The two main expert recruitment areas Barden cover in this area are:

• Operational Finance Recruitment
• Part Qualified to Finalist Accountant & Finance Administrator Recruitment

Operational Finance

In this space we recruit mainly across the Procure-to Pay(PTP), Accounts Payable (AP) , Order-to-Cash (OTC), Accounts Receivable (AR) and Payroll finance pillars. In this area, our recruitment team support and offer career consultancy to professionals from associate up to senior manager level.

We have also partnered with our clients to recruit language roles within these pillars and have experience working on projects where our clients would have a high volume of requirements e.g.: setting up a shared service centre, recruitment drives for centralising the finance function etc.; no project is too big or small!

Lately our Operational Finance recruitment team, have been noticing a trend (both in Dublin and Cork) of there being a lot more project focused opportunities coming up in these pillars. We are also seeing an increase in roles in the space where finance and IT overlap.

Operational finance is often identified as a key focus area, as businesses strive to be more strategic, continuously make improvements to processes and become increasingly efficient.

When you meet Barden, you will be meeting Ireland’s most experienced team of finance recruitment experts with experience recruiting across roles such as:

• PTP/ AP– Specialist to Senior Manager level, Project Management/ Project Analyst, T&E, Global Payments roles.
• OTC & AR- Specialist to Senior Manager level, Project Management/ Project Analyst, Credit Control, Credit Risk, Accounts Receivable, Order-to-Cash Analyst, Collections.
• Payroll: Payroll Specialist to Senior Manager, Payroll Project Analyst & Implementation Specialist.
• Language roles…we’ve worked on both once-off roles and large recruitment drives where a number of native level language requirements, as well as finance experience, is required..

Part Qualified Accountant & Finance Administration Recruitment

In Barden, we want to help people at every step along their road to qualifying. Knowing that this road looks different for everyone (and that there are many different routes available) recruitment in this area requires a person-centric approach. Whether you are training in practice, industry or via distance learning, and whether your aim is to be a fully qualified accountant or an accounting technician, our team will help you with support, advice and hopefully opportunities to help keep on the right track to achieve your goal.

We also specialise in helping those who aren’t sure about sitting exams, or those who no longer wish to complete their exams, and those who gained broad finance experience and wish to build a career in this area but are not qualified.

Sample roles Include:

• Assistant Accountant
• Assistant to Financial Controller
• Finance Analyst (PQ)
• Marketing Finance Analyst/ Sales Analyst
• Finance Administrator/ Accounts Administrator

Despite being very different functions, there can be synergy at certain levels between the two, which is why our experts leading recruitment in these areas are in touch with each other’s markets and are uniquely placed to help you to consider all of the options available to you.

Our expert team includes:

Tara Higgins | Team Lead | Expert in Operational Finance Careers | Barden Cork | tara.higgins@barden.ie  

Tara is leading our team in Cork and has 5 years of experience focused purely within this broad space of finance recruitment in Cork.

A UCC grad, Tara started her career in finance before moving into recruitment in 2015. She joined Barden Cork in April 2018 at a very exciting time when the Cork office was in true start-up mode. Over the past two years, she has helped our managing partners to grow this hugely varied area of the Cork business, which she is extremely passionate about.

 “Having the opportunity to help people, at all levels and across many different pillars of finance, to find their next step in their careers is what I love about working in this area of finance recruitment – no day is ever the same. Sometimes we can even help to identify opportunities for people that they hadn’t thought of before too, which is pretty cool.” Tara Higgins

Cliodhna O’Brien | Associate | Expert in Part Qualified Accountant Careers & Operational Finance Careers | Barden Cork |  cliodhna.obrien@barden.ie  

Cliodhna joined Barden in 2018 as Barden’s first ever Graduate Associate in Cork. She is now an integral part of the team and earned a promotion to Associate. Helping Part Qualified Accountants has become second nature to Cliodhna and she really cares about helping people map their career in this space. Cliodhna holds a BA Applied Psychology from UCC and a M.Sc. in Work & Organisational Psychology (CIPD accredited), from University of Limerick. Throughout her Masters Cliodhna developed core competencies and professional skills in organisational theory, organisational change, employment relations, selection & assessment, training, employee wellbeing and research design and methods. Cliodhna has also been accredited by the British Psychological Society to conduct Psychometric Testing.

“What I love most about my role is having the opportunity to bridge the gap between how people could feel about their work and do feel about their work. In our area we have the opportunity to work with people at all levels in many different roles and an opportunity to guide people on progression/career paths which is amazing. One of my favourite things to do also is to prepare people in the best way possible to perform on the day of the interview too.” Cliodhna O’Brien

Nicole Carroll | Senior Associate | Expert in Part Qualified Accountants & Operational Finance Careers | Barden Dublin | nicole.carroll@barden.ie

Nicole is a grad of the TUD and holds a BA in Business/Sports. She is also a grad of the Institute of Technology, Carlow. Nicole has been recruiting within this area of finance recruitment for the past two years and is very passionate about it. She has progressed to Senior Associate level following her dedication and hard work in supporting people she’s been working with. Nicole has spent a lot of time in particular helping Part Qualified Accountants to map out their careers and has also helped AP/AR/Payroll professionals to secure their next role.

“Getting to work across an array of industries and sectors, giving advice to people from a junior level who are setting out on their career, to people who have an established career and are looking for the next important step is my favourite thing about working in this area of finance recruitment.” Nicole Carroll

Aoibhín Byrne | Associate | Expert in Part Qualified Accountant Careers and Operational Finance Recruitment | Barden Dublin | aoibhin.byrne@barden.ie  

Aoibhín is a UCC graduate and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with French. In 2016 she joined KPMG Ireland where she trained and worked as a Tax Associate and was involved in the provision of corporate tax and advisory services to MNC’s across a variety of industries. Aoibhín always had a passion for helping people and joined Barden in 2019 with a view to using her background and experience to help others in their careers. Aoibhín describes herself as a ‘natural thinker’, when she gives people advice you can be sure this is well thought through and her advice is very much tailored to the individual she is helping.

“It’s exciting to work with candidates from varied backgrounds – from the early stages to the later stages of their careers. I enjoy being able to provide sound advice and ultimately help people fulfil their career goals and aspirations”. Aoibhín Byrne

Get in Touch

In Barden we’re here to listen, help and guide you on the best next steps for your career so please reach out and get in touch with one of our team today, or email hello@barden.ie and we’ll take it from there.

You cannot simply outsource the hiring process, step back and expect outstanding results. You must collaborate, communicate and cooperate with both your HR team and your recruitment consultant. 

The following article is from our latest “Hiring Guide”, brought to you by Accountancy Ireland, in association with Barden (Ireland).

The recruitment industry often gets mixed reviews. On one hand, there are individual recruiters and firms that operate to the highest ethical standards. They aim to get the right person into the right role every time. But there are also those whose primary motive is to fill the vacancy and secure the fee, irrespective of the outcome for the company or candidate.

While this might appear to be a problem for the recruitment industry to solve, the solution in fact lies in the relationship between recruiters, in-house HR personnel and you, the hiring manager.

The truth

The hiring manager’s experience of the recruitment process is a reflection of how they approach – and engage with – individual recruiters. If, for example, a recruiter knows that four other firms have been tasked with finding the right candidate for the same role, it will naturally be in their best (and financial) interest to cut corners and get their candidate to the top of the queue.

That’s why recruitment fees are so expensive – recruiters are forced to charge significant fees to compensate them for all the time they put into other unsuccessful assignments. So, how can this problem be resolved?

1. Collaborate

If a recruiter is solely responsible for finding the right candidate, rather than competing in a race with other recruiters, he or she will have a vested interest in the hiring manager’s success. Through collaboration, a successful outcome is virtually guaranteed and trust is built on both sides.

2. Communicate

CEOs have cited talent as a core concern, yet hiring managers often refuse to meet with recruiters, who are in one sense their brand ambassadors in the marketplace. So meet with your recruiter and with HR. Help them to understand the critical requirements for the role. Open, two-way communication is key. Providing a job spec simply isn’t good enough.

3. Cooperate
 
And finally, work with your recruitment partners. As the hiring manager, you have a significant role to play throughout the hiring process and beyond. Invest time in meeting both HR and your recruitment consultant to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Then, you need to be willing and able to move quickly when a high-potential candidate comes along. Often, there will be a short window of opportunity to interview and make an offer – any delay at this stage could see the candidate snapped up by another more nimble company.

And finally, keep in contact with HR even when you’ve decided to make an offer. HR executives could have tens, if not hundreds, of roles to fill at any given time, so don’t assume that your vacancy will be given the priority it deserves. Make sure offers are made and contracts issued when they should be.

Conclusion

To make the system work as it should, all those involved in the recruitment process must collaborate, communicate and cooperate. If we can achieve that, everyone will be better off in time.

An expert’s view

Aidan Kenny FCA, an experienced CFO, shares his tips for hiring a senior financial professional.
 
A critical requirement in a new finance manager hire is personality fit. I’m less concerned with the current market obsession of having exact industry experience, which I believe represents one dimensional thinking. Most Chartered Accountants have had enough exposure through their training to be able to adapt to different industries – particularly those who have qualified in practice and then spent time working in industry.

Personality fit with the team is key. In many cases, you’ll be looking for someone you would be happy to work with through long evenings preparing board reports or closing the month-end. A candidate must be able to get on well with non-finance people also – this is key for your department to be valued within the organisation. I also have a preference for someone who has travelled and widened their horizons. The more industries someone has been exposed to, the better.

For the more senior hire, I would consider the use of personality tests. They can be wrong, but in many cases can be unnervingly accurate. In a previous finance director role we ignored the results of a personality test due to other business factors. We found out quickly that the personality test was indeed accurate.

This article is part of the new Hiring Guide, brought to you by Accountancy Ireland and Barden. Click here to download your copy of the Hiring Guide.