consider why the person is leaving.
by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor
question: please explain why you told me this ad was off base.
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answer: the ad was placed in a local newspaper by a small cpa firm looking to hire someone with two years of experience. this firm obviously does quality work since they do audits.
i have written more than most want to read about why small firms should hire people out of school and train them. it is possible to find someone with two years of experience who will work out, but i believe it is a long shot.
the reality is that you will be hiring someone with two years of bad experience.
most responders will say they left their job because they weren’t getting good experience and weren’t growing. and you want to hire them because of their experience? give me a break! the only time this person will likely work out is if they worked for a comparable firm and received comparable experience to yours and they left for personality reason or that they moved to a different city. the latter is the best because they moved and want to remain in public accounting because of the good experiences they had, good training and a stimulating atmosphere. hire that person. otherwise, i suggest passing!
another reason for leaving is someone who worked for a very large firm and did not feel they were getting the right “cpa” experience and really want to be a cpa, and they are willing to start over and also take a lower salary. fyi – this happened to me three times – i was one of these exceptions! i had four jobs in my first three and a quarter years and started each one as a junior (today they are called staff 1).
also, if you are looking for an experienced two-year person, make sure they already passed the cpa exam.
note: just after i wrote this i met someone who worked for a big 4 firm for two years out of school, left and spent three years in private, and left that to join a smaller cpa firm two months ago because that is what she really wants to do. she seemed like a real winner to me, so i hope she is happy and that it works out.
2 responses to “the wrong way to look for staff”
mary scribner
very good point
michael cavanagh
actually, the best formula, which we’ve used successfully for years, is to hire a re-entry person: usually a women, with 2-3 years experience, has her ticket or at least the test under her belt. leaves to raise kids for 15 years, comes onto the team totally on fire with everything to prove — including how obsolete she is not technologically. everyone wins!