Recruiting today is an exciting field to be in, particularly because of modern hiring technology that has made it more effective than ever before to find great candidates. In the past, good candidates only came by way of referrals and exhausting hours of searching through networks. Now, staffing agencies have millions of candidates accessible through a wider array of channels. The best staffing agencies use these technologies to find great finance and accounting candidates for the benefit of their clients.

Let’s review just how professional staffing companies leverage new technology to find you the best finance and accounting candidates today.

Resume Directories and Scanners – Once viewed as a negative thing by some, resume directories and scanning software have evolved into being the tools of the trade for many recruiters. Resume directories and scanners help recruiters focus on the right candidates who have certain skill sets and backgrounds suitable for specific finance and accounting assignments. This makes it easier to match the right candidate to the right job.

Niche Career Websites – Job seekers today are everywhere on career websites hoping to land the right opportunity, which presents a challenge for recruiters trying to narrow down their list to specific skillsets. To get around this issue, recruiters searching for finance and accounting candidates can use niche career websites and online applications to screen candidates in advance.

Online Networks and Social Media – There has been a rapid growth of social activity online in the form of online networks and social media in the past several years. This has become a major tool for recruiters, especially with the addition of new recruiting and applications found on LinkedIn. Recruiters today use online networks to gather referrals for accounting and finance candidates, browse through social networking profiles, and invite candidates to apply for jobs online.

Applicant Testing and Screening Tools – Since many recruiting firms are under tight time and budget constraints, the task of testing and screening candidates can be handled by online applications. Most of the time, this is either done on the recruiting website or the contract company’s employment website. This separates the serious finance and accounting candidates from the casual job seeker, producing a higher caliber of candidate.

When looking for the best candidates for fill finance and accounting roles, your best bet is to work with a professional staffing agency like Venteon. We have the resources and networks available to help you find the right person for the job, all by use of the latest hiring technology.

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The technology industries have traditionally been a bright spot in hiring of workers even in weak economic times. New innovations combined with increased consumer demand for high tech goods bring continued positive productivity to companies. The increasingly supportive role new technical equipment provides for all different industries has expanded. The internet has become a platform for marketing, commerce, and business to business relationships.

There are changes occurring in the landscape of hiring for the information technology fields.  Many local areas try to emulate the success of Silicon Valley by attracting high tech firms. Competition for technology jobs is increasing from other countries that have improved technical schools and education programs.

A Bright Spot

The IT and high tech industries have been usually seen demand for positions each year. (http://www.businessrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&subsectionID=99&articleID=14273) Continued growth in the field and constant change bring the need for trained, skilled people to the industry.  For some companies certain occupations like senior software engineers, data analysts, Web designers and application developers are rare and in demand. These jobs are traditionally high paying, secure positions. Even in an economic slump, these positions are still needed.

A Political Force

The demand for positions and the success of areas like California’s Silicon Valley has prompted economically depressed local areas to try and attract high tech industries and firms.  Austin Texas has drawn technology companies because a high quality of life and low cost of living. Albany, NY has seen  growth through nanotechnology  with investments of private companies and government funding. This local interest has also brought high tech firms into politics at national, state, and local levels.   (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/us/02bctech.html?_r=1)  High tech companies and new technology start-ups are considered an area of hope for some regions economically. These firms may become involved more than just in economic development.

Foreign Competition

The manufacturing industry had been hit hard for years from jobs being outsourced to other countries. Some analysts wonder if the same thing could happen in the IT industries. Cuts in aid to public university programs could decrease the pool of qualified candidates in employers in  technology fields can recruit from. ( http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/print-edition/2011/01/14/workforce-development-threatened-by.html)  Other countries such as India however are seeing continued job growth due to innovation.( http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tech-job-growth-in-india-and-the-us-2011-09-02?reflink=MW_news_stmp)  U.S. companies can now draw on an international pool of talent in these fields. How this affects hiring trends in the future has yet to be seen.

High technology fields are continuing to see continued growth and hiring trends reflect it. However, this growth has brought local, national, and international interests and issues into the matter. As technology becomes more prevalent in people’s lives, it will affect other aspects as well.

Senior Accounting Analyst
• Big 4 CPA with 3 years of public accounting experience and 2 years of automotive manufacturing industry experience. 
• Strong G/L thru financial statement preparation background and SEC reporting experience. 
• Excellent excel skill set.  

Senior Financial Analyst
• 15+ years experience with the Big 3 and Tier I suppliers. 
• Strengths include working on system implementations (SAP, Hyperion, etc.), model building and SOX remediation. 
• Proven ability to interact with excecutives as well as line-level employees. 

Accounting Analyst
• B.A. in Economics from Wayne State and progress toward a Masters in Organizational Management.
• 15+ years of varied, progressive accounting and finance experience
• Extremely strong Accounts Payable analysis experience
• Strong MS Excel proficiency
• Self-describes as outgoing, helpful, and a learner who likes to grow and be challenged
• Strong automotive industry
• Immediately available for direct placement or contract work

Staff Accountant
• Bachelors of Science with a major in Accounting from Michigan State University
• Accounting internship provided valuable experience about JIT facilities as well as QAD and SAP enterprise software
• As an A/R Analyst, he successfully reduced past due receivables by 80%
• As a plant accountant, had a major role in month-end closing, account reconciliations, journal entries, forecasting and budgeting
• An outgoing, easy-going, team-oriented professional, Jon is immediately available for direct placement or contract work
• Great internships and early work experience with large tier-one automotive suppliers.

In most technology firms, every year, comes the standard performance review for all engineering employees. While this can be a somewhat nerve-wracking process, filled with dread on both sides of the fence, it doesn’t have to be. Annual reviews for engineers, while more technical in scope, can be a good time to identify strengths and abilities in core personnel to take on bigger projects.

First, realize that there is no one perfect way to conduct a performance evaluation for engineers or other employees, nor is there one perfect software. However, there are some performance evaluations that are more geared towards the nature of the work that engineers do. Look for a performance evaluation solution that is geared towards the project results and team efforts that most engineers engage in at work, rather than systems that have to do with sales numbers.

Secondly, consider that engineers have a wide range of project goals to meet throughout the year, so this is difficult to measure in terms of success. Rather than focus on actual goals in the performance evaluation, consider focusing on other valid skills such as ability to organize, lead teams and time management. These are the most critical aspects of being a successful engineer, and so an employee evaluation system can be better utilized by narrowing down the skills and traits in successful technology professionals in order to be meaningful.

Also, try to consider that time is a precious aspect of being an engineer; therefore the employee evaluation process should be as efficient as possible. Use an online employee evaluation system, with a brief meeting to go over results and goals for the coming year. Instead of having engineers fill out multiple forms, narrow down the questions to a set of three main areas that are pertinent to the job. Include at least one workable goal for the upcoming annual period to keep it simple.

Remember to keep all employee evaluations confidential and fair for all engineers as well as other employees. Never give one person special treatment due to past project performance, but rather look for ways to measure this performance as fairly as possible. Set reachable goals for all employees and make sure that support is put in place to make this feasible.

Consider the advantages of using Venteon to provide all your top engineering staff and conducting employee evaluations, to streamline this process and produce better long term project results.