay afloat. Organizations
that hope to attract top talent should
expect to pay competitive wages for

NOVEMBER 2020 ■

people with business-critical skills such
as forecasting, analysis and auditing.
■ Consider a trial period. Even once
you've found the right candidate, it's
still hard to know how well they'll
perform on the job. Rather than extending a firm offer, many CFOs and hiring
managers have a policy of offering
contracts or trials of 30-90 days when
hiring remote workers. This should
be long enough to reveal any issues
without negatively affecting morale.
■ Virtual onboarding is vital. Ensure
new hires have access to the equipment and resources they need before
their first day, including accounts,
tools and software. Send a welcome
package, arrange virtual " meet the
team " sessions - with groups and
individual coworkers - and make sure
fresh recruits know that your virtual
door is always open.
■ Stay flexible for the future. Even when
the pandemic subsides, it's likely that
remote hiring will continue to some
extent as companies realize the value of
the widened talent pool and other factors.
And flexibility is key, as well. During
times of uncertainty, firms must be agile
and ready to adapt to a changing business
landscape. Finance leaders are turning to
an adjustable staffing mix of interim and
full-time professionals so they can push
forward with high-priority projects while
meeting routine needs.
Nobody knows how long the pandemic will last or what will happen
next. But firms that have been able to
update their hiring processes, harness
the full potential of their remote workforce and create meaningful, lasting
change can position themselves to
emerge from the crisis more resilient
and competitive than ever. ■

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