Find & Develop Younger Generation Tax Business Employees ⋆ Pronto Tax School

Hiring Younger Employees and Training Them

Everywhere you go in the tax & accounting industry, you hear the same complaints:

“It feels like it’s IMPOSSIBLE to find good employees!”
“Seems like every time I get a good employee, I give them all this training and then they leave right when they become valuable. Sometimes they even go and start their own business and become my competitor. FRUSTRATING!!!”

I’ve been fortunate to learn from my Dad and my Uncle Mark when it comes to hiring and retaining tax business employees. They always seemed to have the same employees year after year, with numerous employees working at Pronto for 20+ years. Clients love to see the same tax pros every year and this is surely one of the main reasons why our “scrappy underdog” tax business has survived and grown.

Here are 5 quick suggestions to consider if you’re seeking to find and keep good employees for your tax business (and these suggestions may also be valuable for tax job seekers, when evaluating potential employers):

Realize and accept that good tax employees are not “found,” they are built. The employer, as the leader of the business, must take responsibility for developing and leading employees. If you’re not ready to embrace that responsibility, first of all just realize that’s OK. Then consider joining a mastermind community to learn from your peers and/or hire a business coach with leadership expertise before hiring any more employees, because good leadership creates good employees. #facts
Hire employees who value schedule flexibility, and make sure you actually provide it. Our type of business allows for significant flexibility and we can use that to our advantage when hiring and retaining employees. Many employees will forego a higher salary in exchange for knowing the employer will “work with them” to make sure they can pick their kids up from school every day, care for an elderly parent, have options to work part-time or seasonal, etc.
Have your employees’ backs 100% in tough spots. Step in and protect employees, for example, when a client becomes irate and “goes off” because a mistake was made or whatever else happened. In addition to building incredible loyalty, this reminds employees why they may think they want, but they don’t actually want to run their own business! 🙂
Recruit employees who probably are not going to be presented with other higher-paying opportunities all the time. Put yourself in the employee’s shoes and be familiar with what other options he or she has. You don’t have to be perfect, but you do need to be that person’s best option.
Attend the upcoming Knowledge Share Extravaganza Live Conference in San Diego July 25 & 26, where Pronto Income Tax’s own Ingrid Ceballos will be teaching on the topic of “Finding & Developing ‘Diamond in the Rough’ Younger Generation Employees.” We “found” Ingrid working the cash register at a taqueria (taco shop) making minimum wage, and now, 7 years later, she’s an equity partner in our tax business, earning $100K+ annually. Ingrid’s story is going to open some minds, for sure. Also, full disclosure: her story might make you and/or me cry. (If I cry, all attendees will be charged $50 extra.)