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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Financial Services
They are talking about this topic: Workforce Trends & Challenges
The quotes below are about this issue:
Many employers are having difficulty filling openings, particularly higher-level positions requiring more experience.
| "We have the same issue. The people that are answering the phones here are basically the same people as the personal bankers. The number of people that we hire with accounting and finance degrees is very tiny. We hire lots of people from other fields—communications, marketing, sales, English majors, history majors, economics." | Central |
| "We frequently find that the people that have the educational background to meet our positions aren't applying for our positions. So, we're filling our more entry-level positions—our tellers and our bankers—with people who have degrees in something completely unrelated." | Central |
| "Interviewer: Which positions today do you have the hardest time filling? Employer: Right now, probably our banker positions. So, personal bankers. Interviewer: Personal bankers? Employer: Yeah. Interviewer: Has that been the case for a while? And you expect it to continue? Or do you see a change? Employer: It's been the case for a while. I expect it to probably continue, solely because we're promoting those people into other positions. So, that's a position we always have opening up. We have so many of them throughout the company." |
Central |
| "The other area, the taxation, it did see a shortage. We find extreme shortages in the taxation side of getting the experience. Especially if you're looking for a tax manager, somebody at that higher level. It's really hard to find them." | Central |
| "Employer: I can speak from the CPA perspective. We've done [lost in translation] recruiting season looking for interns for accounting positions, and we're actually finding it difficult to fill enough positions in St. Cloud and in the Metro. We've experienced turnover in the Metro area where private industry is taking a lot of our experienced individuals. So, we do need to fill those entry-level positions. So, when we say there's enough supply I think we're feeling a little crunch in that area. And getting those high-level candidates early on as well is what we're struggling with. Interviewer: When you say 'industry is taking them,' can you give me an example just so I understand the terminology? Employer: Many times in public accounting—it can be a pretty grueling profession—so you get a lot of experience. And after two to seven years of experience—the ones that wait a little longer—they're good CFO material. So, they'll go and be a CFO or a controller in another entity. Interviewer: And then they're out of public accounting basically." |
Central |
| "The other big challenge is that we get a lot of applicants that spend a year here and then two years there and then three years someplace else. And it's really damaging to their prospects if they do that three or four times. So, if there's a way to say—early on in their college experience—to really say, 'Okay, there's a job waiting for you in accounting when you get out, but is that really what you want to do?' Because it may be what you want to do, but the risks of taking something and trying that, and then trying something else, and then trying something different—those risks become greater as you move two, three, or four years down the road. That three-to-five-year person is what we're looking for." | Metro |
| "Interviewer: Is it something like another company takes an employee from you and then you take an employee from them and so everybody is just moving around at that three-to-five-year level? Or is there an increase in workload and so everybody needs... Employer 1: It's both. There is an increase in workload and an increase in demand. And everyone's moving around, and so that's driving up the wages—because everyone's moving around for more money. Employer 2: So, for us, we just do without. I mean, we push the work down to the staff-level and just try to hire more interns. Employer 3: Hire more interns versus the full-time associates. Interviewer: So, it's really a retention issue. But there's maybe the opportunity for somebody coming into the industry that if you like it and you're a good fit, you can move up more quickly given that there is still this need? Employer 1: We have a name for that; it's called 'rapid skills development.' So, if we hired someone young and we have this gap, instead of trying to fill that gap, we're really going to push that person to develop their skills rapidly and try and fill it. Interviewer: So, if it works for you, you have a great career." |
Metro |
| "Employer 1: We found we have the same struggle [as the speaker from the other company] in terms of hiring people with three to five years of experience. What we've experienced is that a lot of them, at that point, tend to jump out of public accounting and go into industry. And we're seeing more and more of that as we're doing our exit interviews. They're not necessarily going to a competitor, but they are going to industry. That's what we're seeing. Interviewer: So, they might become an accountant or find another financial position in a very large retail or industrial company? Employer 1: Exactly. Employer 2: And I think one of the reasons they leave is that they think they're going to work fewer hours. And the truth of the matter is—if you're going into accounting—you're not going to work only 40 hours a week. It doesn't matter if you go into public accounting or private industry. But these employees think, 'Well, I chose this, but it's too many hours, so I'm going to choose the other option which is private industry.' The fact of the matter is that they're really not going to work that many fewer hours." |
Metro |
| "Employer: I think the data [you are showing us] is accurate. I'm experiencing a lot of those things—especially finding experienced accounting people. And from talking to other people it's difficult to find anybody with five years of experience. Obviously, they're happy where they are and they don't want to make the leap. That's really where I'm struggling. Interviewer: So, it's the middle-level experience that's difficult to find? It's not the senior partner level necessarily or the entry-level, it's in the middle you just can't find people? Employer: It's difficult to find the people with three to five years of experience. And I don't know where they're all going. All of us are having a difficult time finding them. I have no clue where all of these people are going. It just doesn't make sense to me." |
Metro |
| "I'm new to the CPA world. I was in HR for a long time with a large corporation in town, so this CPA world is really new to me. And it's nothing like I've ever known. I mean, I'm used to posting a job and getting four hundred applicants, so this is totally different. Now I get zero. Or maybe I get one that stumbles upon the posting, but isn't even qualified." | Metro |
| "We need supervisors." | Metro |
| "Employer: I would say more operation leaders—people that want to manage and supervise administrative, customer service, and clerical units. We probably hire more of those than we do actuaries. Interviewer: Administrative professionals? Employer: Yeah, and leaders of—more of a manager of—those groups." |
Metro |
| "Employer 1: You have to recruit. You have to go out there and either use an internal—we have internal recruiters—but then we also use external recruiters, too. It's very aggressive. Employer 2: Right. And even that—I mean, the recruiters are calling me saying, 'Yeah, sorry. I'm still looking.' Well, no kidding. I've been looking for two months. Two months is nothing. Interviewer: Are you seeing this in the entry-level positions as well? Employer 2: No. It's the mid-level. From what I hear, it's been like that for years. It isn't something that just happened, so I don't see that that's really going to change much. " |
Metro |