The advertised salaries for accounting roles were up by 2.3% in June, according to market data from online job site CV-Library. The data shows job vacancies in the accounting industry also rose last month, increasing by 6% year-on-year.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said: ‘We typically see recruitment slowing down over the summer months, but these hikes in pay suggest that businesses across the accounting sector are continuing to push hard to attract talented candidates into their roles. What’s more, the industry is thriving right now, which is great news for both businesses and job hunters across the sector.’

However, separate research from recruitment specialist Hays Accountancy & Finance suggests that poor first impressions may mean UK employers are losing out on attracting hard-to-find finance professionals.

The Hays What Workers Want 2018 report examines the steps a candidate takes from initial job search through to acceptance of a new role and joining an organisation, and is based on a survey of over 14,600 professionals and employers with over 2,000 responses from financial services.

Over two-thirds (42%) of finance professionals report being deterred by an unwelcoming internal office environment and over a third (38%) were put off by unwelcoming staff.

Aside from first impressions, one of the main deterrents for applicants was a bad experience at interview, as close to half (46%) said they have been put off further pursuing a job for this reason. The majority (84%) of finance professionals surveyed say they have had a negative experience at a job interview, with the main complaints being unprepared interviewers and a lack of structure to the process (38%) followed by poor communication (37%).

When applying for a new role, a high proportion (82%) would only consider applying to an organisation which invests in their professional development. Only a third of employers in the sector say they offer formal training programmes as part of their standard induction process, lower than the UK average of 42%.

Close to two-thirds (59%) of people would also be discouraged from applying to a role if they came across negative reviews on an employer review site. Employee reviews were more important to accountancy employees in the early stage of their careers, as 41% of part-qualified accountants actively look for reviews compared to just under a third (32%) of qualified finance professionals.

Delays throughout the recruitment process are also an issue for finance professionals. Close to two-thirds (62%) say they are only willing to wait one week after submitting their application before looking elsewhere, and a similar number (61%) are prepared to wait only one to three days after an interview for an offer before considering or accepting another opportunity. Close to a fifth (17%) had accepted a job verbally, but because of a long wait for a formal written offer, had accepted another job in the meantime.

An applicant experience which fails to match up to expectations can create staff retention problems, almost half (43%) of finance staff have left at least one new job within the first 12 months because it did not live up to what they experienced during the application process. The key reasons respondents cited for leaving within the first year were misleading job adverts (44%), training not provided as expected (40%) and mismatched management expectations (31%).

Karen Young, director of Hays Accountancy & Finance, said: ‘Finance employers tell us that they continue to experience skills shortages and what we’ve found is that the challenge isn’t just finding prospective candidates, it’s about keeping them engaged throughout the entire application process to the point of hire and beyond.

‘Our findings show that employers risk letting future talent slip through their fingers as finance applicants experience frustrations and delays throughout the process, or leave the role early in their employment.

‘Organisations need to scrutinise their applicant journey and invest both time and resources into addressing the issues potential employees experience when applying for roles. This means looking at every stage from careers websites and job adverts to interview structures and the on-boarding experience, and ensuring processes are efficient, transparent, welcoming and personalised to the individual.’

Hays What Workers Want 2018 survey is here.

Report by Pat Sweet