An interesting trend has been unfolding for the past few years as management tax executives have been searching to hire needed tax staff, tax seniors, and senior tax accountants. While news media focuses on job loss, this is certainly not the case in the world of taxes. Ask any management level tax executive, and they will tell you there is a lack of available talent to meet the current market demand. In fact, during the pandemic firms have held tightly on to tax staff with one to seven years of experience. Companies searching for tax staff are wondering how they will fill the hundreds of tax positions now open at the staff level. This post series will focus on factors contributing to the lack of qualified tax staff available today and provide a valuable, actionable solution to attract and retain talent at the staff level.

What has occurred in the world of hiring tax expertise is not a benign problem. Many organizations have Tax Managers doing the job that tax staff would normally do because they are unable to attract tax staff. There are firms who have searched for over a year to find and secure tax expertise at the staff level. What is happening? There are multiple factors contributing to tax executive’s inability to attract this talent. We will discuss what is happening as we share conversation’s we have had with tax staff at the lower levels and the tax executives searching to hire them today.

First you should understand the mindset of the tax staff we speak to today. Here are examples of recent discussions we have had with tax staff and tax executives searching to find and hire them. Their names have been changed to protect the confidential discussions we have had with them. We have given them a pseudonym (fictitious name).

Here is the profile of tax expertise in the range of 25-35 years of age:

• 25 – 35 years old
• Bachelor’s Degree
• No Home Purchased Yet
• Flexibility In Job Important
• Work/ Life Balance Important
• Constantly On Social Media
• Building Professional Brand
• Work’s For A Cause

Paige Turner
Paige just graduated college with a Master’s in Accounting and has accepted an offer to work at a Big Four firm. She is using her post-graduate summer to try and pass the CPA. The Big Four firm is paying for all her materials. She accepted their offer because they are helping her prepare for the exam. After all, this is what most of the students in her graduating class did and it seems like a safe bet. While she did do an internship in another firm, she has little idea of what she’s actually doing in tax right now.

Mary B Good
She is a 32-year-old CPA. She was just promoted to Tax Manager at a software company and lives by herself in a one-bedroom apartment a few blocks away from her office. She is very adventurous. She enjoys trying new things and the flexibility her current job gives her. She is always connected with her phone and has a decent presence on Social Media. More than anything, she loves convenience. Not because she is lazy but because she does not like wasting time. She needs CPE but does not want to waste time or money to go to a webinar or in-person event. She would much rather spend her money on another spin class than CPE.

Sam Sung
Sam just spent three years with a Big Four firm and wants out. The long hours, weekends and holidays have gotten to him. He does not want to live his life like this as he wants to travel. He must stay longer with the firm until he passes the CPA Exam and becomes certified. Once he becomes a CPA he is out of there as he wants freedom, flexibility and work/life balance. He also does not want to keep track of every 5 minutes of his day on time sheets.

Juan Goodone
Juan loves tax because it is like a fun puzzle to figure out. He does not enjoy the grind of the work environment and being required to be at the office long hours days on end to make an impression. Juan has a young family at home he would like to see more often. In addition, he feels Big Four management does not care about him. He feels he is just another number. He wants to feel more connected to management. He does not feel like management really cares to help him succeed in the tax profession.

Bud Light
Bud is a 29 years old tax senior with a BA, MBA, CPA. He has worked diligently on his education and to become certified. Based on his experience with his firm, he does not even want to stay in tax and is now searching for another career outside of tax. His father was a CPA and he does not want to follow in his father’s footsteps to work his entire life. Bud wants a lighter work lifestyle than he experienced in the grind of Big Four and observed in his father’s tax career. His dad was rarely around to do fun things with him. He wants more freedom and flexibility in his work life.

Lesson One
The millennial generation has watched their baby boomer parents absent from their home and family working long hours and weekends for years on end. Millennials want something different than the lives they have seen their Baby Boomer parents live in the tax profession.

Understand there is a wide gap in expectations between todays baby boomer hiring executives and the millennials they want to attract and retain in their organizations. Understand baby boomers think differently than millennials. I repeat, “Millennials think differently than baby boomers!” Understanding the difference cracks the code in attracting millennial workers to organizations today.

The Millennial Mindset
– #1, Connection With Supervisors; They Want The Boss To Engage With Them
– Engagement With Team Members; They Want To Be Feel Part Of The Team
– An Understanding Of The Mission Of The Team; Explain Clearly
– Flexibility, Want Flexible Environment, Work/Life Balance
– Understand Their Personal Motivators; Different From Others
– Technology And Social Media Are Important To Them
– Surprisingly Compensation Is Lower On List As Motivator

The Baby Boomer Mindset
– How To Stay Connected To My Team With So Little Time
– How To Smartly Manage Team And Get My Work Done, Too
– Value Workplace Visibility, Prefer Team Members On Site
– How To Engage Team Members To Increase Productivity
– How To Manage Staff To Work As A Team
– How to Develop Team Members For Success
– Challenged To Find Staff, How To Reduce Staff Attrition

To be Continued In Part 2 Of This Series

View Part 2 Of This Post