Have you heard? The accounting profession is in crisis.
The unemployment rate for accountants is at 2.2 percent, making it almost impossible for a licensed CPA to collect unemployment; and baby boomers are retiring like Brett Farve in 2006 and 2008 and 2009 and 2010, which means that younger CPAs are going to get promoted faster than ever before. It’s a horrible and stressful time.1
This month’s Journal of Accountancy reports that CPA firms are taking drastic measures in response to the talent famine.
Firms have even started recruiting potential CPAs in high school.
Apparently qualified talent in the accounting profession is like MDMA: partners at CPA firms are confused by it and scared of it, but they’re sure they can find some at their kid’s high school.
McGladrey hosts open houses for high school seniors who have been offered early decision at universities the firm partners with, said Jennifer Busse, senior director of talent acquisition for McGladrey. […] "We let them know we'll be in touch with them throughout the course of their college career," Busse said.
And recruiting at high schools is really smart because every high schooler wants to grow up to be the opposite of a rock star or professional skateboarder. And even though firms are desperate enough to recruit high school students, they’re still not ready to start recruiting DeVry students
If your firm is recruiting high schoolers — or better yet, if you were recruited by a CPA firm when you were in high school — we’d love to hear about it in the comments.
1 For your boss.
