Given the increasingly candidate driven market, acute skills shortages will persist and employers will need to continue making competitive offers to secure the best talent.

Here are five tips that will help you hire and secure the best finance candidates.

 

 

1. Build a strong employer brand

As the number of job opportunities increases, candidates have become more selective when deciding which job offer to accept. Besides salary, other factors are becoming increasingly important in the eyes of today’s professionals, including employer branding. More than ever, candidates want to identify with their employer and research a company’s culture and reputation to see if there could be a fit. Developing and maintaining a strong employer brand needs to be a top priority if you want to attract the best talent. However, it is equally important to keep all promises that are made, in order to prevent new joiners from leaving. Some changes will need to be made within your organisation to ensure you are able to deliver a consistent brand message, but having a strong employer brand will not only allow you to attract top talent, it will also increase financial performance and both employee motivation and engagement.

2.    Define a clear path to career progression

Career planning and development is a key employee attraction & retention strategy. For many professionals, career progression is a top motivator to change jobs. Hence, it is important to define a clear career development path in order to retain your current finance team and attract new talent. Establishing a career development plan with your staff will allow them to feel recognised and encourages them to further develop themselves both personally and professionally. Additionally, job rotation programmes can offer employees a more varied and interesting experience.

3.    Promote strategies to encourage a good work-life balance

The freedom to work remotely and flexibly is a key priority for the majority of finance professionals. As part of building a strong employer brand, paying attention to staff’s health and wellbeing in the workplace is essential. Health and wellbeing issues could motivate employees to start looking for a new job, take more time off work and perform poorly. Organisations promoting a good work-life balance and well-being programmes during the recruitment process will differentiate themselves from other employers and more easily attract and retain top talent.

4. Consider professionals with transferable skills

In order to face acute skills shortages, employers will need to take a flexible approach, considering professionals with transferable skills to fill business-critical roles. Candidates lacking experience in your sector should not be turned down as many skills such as being able to communicate effectively, showing initiative, creativity and integrity are valuable and transferable skills across all industries. Rather than just looking at previous proven experiences, it is vital to read a CV between the lines and look at candidates’ full potential.

5. Run a fast and efficient hiring process

Given the acute candidate shortage, employers will also need to focus on operating fast and efficient hiring processes,  move quickly and make an offer when a desirable candidate becomes available. Working with a fast hiring process reduces the risk of losing top candidates with multiple job offers, bolsters your employer brand and allows you to reach full productivity of the role sooner, which will be highly appreciated by team members.

 

For more hiring trends and salary evolutions, request free access to the Robert Walters Salary Survey.