As lead tax executives have been searching for tax managers at the eight to twelve year range, many are asking “ Where is the talent?” I was talking to a close friend of mine by the name of Dr. Mishe Serra who earned her doctorate at Harvard. She is an expert on generational thinkers such as millennials who think very differently than today’s Baby Boomer generation. In particular, I discussed an executive search experiences very close to me and I sought her advice on my messaging in order to help this client attract elusive talent. What I learned from Dr. Serra I want to share with you because it is important to understand what is happening. Dr. Serra is an expert on the topic of millennials and we will be getting her insightful work in the hands of executives who want to be enlightened on hiring trends in the tax profession.
Extensive studies have been done that prove Baby Boomers often have “perseverance” hard-wired into their brains through early educational experiences. In other words, the output was embedded into their lives long before they ever started their professional careers. We were encouraged to start work early in our lives and we did so admirably. Many of the Baby Boomers started work in their teens in retail stores(now disappearing thanks to Amazon delivery) while the Millennials were gifted with a cell phone and electronic gaming systems just out of diapers. There are very impactful changes occurring as a result of early hard-wired mindsets and these changes are effecting hiring trends today.
Millennials experienced a new shift in education where everyone wins the award in the classroom or on the sports court. Educators shifted to promoting group experiences where no individual should be accountable but the group was accountable. The challenge with this is that group thinking does not teach individual thinking. In other words, people who are educated in this manner may not learn how to make important decisions outside their group. Recently, I experienced a group of young men who made a decision together that evolved into the three of them making a decision together to walk away from an exceptional opportunity. Tread carefully when hiring a group or teams who could come in together and walk away together. It is a millennial phenomenon that is occurring in organizations around the world.
Individual thinkers are people like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Safra Catz, Sheryl Sandberg, Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman and many more to mention. These are great people who dare to have vision and they have been trained early on to persevere and follow it! What kind of vision emerges with group think mentalities? You are seeing manifestations of group think mentality on television. One of my favorite programs to watch is Waters World on Fox while he is asking people why they are out protesting in the streets. The answers are amusing because most have no idea one why they are out in the street protesting with their group. This is group think mentality at its most basic manifestation today. Education has also now evolved to the point of a “swipe me” mentality, swipe me to the right if you want to connect and swipe me to the left to discard a connection. This is what this generation is learning so it is vitally important that we learn how this generation operates differently to understand what is happening around us as we hire for organizations.
What does this have to do with hiring talent for your tax organization? Understanding how a new millennial generation operates has a lot to do with how you attract the talent you need for your tax organization today. A hiring authority in a large national accounting firm was kind enough to share with me what is happening to today’s tax talent. Where is it all the tax talent disappearing to today? Why are you having so much trouble finding tax professionals in the eight to twelve year range? You need to first understand what happens as this talent leaves the accounting firms and what they are saying on exit interviews. Most senior tax executives do not have access to inside knowledge of what is really happening. These young tax professionals are leaving the profession in droves for reasons that include: too many long hours, too many tax deadlines, too many time zones to complete international tax work, too much risk, etc.. As I tell many tax executives in the profession, “You apparently did not get the memo how much work was involved in the tax profession nor did the millennials know before they entered the profession.” LOL
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The Poet Theodore Roethke said “What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.” This is precisely what we do when companies retain us on tax searches today…we do the impossible and it requires more work than ever today.
Kat Jennings, TaxConnections, CEO and Founder and Advisory Team provides three areas of services: 1) Internationally recognized, retained executive search services for multinational corporations, public accounting firms, and law firms; 2) Introductions of sellers to buyers of small and medium size accounting firms; and 3) Provide brand building and education services that support and prepare accounting firm owners to buy/sell an accounting practice. We focus on educating the journey to sell a practice and how to increase firm revenue prior to any sale. Our program ensures you start years prior to a sale by learning what is expected of you during the selling process, and introducing firm Partners to cross selling opportunities that are easy to implement and reduce your workload at the same time. We introduce you to value added connections to smartly grow revenue in your accounting practice.
Kat Jennings has been retained by organizations worldwide to locate tax professionals with highly specialized tax knowledge and expertise. She has a thorough understanding of the tax business community, with a proven record of stellar performances matching professionals with organizations. Bringing two parties together to work successfully is the art of understanding personalities, cultural fit, expectations by both parties, flexible or inflexible work environments, understanding what drives and motivates each party, and revolves around the personality and ethics of each executive team.
Kat is a widely recognized expert in high level, tax executive search, as well as connecting buyers and sellers of accounting firms. TaxConnections provides and educates small to medium size accounting firms owners and Partners how to prepare and sell their firms so they can build a succession plan for their retirement. With larger firms seeking to acquire smaller accounting practices, there is a real need to help firm owners prepare to be acquired. Most firm owners are unaware they are not ready to sell when they decide to retire. TaxConnections educates firm owners’ what they need to do years in advance of selling an accounting firm practice.
Senior tax executives expect the utmost privacy when being introduced to multinational organizations about a new tax opportunity under consideration. Having said that, companies searching for a new head of tax expecting tax executive candidates to submit their resume through a resume portal, will never see a full slate of outstanding tax executives available due to a candidates’ desire for greater privacy. This is why privacy focused Uber Tax Recruiters consistently outperform in-house recruiters on tax executive searches.
We offer our clients a Performance Retainer Agreement arrangement so their HR department can still recruit and compete with the tax candidates we present on Head of Tax searches. The client pays us a partial fee upfront, and if they find a candidate they deem better than we introduce to them, we forfeit the final fee. Most of the time, they love and prefer our private introductions to tax executive candidates better than what they source through their own resume portals.
When we represent selling/buying small to medium-sized firms, firm owners/partners also demand greater privacy when considering the sale of their practice. TaxConnections provides a safe place to discuss their business needs, elevate their practices’ online reputation, and increase revenue through new streams of business development by outsourcing work and partnering with other firms. Over three decades, we have worked tirelessly to build relationships between firm owners most organizations rarely have access to in the world of tax. There are numerous possibilities you may never have considered previously to bolster the value of your practice and service offerings.
As a globally recognized consultant to multinational organizations, accounting firms, and law firms searching for tax expertise, Kat has been retained by public accounting firms, law firms, and corporations worldwide including Apple Computer, AC Neilson, Accenture, Agilent Technologies, Allergan, Alza, American Express, American Media, Aon, Baker & McKenzie, Barclays Bank, Bechtel, Cargill, Carl Zieuss Vision, Century Aluminum, Chevron, Clorox, Citigroup, Commercials Metals, Constellation Energy, Countrywide, Del Monte, Deloitte Touche, DFS, DLA Piper, E&J Gallo Winery, Electronic Arts, Ernst &Young, Fox Entertainment, Fremont Investments, General Electric,General Motors, Herbalife, Hewlett Packard, Hyatt, Intel, Jones Lang LaSalle, Kimco Realty, KLA Tencor, Koch Industries, KPMG, Levi Strauss, Liberty Mutual, LKQ, Loews, Logitech, Lucas Film, Maersk, McKesson, Nalco, Newell Rubbermaid, Nissan, Oracle, Orbitax, Pacific Gas & Electric, PwC, QAD, SAIC, SanDisk, Sanmina, Sempra Energy, SONY, Synopsys, Ticketmaster, Trimble Navigation, Toyota, Univar, Wal-Mart, Wells Fargo, Vertex, Yahoo, Xilinx, and many more not listed here.
Contact Kat at 858,999.0053 Office/858.232.4415 Cell or kat@taxconnections.com to request a private consultation regarding the sale of your practice, adding top talent to your organization, or merging your practice with another firm owner with a book of business. The possibilities are endless; if you have a dream of a new vision for your professional life; we will scout opportunities throughout the market to make it happen.
1 comment on “Tax Executives Facing Hiring Challenges With Millennials”
A most insightful set of thoughts. Thank you it is appreciated.
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