Congratulations! The business is growing and you need to hire more people. I will assume you’re past the screening process and have hired your ideal candidate. The problem is they have little to no experience. Either they are just out of school, or perhaps have experience in areas other than accounting. Here are some ideas on setting them up to succeed.
Unless you have other experienced staff, most of the training responsibility will fall on you. One of the best ways to start is to give them a relatively straightforward task. An easy way to do this that won’t require a lot of your time, is to have them prepare reconciliations or work papers that have already been done. For example your prior month sales tax returns, or financial statement work papers. They can compare their work to the prior month. If they have questions, have them prepare a list and you can schedule a time to go over it. This allows them to go at their own pace and learn by doing.
Another good way to get new hires started is cross-training with other departments. A staff accountant can pair up with an AR or AP clerk for a day. I like this because it gives your current staff a chance to learn effective training skills, and the new person will become familiar with your systems and other aspects of the company. It is also beneficial to have as many people as possible trained in data entry. There are always times when the volume increases, and there are not enough staff. The ability to have the extra work done internally is more cost effective than hiring temporary staff.
I want the people that work for me to understand that every task in accounting is potentially theirs. Yes, they may get promoted and have additional responsibility, but if something needs to be done, they may “get the call”. People need to understand that to work efficiently, sometimes you have to do things that aren’t as fun, or not as sophisticated. I like to look at it in terms of helping someone else; if AP needs help with their filing, I’ll do the filing, even if I’m the Accounting Manager. That’s the kind of attitude you want to instill in your employees, and the best way to do that is to lead by example.
After about a month on the job, ask your new employee to start documenting what they do every day. Once you have a week’s worth of documentation, review it, and then ask them to draft a procedures write up of their job. This assists with documenting internal processes and gets them thinking about other tasks they might enjoy doing.
Some people are happy to be told what to do; others are more aggressive and will seek out new opportunities. Find out what type of person you’re dealing with as soon as you can. One is not necessarily better than the other, but you can assign tasks based on skill level and attitude. For example, someone that is more of a follower will be suitable for repetitious work, like data entry, filing, or collections. Someone more aggressive will learn those things, get better and faster at those tasks, and end up with a lot more free time in the day. You want to be ready to fill that time with productive activities. You might consider having them start on one of those special projects that are sitting on your desk!
The common theme of these techniques is building teamwork. They should understand no task is too big or small. Let them know they will be recognized for making the department more efficient. Find out their strengths and use them to your advantage. Discover their weaknesses, and find ways to help them be stronger. In helping them build skills, you build yours as well.
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