CPA firm consultant Steve Erickson offered valuable ideas on recruiting and retention at the Association for Accounting Administration conference in June.

1. Evaluations of partners and staff should include rating their contributions to recruiting.
2. Promote referrals by:
   1. Sending letters to clients and referral sources asking for referrals of talent.
   2. Make it a point to tell someone every day you are looking for recruits.
   3. Give talks at college classes. Have lunch with professors and students.
   4. When people leave the firm, whether voluntarily or not, leave the door open for a possible return.
   5. Treat everyone with respect. Successful people can sometimes be arrogant, and that turns people away.
   6. Be visible at CPA society meetings, in classrooms, and at career fairs.
3. Create an identity for the firm, and make sure everyone communicates that identity consistently.
4. People don’t like serving offensive clients, so get rid of those clients. Staff is more important than clients.
5. Find off-season work form organizations such as nonprofits, which are important because they provide continuous work for staff.
6. Every job should have a budget and a set of expectations for each person on the job. When you don’t communicate expectations, people are less likely to achieve them. You wind up giving negative, instead of positive, comments.
7. Find out how you can make job assignments that fill young staffs’ need for experience. Don’t just assign tedious tasks.
8. Let staff know where they fit in the firm’s strategic plan. Let them know how success is measured.
9. Create a mentoring program that allows staff to speak openly.
10. Stick to scheduled assignments. Don’t pull people off one job for another. They will feel like they haven’t completed anything.

From CPA Practice Management Forum, CCH Incorporated, 800-449-8114, September 2006, p. 12.