Hiring and retaining the best finance talent isn’t easy these days. Companies are facing countless challenges, from evolving candidate expectations to skill shortages.
If you want to attract the right people to your company, expedite the hiring journey, and save time and money, you need the right strategy. The good news is that implementing simple strategies to refine and improve your recruitment process pays off.
You’ll be able to more rapidly and effectively hire specialists who can improve your company’s financial health, help you avoid compliance issues, and boost productivity.
Here, we’ll share our top tips for improving the recruiting process based on our experience helping companies fill the gaps in their finance teams.
1. Understand Your Needs First
It’s surprising how many business leaders dive into the recruitment process without clearly outlining what they need from a candidate first. Even if you’re replacing a lost employee, you may need your new candidate to possess new skills and capabilities.
For instance, Gartner predicts that 80% of large enterprise finance teams will rely on AI by 2026, so hiring an employee with technical skills now could pay off. Examine your current team carefully and consider your new hire’s responsibilities.
When assessing skills and qualifications, ask yourself what you want to achieve now and in the future. Consider carefully which qualifications are critical and which your employees might be able to earn as they work for your business.
Additionally, think carefully about the current diversity of your team. Hiring people from different backgrounds with unique skill sets can boost your company’s performance, enhance creative problem-solving, and improve your employer brand.
2. Enhance Your Job Descriptions and Show Benefits
Once you understand your finance team’s needs, the next step is creating high-quality job descriptions that convey the right information to your potential candidates. Don’t just post a list of requirements on a job board; provide candidates with as much information as possible.
Write job descriptions that clearly outline the role’s responsibilities, qualifications, and skills team members need to thrive. Focus on the most crucial certifications, skills and abilities rather than “nice to have” requirements that could drive applicants away.
Avoid using biased language in descriptions, such as “young go-getter,” and avoid complex industry jargon. Keep your descriptions simple, clear, and inclusive.
In your job description, draw attention to the benefits of working for your company. Highlight your inclusive, diverse, and equitable company culture. Describe the unique employee value proposition you’re going to offer candidates. Use salary benchmarking to ensure your remuneration aligns with the current market.
Find ways to improve your offer with non-monetary perks and benefits, like career development opportunities, flexible work to enhance work-life balance and wellness programs.
3. Use Multiple Recruitment Channels
The more channels you embrace, the easier it is to find a wide range of candidates and diverse team members.
Social media is an excellent tool for expanding your reach. Around 98% of recruiters use channels like LinkedIn, Twitter (X), and Facebook to find skilled professionals. LinkedIn even offers advanced search functionalities and the ability to connect with passive candidates.
Alongside social media, experiment with:
- Recruitment agencies: Recruitment agencies like ourselves at Rebus Recruitment can help connect your company with passive candidates and various other sources of talent. They can help you expand your talent pool and diversify your team.
- Niche job boards: Niche job boards focused on the finance industry can capture the attention of people with specific financial skills.
- Events: Job fairs, networking events, and seminars are a great way to interact with candidates face-to-face and virtually. 4. Leverage Employee Referrals
4. Optimise Your Employer Branding
Employer branding has become increasingly important in a skills-short finance landscape. Today’s candidates can learn everything they need about a company, its culture, and its values by searching for information online.
You can optimise your employer branding by:
- Identifying your Employee Value Proposition: Define what you offer your team members in exchange for their expertise and talent. Do you provide amazing work-life balance, fantastic development opportunities, or unique benefits?
- Get your current team members involved: Ask your staff to help you showcase your company’s culture and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Share their success stories and provide insights into team-building exercises on your website and social pages.
- Promote your brand: Constantly look for ways to promote your employer brand on different channels, from LinkedIn and other social media channels to your website. Show evidence of how you deliver an amazing employee experience.
6. Streamline the Screening and Selection Process
Efficiency and speed are essential to attracting and hiring the right finance employees before they find opportunities elsewhere. Look for ways to streamline how you assess and screen candidates before inviting them to an interview.
Start by developing a structured and repeatable talent assessment process; your recruitment partner can help with this.
Identify the kind of tests you’ll use, such as psychometric or aptitude tests, to identify the right candidates. Identify intuitive behavioural questions for interviews, and figure out how you’ll score each answer in advance. Leverage technical assessments to determine how candidates will apply their knowledge to real-world financial scenarios, like assessing and creating budgets.
Remember to think carefully about cultural fit or culture “add” too. How will you assess candidates’ personality traits to ensure they thrive in your team?
7. Consider your Onboarding and Retention Strategies
An effective approach to talent acquisition relies on more than just attracting the right candidates. You must ensure you can retain the people you bring into your team. The first way to boost your chances of retention is to offer an excellent candidate experience.
Throughout the hiring process, keep your candidates informed and updated about your decisions and make it easy for them to ask questions. Once you hire an employee, design a comprehensive onboarding program, identifying how you’ll help immerse them into the company culture, give them access to crucial technology and resources, and help them excel in their role.
From there, think about how you’ll deliver an excellent ongoing employee experience by:
- Developing employees: Provide access to continuous training and development opportunities, such as courses, mentorship programs, and workshops.
- Ensuring work-life balance: Create a supportive and flexible work environment to reduce the risk of burnout and improve employee satisfaction.
- Preserving company culture: Focus on building an inclusive company culture where everyone feels supported and respected.
Transform The Talent Acquisition Process
Talent acquisition can be challenging, particularly in a competitive and skills-short environment like finance. However, with the steps above, you’ll have everything you need to attract more talent to your team, boost your chances of delivering an excellent candidate experience, and retain staff.
If you’re struggling to see the right results, the best option is to seek the assistance of a finance recruitment company. Your recruitment company can help with everything from offering insight into market trends and dynamics to streamlining the screening and interviewing process.
At Rebus Recruitment, we can even help you develop a talent pipeline to ensure you constantly have access to the candidates you need when gaps form in your team.
Contact us to find out how we can optimise your talent acquisition strategy.
Thanks
Rachel
MD Rebus Recruitment
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, ranging from various organisations, including SMEs, to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we understand employer and employee needs and match them perfectly.
To learn more, contact one of our team members today or call us at 01282 930930.
