John Geraci Discusses Dismantling the Biggest Recruiting Pipeline Misconception

John Geraci addressed innovative methods for recruiting a more diverse workforce during a MSCPA webinar.  Examples included how LGA has now established hiring quotas from under-represented minority groups including a goal of 40% students of color. 

He also spoke about reviewing resumes differently.  For instance, do not look solely at GPA, but rather a much broader view of candidates including their involvement in sports, community, and other extracurricular activities.  Also, look at their work history in terms of their capacity to learn and develop new skills.  Moreover, review and interview in non-traditional methods and ask open-ended, thought provoking questions.

John also encourages hiring managers to think differently when evaluating talent and take a much broader view of a candidate’s overall qualities and attributes. 

“Today’s firm leaders need to rethink everything that they know about recruiting if they want to drive diversity through our profession. More time and energy need to be invested into understanding how to gain access to students of color. Rationalizing our challenges and doing the same thing that has failed us as a profession over the past several decades will not drive change throughout our profession. We can do more if we elevate our thinking and approach,” says Managing Partner, John Geraci.

“Firm leaders of all sizes are thinking about how to improve diversity in their firms, some because they want access to a larger applicant pool, some because they want their staff to better reflect their changing market, and some because they realize that more diverse teams achieve better results and more diverse enterprises are more profitable. 

Firm leaders are thinking a lot about D&I, and almost all of those firm leaders are feeling frustrated. Some believe that the problem is the denominator, there simply aren’t enough students of color being graduated by the colleges and universities, some will tell you that they can’t recruit because they are not yet diverse, so they can’t represent, and some believe that they cannot compete with the “Big 4” and other global firms for talent.  All of this is true to some extent, but these are the cards we are dealt, and we need to play them. 

John Geraci and other bold leaders are taking a hard look at how and where they recruit, and whether their criteria for recruits really reflect their values and their experience in who are their most successful recruits.  The fact is that, at this moment, enrollment in accounting programs look like America, but new hires to accounting firms do not.  This means we are leaving talent on the table, and we need to make the changes internally that will get us to be the diverse profession we hope to be,” said President of the Mass Society of CPAs, Amy Pitter.