MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
A riding buddy of mine is the CEO of a company and needs a new FD. The business is a pretty dynamic technology company working with the Highways Agency. About £30m turnover and owned 51:49 by my buddy and a venture capital outfit. Based north of Birmingham.
He's sick of the extortionate fees charged by executive search companies for finding £100k accountants who get poached again after 12 months and wants to recruit the next guy himself.
Which are the best job boards to (a) post the advert on and (b) search for CVs on for this type of role?
Any other advice welcomed too. Cheers.
I know someone ideal for this john, will email you.
OK Dave. Btw, I can do any time tomorrow morning - need to be somewhere else by 12:30.
He could always negotiate with the agency to get a clause added to the contract to allow for a partial refund if the candidate leaves within 18 months, they will probably tell him to go fly a kite but it's worth a try.
...£100k accountants who get poached again after 12 months and wants to recruit the next guy himself...
The reality of employing the "best" is that other people will want them too. If he's running his company properly and looking after his staff, with appropriate financial and non-financial rewards and recognition with the right culture he should be able to retain staff - if this is a recurrent problem then either he's hiring the wrong people (who never planned to stay) or he's doing something wrong with them once he gets them.
The free options are approaching people directly on LinkedIn or using the jobcentre (though for an FD role the latter is perhaps not the greatest idea). You can also approach/advertise for people on accounting forums. I would suggest the former is pretty good for that kind of level.
In terms of job boards, jobsite and Monster are the biggest 2 and the most expensive. There is no guarantee you will get any good CV's from the advert either, your friend can expect to spend a reasonable amount of time sifting through applicants who are simply not right.
The question your friend has to be asking is why people are leaving after 12 months. Irrelevant of the agency you have used it is the employee who makes the decision to leave, I would want to know why they are leaving and what could be done to stop it.
What Poly & Lunge said. Sounds like the real issue here is why do people want to move on from this firm so quickly?
"Extortionate fees" - Meh
£30m? Relatively small fry... when do I start.
If I can have a good car and relocation package I'll even stop coming on here during the day...
yes dont employ the best they are on a career path where you are a stepping stone to wherever they want to go. they will jump ship once they have enough experience. I doubt you can do anything to keep them as I suspectthe salary increase/opportunity was way above what you could offer. I doubt it is personal tbh
Suppose you need to consider a more mediocre - less career /driven person. Hardly a great option though
A forum can but dream 😉I'll even stop coming on here during the day
The company is a small but dynamic player in a market dominated by big boys. Therefore the FD has to be high calible, but will grow to feel a bit limited within the structure. It probably won't allow them to use all their strengths.
The last 3 have all left on good terms.
Does anybody have any experience of "The Ladders"? looks a bit pricey as a candidate but I've been too much of a cheapskate to find out.
Offer stock options as part of the package ? With five year+ redemption dates, if they leave before that then no cigar 🙂
Therefore the FD has to be high calible, but will grow to feel a bit limited within the structure. It probably won't allow them to use all their strengths.
There's his problem.
He should look to someone younger and driven...
All thought provoking advice, but any specific job board / website recommendations?
The Ladders is advertised as high end roles only and therefore charges applicants to use it. For that reason alone you will be missing out on some good people that simply don't want to pay for it.
If it was me hiring for it LinkedIn would be my first port of call.
If the candidate will "will grow to feel a bit limited within the structure. It probably won't allow them to use all their strengths" you need to offer something to counter that. Money and/or benefits are the obvious ones. You can also look at the people being hired, perhaps looking at someone who has worked at big companies and now wants to work in a small company and feel part of something. Maybe something like share options might help this.
Oh, and sod off Junky. You love my intelligent and PC input 😉
You get what you pay for - a search firm will get you a good CV and save you time.
If the CEO really has enough time to recruit a top-class FD, he should (a) consider giving up his day job and become a recruiter OR (b) concentrate on the day job and deliver the £30k+ it's going to cost to recruit an excellent candidate. Any CEO who believes that they can do better than trained professionals (which proper search firms are) is delusional or under-worked.
In my experience (and few years ago I'd have been the sort of person your friend would have been looking to recruit), companies looking to recruit senior people with direct adverts etc come across as penny-pinching and give the impression that the CEO has a rather large ego and is trying do do things outside of their competence areas. I would avoid such companies like the plague.
Your CEO friend should concentrate harder on the interview process and ensure they recruit someone who really wants to be there for the longer term, ensuring that the right incentives are in place for longevity.
And no, I don't work in recruitment, but I've been around long enought to have seen interview processes go very wrong when management think they can save money by doing things themselves. Usually this ends up with a failed recruitment, or a poor-quality shortlist. You might save £10k, but what's the cost of the revolving-door polic at the moment. Get the right recruiter, guide them on what the long-term business needs are, and recruit only once.
All thought provoking advice, but any specific job board / website recommendations?
With respect to you/your friend, that is the information that you pay a recruitment company for. Any (good) company will know where to advertise and where to look for the right people. I know the common opinion is that recruitment firms throw a few adverts out and wait for the applicant but (certainly for high level roles like this) it is somewhat more involved than that.
Oh, and sod off Junky. You love my intelligent and PC input
yep if either of us got a proper job I would be proper sad
Whoah, whoah, whoah... I've got a proper job, it's just that it only asks for about 30% of my capacity for blindingly good finance stuff.
Loving all your opinions guys.
Anybody know the current best sites for high end finance jobs?
As I said before, if it is a high level, £100k FD role I would be approaching specific people on somewhere like LinkedIn. People at that kind of level won't generally have their CV's on job boards. The good ones will (in theory at least) will be working and so won't be responding to adverts either.
To get the best people you don't need to look at active job seekers (those who are responding to adverts, CV's on job boards) you need to look at the ones who are working and need to be found.
The large majority of circa £100k earner will not respond to adverts, they find jobs by networking or by someone finding them. I know what you want is a list of 3 accounting job boards where you can post your advert and wait for the responses but IMO that is not the way to recruit for a role that is clearly very important for the company.
Thank you. I am aware of the subtleties of recruiting, but my expertise lies in IT Sales recruiting.
I just wanted to know the best sites for finance jobs.
Just got the call back from Totally Financial thanks.
Now posting it up on Gaapweb.
What's that then? 😆high calible
Personally, I wouldn't use recruiters at all.
Specialist head hunters might be a good route, but word of mouth and networking is king.
high calible
Does a lot of work in the far east
Here you go, sorted-
[url= http://jobs.expressandstar.com/West-Midlands/Finance-Accounting-Jobs/ ]http://jobs.expressandstar.com/West-Midlands/Finance-Accounting-Jobs/[/url]
Couple of other thoughts:
Does the VC outfit not have anyone they can recommend or leverage in terms of networks and contacts? Given the criticality of this appointment, I woud imagine the VC firm would be both very willing to help and very keen to help.
I've no idea how good it is now, but when I worked for the magazine, 'Accountancy Age' was the primary destination for advertising jobs of this ilk. They have a website now which you should probably investigate.
If there is a problem with people leaving so soon then that is an issue that demands investigation. You're friend can't just simply right it off as 'one of those things'. He's got a £30m turnover to protect and the VC firm is going to be looking for that to grow quite a bit. He HAS to understand this issue as the CEO. If it's not top of his list, it should be close to it.
The right person is right not just because they are 'qualified'; they have to be the right fit also. The process should do more to understand what this person needs to be good at and it's not just about functional expertise, it's about leadership, behaviour, motivation and fit. If he's not taking all of these into consideration also, then he shouldn't be surprised if the people he's hiring leave adter 12 months.
Whereabouts is the company based?? I know an FD who is looking for a job, he is based in the Isle Of Wight but would be willing to move...... Was with our company for a long time, took an opportunity up north that lasted 2 years (short term contract), and has just started looking again after a couple of years R + R.......
oh, I see that is is North of Birmingham... If only i read the post properly!!
Can you get me in touch with your friend and I talk with my friend?!?!?
Scruff - good spot! I think whoever applies for "Cash & Carry Cashier" could be the person we're looking for.
GT - The last 2 were VC appointees...
Dave - IGM.