What is the Talent Drought within Accountancy?
The UK accounting sector is grappling with a significant talent shortage, with certain regions such as Manchester and Nottingham experiencing a particularly acute crisis, having only two potential applicants for every accounting role. Here at Easy Tiger Executive Search, we can see this crisis stretching down to East Anglia as we have recruited and relocated auditors from other countries ensuring equivalent qualifications. This shortage is partly due to the diminishing appeal of audit roles among younger recruits and changing job seeker priorities, with an increasing emphasis on quality of life and employer values over traditional career paths.
The talent shortage in the UK accounting sector is a pressing issue, but there are strategies firms can adopt to navigate this challenge effectively. Nearly half of UK finance leaders are concerned about the scarcity of accounting talent. Financial vacancies have surged by over 20% from the previous year, leading to increased workloads and recruitment costs.
Approaches accountancy firms are employing to attract and retain talent
- Global Talent Pool
- School Leavers
- Conscious of sustaining a healthy work environment
- Investing into technology to help productivity for staff
- Outsourcing accountancy tasks – Distributing the workload
By adopting these strategies, accounting firms can not only mitigate the talent shortage but also enhance their appeal to potential employees with an efficient working environment.
Why tapping into the Global Talent Pool offers the most effective solution for accountancy firms?
This approach entails an upfront investment that is poised to deliver significant long-term advantages alongside immediate solutions: exploring the global talent pool to identify candidates from countries with qualifications equivalent to those in the UK who are willing to relocate. Although this approach entails upfront costs, incorporating a contractual clause that ensures a commitment from these international hires, coupled with fostering a welcoming and supportive work environment, can yield significant dividends over time. By integrating skilled professionals from abroad, companies can effectively bridge the existing skills gap within their teams, enhancing their capacity to serve a broader client base. This expansion not only facilitates business growth but also leads to increased revenue generation in the long run. The key to success with this approach lies in the careful selection of candidates, ensuring they possess the requisite experience to be immediately effective upon starting (hit the ground running as they say), as a corporate make sure they have a smooth integration into the company culture, and sustained support to ensure their long-term satisfaction and productivity within the firm.
Essential Aspects for hiring from the Global Talent Pool:
- Immediate Impact with Experienced Hires
- Long-Term Advantages
- Fulfilling Immediate and Future Needs
- Commitment and Retention
- Broadening the Talent Pool
- Cultural and Operational Diversity
To Summarise
Tapping into the global talent pool emerges as a comprehensive strategy to address the talent shortage, seamlessly integrating immediate workforce enhancements and long-term growth avenues. This method effectively bridges the current skills gap, laying the groundwork for the firm’s sustainable success and fostering a diverse corporate culture. Other directions that experts recommend consist of; aligning with contemporary job seeker expectations by outsourcing non-core tasks, implementing flexible working conditions, engaging the existing team in the recruitment process, customizing the hiring experience, introducing apprenticeship and mentorship programs, utilizing technology to its fullest potential, and streamlining the application procedure. Furthermore, broadening the recruitment horizon to encompass the international talent market significantly amplifies the firm’s access to skilled professionals, thereby fortifying its position in a competitive landscape.
If you’re facing recruitment challenges in Finance and Accounting, whether you’re looking to hire from abroad or closer to home, feel free to reach out. We’re here to help with your recruitment and relocation needs, so don’t hesitate to get in touch and enlist our services.