Job spec to attract decent PQ accountant

bonyn

I don't work in recruitment, but frequent the work & jobs forum and work as an accountant.. so have been asked to help out with a job spec in the company I work for. It's a 12mth mat leave contract and pays c40k.

The role has been opened for a few weeks and isn't attracting the right candidates. i reckoned it's because the job spec was too specific, so i went in the opposite direction and created a catch-all jobs spec. please give me some feedback. Open to removing some of the more cringe-worthy buzz-terms.

Basically, they're looking for someone good, reliable, but not on qualified accountant wages, and available immediately.

sorry I can't pass on applications. HR would not be happy.

snip.

mkdon05

I think your problem lies more with the fact that it is only a 9 month contract. The people who would fill your criteria and actually apply for a role would be more than likely looking for a permanent position. If its only for 9 months, you may have to reduce your expectations in terms of the applicants calibre.

bonyn

Actually I got the salary wrong, and it's a year contract..
But apart from that, I think it's a better job spec than they had. The original listed in-house systems, and used terminology and abbreviations that didn't mean anything outside the company. They got 2 applicants in a week: 1 with 15 years experience as a financial controller, and the other a graduate who passed her exams "satisfactorily" and who "kept her workspace neat and tidy"

I had a look at the full job spec - it says that it is permanent.

The employer has a lot of other contract jobs advertised.

To be honest the work doesn't sound all that interesting and the people you are targeting are probably in permanent or training contracts and not likely to move until their exams are finished.

Mary2014

bonyn wrote: »

I don't work in recruitment, but frequent the work & jobs forum and work as an accountant.. so have been asked to help out with a job spec in the company I work for. It's a 12mth mat leave contract and pays c40k.

The role has been opened for a few weeks and isn't attracting the right candidates. i reckoned it's because the job spec was too specific, so i went in the opposite direction and created a catch-all jobs spec. please give me some feedback. Open to removing some of the more cringe-worthy buzz-terms.

Basically, they're looking for someone good, reliable, but not on qualified accountant wages, and available immediately.

sorry I can't pass on applications. HR would not be happy.

I would be interested in the role, could you send a pm.thanks

bonyn

pg633, thanks for letting me know! Being honest, the work isn't that interesting but it is tricky, so needed someone not overqualified but not under-qualified.

The job spec I provided seems to have done the trick because it attracted a few internal candidates. Not sure about external yet.

I'm taking down the spec, but basically I think it's a good idea to keep the spec generalised to gain interest & ensure transferrable skills are taken into account when industry experience isn't essential.

Mary, sorry but I'm not recruiting for the company

bonyn

bonyn wrote: »

pg633, thanks for letting me know! Being honest, the work isn't that interesting but it is tricky, so needed someone not overqualified but not under-qualified.

The job spec I provided seems to have done the trick because it attracted a few internal candidates. Not sure about external yet.

I'm taking down the spec, but basically I think it's a good idea to keep the spec generalised to gain interest & ensure transferrable skills are taken into account when industry experience isn't essential.

Mary, sorry but I'm not recruiting for the company

I should say that the job title says that it is a contract but that the category on the website says permanent. They contradict each other.