Recruiting Talent From Alternative Sources

The accounting and finance hiring process has followed the same model for decades, leaning heavily on college career fairs to recruit new graduates. But with a declining number of accounting majors in recent years, some organizations have started looking for more creative avenues to fill empty positions.

“We continue to have such a need for talent in the accounting profession,” notes Meghann Cefaratti, Ph.D., CIA, CRMA, Deloitte Foundation Professor of Accountancy at Northern Illinois University.

She suggests that non-traditional candidate pools may be the answer to the profession’s hiring challenges: “There’s a growing recognition of the benefits that come from hiring individuals from diverse experiences and backgrounds. We can see how they complement groups.”

Here, accounting and finance professionals offer insight into three alternative recruitment sources and explain why they may be the key to fulfilling your talent needs.

RELYING ON RETIREES

One month after retiring from Wipfli, Allen Bolnick, CPA, co-founder of Bolnick Tax Group LLC, realized he didn’t actually want to golf every day. He approached his son with a business proposition: launching an individual income tax practice.

Bolnick knew he had the experience to set up a tax practice. The challenge, however, was finding the right people to do the work. He decided on an unconventional approach: employing other retired firm partners who also weren’t ready to stop working entirely.

“A lot of people are being forced to retire at 62, 65, or 70,” Bolnick says. “But some of them still want to be in the game—not for the money, but because they enjoy it.”

Bolnick reached out to all the retired, or about to be retired, partners he knew with an offer: choose your clients, set your own hours, and get paid based on a model acceptable to you. “The idea was that they’d always have some work to do, a platform to do it on without spending their own money, and they could work at their leisure.”

His staffing concept was a hit. Now in its fourth year, the firm has doubled the number of tax returns it handles every year, and Bolnick’s remote team charges through busy season with everyone operating from their favorite warm weather retirement locales. As an added benefit, these retirees bring a specialized knowledge base to the table, and they’re willing to share it, mentoring younger certified public accountants (CPAs) and others new to tax preparation.

Though, Bolnick doesn’t limit his potential recruits to retirees. In addition to experienced stay-at-home CPA parents who would like to return to the workforce, Bolnick says the firm also welcomes non-accountants without any tax experience: “We’ll invest in training opportunities for the right people.”

Bolnick says this staffing model succeeds because everyone is working by choice and from where they want to be. Although there can be challenges with finding enough administrative team members to manage the workflow, which rolls en masse during the tax filing season, so far, he calls the “problem” manageable, and the firm continues to accept new clients.

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SECOND CHANCE HIRING

In 2013, Jeffrey Korzenik, chief economist for Fifth Third Bank, took a deep dive into the looming global labor shortage to find out what was driving it and how to address it.

“Our labor force participation rate was falling dramatically,” he says. “I knew we had to look at all options to find solutions.”

Korzenik discovered that many organizations were realizing success from an unlikely recruitment source: employing individuals with criminal records.

Nearly 80 million Americans, or about one-third of the total adult population in the United States, are living with some kind of criminal record. For more than 19 million Americans, that conviction has led to a felony on their permanent record.

“It represents an enormously underutilized labor resource,” Korzenik wrote in his 2021 book, “Untapped Talent.”

“Initially, people assumed I was talking about a social justice crusade,” he says. “But this was a business proposition—a practical matter.”

Those critical of Korzenik’s book and overall recruitment concept turned into believers once they heard him present his case in person. For example, while he was speaking to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, one economist noted how audience members started off listening to his speech with their arms crossed, but by the time Korzenik finished, attendees were leaning forward in their seats. “You could read their body language. They understood this is an economic opportunity,” Korzenik says.

The key to hiring from this population is understanding that criminal records come in all shapes and sizes. “Young people don’t always have the guardrails of parents and families, and they make mistakes. Most criminal records are acquired when someone was young,” Korzenik stresses. “If someone was in possession of marijuana 30 years ago, it shouldn’t stand in the way of licensing today.”

Korzenik doesn’t discount the importance of licensing regulatory authorities and appropriate restrictions. For instance, if financial fraud is involved, common sense dictates that an individual might not be a good fit for certain roles. But he notes that someone who had a DUI or a minor drug conviction many decades ago shouldn’t be automatically excluded from a second chance.

Overall, Korzenik says the number-one reason to consider second chance hiring is to help meet the goal of hiring the best person for a job—and he stresses that people who’ve made mistakes, reflected on those mistakes, and have intentionally chosen to live a positive life of contribution and meaning, tend to be great employees.

He also notes that individuals with criminal records tend to be very driven and exhibit higher levels of retention and engagement: “They’re determined to prove they’re more than their own worst mistake—grit and resiliency define this group.”

Korzenik emphasizes that second chance hiring requires some time investment from employers, as these candidates might need a little extra help filling in skills gaps: “Typically, this population hasn’t had role models or coaching. They’re often missing soft skills and knowledge that those with traditional family and education backgrounds take for granted.”

Yet, despite the extra commitment, Korzenik asserts the process is worth it: “They’re people who haven’t had the opportunity to learn, and they’re eager to. They’re highly coachable, but employers need to invest in the process. These aren’t cookie-cutter employees.”

As such, Korzenik offers some tips for organizations interested in second chance hiring:

• Educate yourself on what’s possible with second chance hiring.
• Find and reach out to employers who are known for hiring second-chance candidates.
• Seek out nonprofit organizations that help individuals transition to reentry.
• Reach out to local probation and parole officers to make connections. “Communicate with them as a potential partner,” he says. “Ask if they can help find the talent you need. Remember, this is a business proposition. Make sure you’re on the same page for what success looks like.”
• Review and remove barriers in your hiring process. If your policy states you’ll “never” hire anyone with a criminal record, it might be too restrictive and be preventing you from connecting with qualified candidates.

Some businesses are already on board. Nearly 10% of JPMorganChase’s U.S. hires over the past five years had a prior record with no bearing on their roles.

Ultimately, whether people know it or not, Korzenik says many of us are interacting with people who have criminal records every day: “They’re our neighbors, firefighters, mechanics, medical assistants, and even our doctors. We can hire these people in an intelligent and thoughtful way.”

MILITARY VETERANS: A WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE

Bank of America (BofA) has been developing a stream of qualified candidates through its Military Acquisitions Team led by Lindsey Streeter, senior vice president of Global Military Affairs.

A U.S. military veteran himself, Streeter retired from his 31-year career in the Army as a highly decorated command sergeant major. He landed at BofA after a friend suggested the bank would be a good fit.

Streeter says vets bring valuable skill sets to civilian roles, including discipline, leadership, teamwork, problem solving, and an ability to think globally and act locally: “It makes them great candidates for many roles.”

Teamwork, Streeter says, is particularly valued: “The military’s collaborative thought process cascades down. When we lift them [veterans] into our ranks, it’s a natural fit.”

BofA’s support for its veteran employees doesn’t end with job placement. Additional services include specialized onboarding and mentoring with a tenured veteran, development programs to identify emerging talent and advancement opportunities, support for spouses and partners, and confidential counseling.

Streeter notes that being “veteran friendly” and open to hiring vets doesn’t automatically translate to being “veteran ready.” There are some considerations if you want to attract—and keep—these valuable candidates. “You may have a teammate in the National Guard or Reserves who may be called up,” Streeter points out. “What are you going to do as a company to support that?”

He also emphasizes the importance of the onboarding process for these candidates, as going from the military to the office may be a learning curve for some individuals: “It may be as simple as helping them know what to wear to the office because they’ve been wearing a uniform every day.”

To fill their veteran talent pipeline, BofA partners with national organizations, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Hiring Our Heroes. They also recruit from military installations where military personnel have the skill sets the bank is seeking.

HONORING DIFFERENT CAREER PATHS AND EXPERIENCES

Cefaratti says it’s important for accounting and finance teams considering recruiting from alternative sources to know that they’ll likely encounter candidates who don’t have a traditional education. Some may not have a high school diploma or college degree, creating an opportunity for organizations to help candidates qualify for a job through the education or certification process. “They can still contribute in their role,” Cefaratti adds.

Streeter encourages hiring managers to look beyond the hard skills and instead look for the capacity to develop those skills. “Gauge their capacity for a role,” Streeter says. “With military veterans, for instance, you’re getting an individual who’ll beat everyone to work and stay until the end—those qualities can’t be captured on a resume.”

When Korzenik presents second chance hiring as just one of the many opportunities to expand the nation’s labor pool, he knows it can be a big reach for organizations. The good news is, if you can figure out how to work with someone’s criminal record, figuring out all of the other areas of opportunity will be a cakewalk. As he stresses, “Whether it’s older workers reentering the workforce, parents returning after raising children, refugees, asylum seekers, or English as a second language learners—the accounting profession needs all of these talent pools.”

Related Content:

• Benchmarking Your Benefits: The Key to Recruiting and Retaining Accounting Talent: Several trending workplace behaviors are forcing accounting firms to rethink their employee benefits packages. Here’s how firm leaders can benchmark their offerings and give employees what they truly want.
• Flipping the Script: How CPAs Can Rewrite the Profession’s Story: While an accounting career can lead to exciting, rewarding work, too often the profession’s negatives get highlighted. Here’s how CPAs change the narrative and tell a better story to support the talent pipeline.