4 Ways to Build Your Talent Pipeline

In 2 short months, young and energetic students will be back in school and recruiting season will be back in full swing for many accounting firms.

It’s no secret that we have a people crisis in the accounting profession. Accounting Today recently published an article that hiring demand for accounting graduates is at a record high. The AICPA released it’s 2013 Trends in Supply of Accounting Graduates and Demand for Public Accounting Recruits. Every firm I speak with is looking for people, both experienced and entry-level.

Even with the people crisis, I talk to many firms who aren’t doing much to recruit and most firms don’t have a strong pipeline of potential candidates. In order to compete effectively and position themselves for continued growth and opportunity, firms must begin to take a more proactive effort in building their talent pipeline. Here are 4 ways to build your pipeline.

1. Build awareness. Just like with your business, you have to build awareness for your firms as an employer. Many firms only recruit when they have an open position. But, you should be ‘recruiting’ continuously, even if you don’t have an open position to fill. That means building a consistent presence at preferred universities, networking with your peers, and utilizing online resources and profiles, like LinkedIn, to build your presence.
2. Build a ‘prospect’ list of candidates. It’s difficult to fill a position when you don’t have people to market it too. You should develop permission-based candidate lists to promote opportunities to. LinkedIn is a great resource for obtaining permission (connecting) and then having a medium to market opportunities (messaging). You can also do this manually or through your email system.
3. Get social. Today’s job seekers spend a lot of time online and so should you. Building awareness and getting your opportunities filled is about having maximum visibility. Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook all play an important role in building awareness. They can also help you easily stay connected with potential candidates.
4. Break boundaries. Most firms make the mistake of staying local, but there are a lot of candidates considering a relocation who may never know about your opportunity if you stay local. College Frog, a specialty job site for accounting jobs, matches students with small and mid-size accounting firms all over the US based on the students location preference.