Meet the New Bosses

Recently I came across a recorded case study of a pediatric dentist who had recently opened her own office.

While business initially was above average, she was convinced it could be far better considering her location was in an area mostly comprised of young adults, may of whom had young children.

So she consulted with a marketing expert to determine why. In about one minute, the consultant discovered what was wrong. Her office looked like every other dentist’s office, meaning those designed specifically for adults. Every furnishing or picture was above the eye level of a child and on top of that was adult-centric in nature and design. There was nothing to entice a youngster’s interest in an event that most dread to begin with.

An all-too-common example of “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Ergo the problem with many CPA firms today with regard to recruiting, retaining and, of course, motivating, their younger staff. Their firm’s work models are often predicated on the preferences of past generations with nothing to entice them to come aboard. Whenever I hear someone bemoan they can’t hire Millennials, I often engage them in role play. I tell them to pretend that I’m a young CPA, one or two years out of college and challenge them to convince me why I should work there.

Often the results are not pretty. I don’t want to hear that you’re a great firm – everybody I interview with is going to tell me that.

In  2016, the number of Millennials have overtaken Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation, so firms needing to fill the talent pipeline had better abandon those antiquated business models of the 1960s and 70s and adopt a 21^st century strategy to recruit and retain.

Like the dentist who realized that her practice was decidedly not child friendly, CPA firms likewise need to become an appealing venue to that demographic who by 2020 will make up 50 percent of the U.S, workforce.

That includes among other aspect such as increased compensation and benefits, engaging the once forbidden platform of social media as a recruiting tool. Many firms who once sarcastically labeled Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube as “social not-working” are jumping in en masse using them as an HR tool. In fact, 75 percent of firms with revenues over $5 million and 83 percent of those firms over $10 million are using social media in their recruiting efforts.

Regardless of what new strategy you choose to deploy it’s obvious just from the firms that I’ve spoken to that a new business model and paradigm is critical to carry your practice into the future.

Either that or your “Help Wanted” sign is going to be around for a long time.