Hiring a Good Bookkeeper is Hard

I believe one of the most underrated and unappreciated positions in the small $1 to $3 million business is the company bookkeeper.

I’m not talking about the receptionist or office manager who has been handed basic accounting chores. I’m talking about someone who is fully dedicated to this role, has at least 12 hours in accounting from an accredited college, and preferably holds some certification (I recommend the certification from the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers).

Unfortunately, this position is hard to fill because finding the right person with credentials is difficult, especially in a small town. That generally means inaccurate financial data leading to financial ignorance instead of financial intelligence for owners of these businesses.

When a client asked me to lead the effort in hiring a new bookkeeper, I realized I needed to put my money where my mouth was. That’s because I’ve been extolling the benefits of Topgrading for years, and several of my clients are fully on board with Topgrading practices. Accordingly, hiring a good bookkeeper does not have to be hard. Patience and persistence are needed as a good checklist.

Step 1 – Create Great Copy

I decided to follow Brian Clark and Sonia Simone of Copyblogger fame. Write great content. Write copy that will actually be read (hopefully).

I’ve read The Elements of Style several times since college. I’ve read Ernest Hemingway On Writing and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. But I’m a finance guy, not a writer, and since I cannot write well, I decided to be different.

I did not want to be funny. But I wanted to be bold and engaging. Exciting? No, that would be too over-the-top. I wanted something different and far from boring. Take a look:

I think the above content worked. At least three candidates I spoke with said they liked the ad, which made them want to learn more.

Step 2 – Create a Gmail Account

Since I was doing this project for a client, I wanted to remain anonymous, so I created a generic Gmail account. That took maybe 5 minutes at the most.

I knew I would want to conduct a verbal test for candidates making it to the third interview. I started to create my own but decided to use one that the AIPB provided me.

Step 3 – The Phone Interviews

Unlike one of my clients, who received 120 resumes for an accounting manager position, we received seven responses. Before marketing the position in a local paper, we tried networking but struck out. So, we chose the conventional route by running a help-wanted ad in the local paper and posting it on one job board.

We also communicated the open position to a placement officer at a local college. As I received responses in my new Gmail account, I called each candidate and spoke with each person for about 20 minutes.

I learned as much as I could about their backgrounds and carefully examined how they communicated. If I liked them, they qualified for interview number two – coffee with the owners.

Step 4 – The Laid-Back Discussion with the Owner and His Wife

These owners are gems. So, we decided to capitalize on their warm and engaging personalities.  We thought a face-to-face meeting in a comfortable setting would be ideal, and Panera Bread became the benefactor of those meetings.

About half the applicants made it to round number two. The objective was to determine if the candidate would be a cultural fit for the organization. Each applicant completed a DiSC profile ahead of time, and the results were discussed during that meeting. If the owners liked the candidate, they performed a background check on the applicant using a third-party service, and in one particular case, that was very helpful.

Two candidates wound up making it to round three.

Step 5 – The Bookkeeping Test

I like seeing people sweat. So, instead of e-mailing the test, I conducted the exam through a GoToMeeting (this was before the Zoom era). They could read the test on my screen remotely and had to answer it on the video conference. This allowed me to observe the candidates in problem-solving mode and performing under pressure.

The test was hard. Both candidates’ scores ranged from 60 to 70 percent. However, I only selected one person for the final round of interviews.

Step 6 – The Gauntlet

Most businesses should employ a gauntlet-like process for new positions, especially for senior-level key roles. In this case, our sole candidate spent 5 to 10 minutes with each department head. We gave the department heads a list of questions to consider asking, but we coached them to be natural. In the end, everyone gave a thumbs up. This person was ultimately hired, and she is someone we truly value in our organization.

Stay the Course in the Hiring Process

Hiring is hard. The path of least resistance is to hire quickly. That’s because there’s a need requiring immediate attention. Performing thorough due diligence takes time, which means more work for the person currently doing double duty by performing the bookkeeping position while keeping current with their normal duties.

Even when we were certain we had our candidate, we still graded every applicant, even if they did not make it to round three. Each candidate was graded on eight attributes on a scale of one to 10. Besides the two majority owners and myself, three other minority owners participated in the grading process, too.

We spent close to three days going over the results. Ultimately, we selected the person who made it through the gauntlet.

The bottom line is that no shortcuts were taken–well, almost- but we stayed the course.

The owners liked this process so much that we have rolled it out with some tweaks for our other new hires, and we’ll continue to make the process better along the way.

In the meantime, I’m not quitting my day job. I’ll let someone else write the copy for future help-wanted positions.

Header Photo by Sari Gordon.