you’re competing with the world these days.
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with richard rothstein
in this interview, richard rothstein, founder of rothstein consulting, speaks with josh fisher of district partners, about what recruiting looks like for accounting firms in 2021, and how covid has affected things.
fisher says job hunters are looking out for themselves more and have more opportunities as remote work is allowing them to work for larger firms that previously wouldn’t have been able to reach into their communities.
he also tells us about how important the technology arms race is becoming to finding the right talent for your positions.
rough transcript
richard rothstein
welcome to this week’s segment talking about recruiting in accounting firms. and today, i am talking to josh fisher of district partners. josh, again, doesn’t run an accounting firm, but he does help accountants and accounting firms with their recruiting. so a very valuable viewpoint from a little different angle again, as far as what the marketplace looks like. so really great to have josh, thank you so much, josh. it’s great having you today.
could you tell me for starters, could you talk just a little bit about what you guys do at district partners?
josh fisher
yes, district partners is a specialized finance and accounting recruiting firm, we do cast a wide net on a national basis helping a lot of our clients fall under the finance and accounting umbrella, which encompasses a lot of public accounting firms audit tax, advisory, transaction advisory, as well as basically anything underneath that umbrella. we do specialize in public and industry. and so anything under that would be something we’d like to help.
richard rothstein
all right, great. well, how were you guys handling recruiting for your clients before covid?
josh fisherbefore covid, we were having a lot of success, i think we still are, i think a lot of firms are noticing that it’s just becoming more and more difficult to attract good talent. and then noticing that a lot of their candidates are looking for a little more flexibility than they were pre covid, in which it’s made it more difficult to find good talent. i think the the silver lining, though, in this is that it’s allowed candidates and not be from a demographic standpoint, they don’t have to be local to where the firm is operating in which a lot of candidates are, finding that they can latch on to a firm that might not be in their territory, which for a lot of people that’s enticing.
richard rothstein
so were there any particular channels that you’ve used to kind of generate applicants?
unknown speaker
from a recruiting perspective? we use everything. linkedin is obviously a huge source for us. we do all the job boards, which are a good to some degree, a lot of networking, a lot of partnerships within our, you know, just, you know, our ecosystem of people we’ve known over the last 15 years, i think that is kind of paramount to working with a firm as how deep their network is, and who do they know, is very big. and i think their success and helping to place you and i think, for us, that’s been a huge driver in our ability to help good candidates.
richard rothstein
oh, that’s great. that’s great. you work with a lot of accounting firms, obviously. but what are some tips you may have, or some things you’ve seen in your clients in the past that are really make firms stand out as competitive when they’re looking for that great hires?
josh fisher
flexibility, innovativeness, opportunity for career development, ability to be plugged into different revenue streams and verticals within the firm have an ability to have a clear path to career development. and then obviously, compensation, which, you know, we’re finding more and more compensation as a driver. but, you know, a lot of those other ancillary desires are, are kind of taking the precedent, over their decision to latch on to a firm.
richard rothstein
i know you probably have relationships with these job seekers. how long are you seeing that they kind of stay with firms?
unknown speaker
it depends. it’s not like how it was 10-15 years ago, even five years ago, where you’d see people stay with forever. i think a huge driver for somebody if they really want to go partner track is a is a strong motivator for them to stay with a firm. if they sense that that’s not a possibility, you do see movement in the marketplace to maybe go to a smaller firm where they could be a bigger fish. i do think that there is still a desire for people to stay with the firm, long term. but i think candidates don’t have the allegiance that they did before. because they did notice during the downturn, that some firms didn’t have their back. there’s definitely a lot of firms that stood by their team when they were laying people off, or they tried not to throw as many people as some other firms. it’s difficult. i think a lot of candidates have realized that it’s important to look out for themselves, sometimes they have their own family and drivers on their end. so i think it’s situational. and it’s obviously boils down to opportunities, you know, why these smaller cities don’t have as many firms to work for. so you’re kind of limited to the firms that are in your city before covid. but now, that’s becoming more of a possibility to work with some of these national practices and be located in typically, rural areas that wouldn’t have the ability to have maybe the bandwidth and economies of scale at the did before.
richard rothstein
that’s interesting. so he talks a lot about flexibility. what remote work looked like before covid?
josh fisher
i think it was becoming more socially adopted. i think companies were coming around to it more and more, i just think that covid just sped up that acceptance, probably five to seven years before maybe it would have been adopted otherwise.
richard rothstein
i mean, i completely agree, i think it definitely changed a lot. you know, accounting is another one of those fields where we’ve seen what really can be with remote work.
josh fisher
i think it’s if you’re having success, and you’re proving to your employer that you can be successful working remote, then they’re okay with it. but a lot of people, miss going into the office. i know i miss going into the office, here and there. and i think that’s natural for people to start having. i think that that there’ll be some sort of compromise once this is over. and then we’re all trying to figure out, what’s the best course of action moving forward, but i think there’s going to be some sort of combination of the past and the present to accommodate people, because we’re seeing a lot of companies force people back into the office faster than others, and they’re not happy about that.
richard rothstein
so would you say that moving back to the office too fast is making them lose some good candidates?
josh fisher
yes, definitely. i think a lot of candidates are coming to us. and it’s very demographic focused on which states in which territories, i wouldn’t say not adhering to covid standards, but more open to the idea of coming into the office, faster than some of us here in the dc area. and i think that is a huge driver people have family members at home, or they see on a frequent basis, are exposed to their kids, and they don’t feel comfortable going into the office. and if they feel like their hand is forced, it’s not hard for them to find another opportunity of a company that’s going to be a little more liberal and allowing them to have flexibility.
richard rothstein
that makes a lot of sense. we talked about remote work and kind of pushing you back and work, but what else is changing? you know, now post covid?
josh fisher
it’s a good question. i think a lot has changed, i think technology being sped along. i think a lot of us like zoom and some of these other software’s and workflows. we’re adopting new ways to streamline our process, in which a lot of these companies are using automation devices in automation software’s to make everyone’s life a little bit easier. especially in public accounting. it’s an arms race to find and create efficiencies to take care of your bottom line. and so, every quarter every year, we’re seeing new technologies come along that are making everyone’s life easier. and so that’s exciting.
richard rothstein
so cool. as we talked about what changes, what do you expect their recruiting situation look like a year from now?
josh fisher
this focus over the next six months is gonna be very telling, and there’s gonna be a lot of movement in the marketplace. i think everybody reassessed where they stood over the last three to six months. and so there already has been a ton of movement. i think there will continue to be that. i think in a year from now, things will settle down to some degree. but i think we’re still kind of in a bull market when it comes to people self assessing where they stand in their career in life.
richard rothstein 11:07
so would you say it’s kind of in flux, a job hunters market? right now, though?
josh fisher
you can compare it to the housing market. supply and demand. it’s very driven towards the candidate right now. which i think it surprises a lot of people because you look how high unemployment is. and yes, it’s probably this is very centric towards accounting, specifically. but in the audit, tax and advisory space, it’s uber competitive.i can’t speak to other industries and sectors. but right now, it’s definitely an arms race for talent.
richard rothstein
what advice would you give firms that are looking to hire right now?
josh fisher
i think being transparent with what you’re offering, be flexible. align yourself, if you’re gonna outsource your recruiting function to firms that like district partners, and firms that understand what your secret sauce is. i think, self internalize, take care of your internal staff that you currently have. and making sure they’re compensated fairly. and making sure you’re competitive in the marketplace is key. i think we’re seeing a lot of attrition. and then the company, it requires a lot more effort to go out and find new talent, train new talent and bring people in. and i think a lot of clients would be it makes a lot more sense for them to take care of their own. wow, to prevent this attrition.
richard rothstein
that’s really great.
josh fisher
i think it can’t be avoided. i think a lot of companies are always looking right now to find new talent, but they don’t realize that they could prevent that from happening by just taking care of their own.
richard rothstein
alright. well, josh, thank you so much for talking with us today.