Customer support person / accountant. Not hiring now, but want feedback on ad.

Forums › Jobs › Customer support person / accountant. Not hiring now, but want feedback on ad.

kingdragonfly

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#275998 21-Sep-2020 07:40

I'm looking for feedback on an "Accountant / help desk / sales" position, in particular salary rnage.

Here's my first draft.

"Accountant / help desk / sales

Cloud based agricultural company needs someone with extensive accounting experience, in particular with a farm.

Deep experience with Xero/MYOB on a farm highly regarded.

Good knowledge of Windows 10, Internet browsers, and Excel needed.

This position will involve New Zealand travel, up to a week at a time, and occasional weekend work. An example of travel would involve tending a sales booth at agricultural festivals / conferences, perhaps once a month.

You would be responsible for “owning” a migration processes to Internet based farming suite.

While not a requirement, some light-weight C# programming and a little Microsoft SQL database experience would be highly regarded. Note this is not a programming job.

The job is located in downtown New Plymouth, however working from home OK, as long as customers can’t hear background noise.

At home, you’ll be handling our “800” support number, via a supplied PC and headset..

Deep knowledge of agriculture and a helpful phone attitude are paramount. Your agriculture knowledge and background will be checked.

If working from home, must be available to travel to New Plymouth regularly.

Permanent, salaried. Must have some years accounting experience."

nickb800

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#2568946 21-Sep-2020 08:06

Are you after an accountant or a bookkeeper (I suspect the latter)? Make that clear. I appreciate that the phrase 'accounting experience' applies to bookkeeping too, but it suggests a relatively high bar for a bookkeeper. Perhaps ask for accounts/bookkeeping experience. Specify the minimum number of years experience - say 2?

What do you mean by remote working - are you considering someone in Taranaki who might work from home and pop in once per week, or are you open to fully remote working from anywhere in the North Island?

Saying that their agricultural knowledge and background will be checked sounds a bit intimidating (it's a given, but stating it like that sounds like you have trust issues/have been burnt before). I'd delete that sentence.

More generally, my understanding is that extensive requirements tend to put women off (feel they can't tick all ten boxes, so don't apply) whereas men tend to plough on (feel they can tick 6/10 boxes, so give it a shot). Obviously that's a massive generalisation, but given the prevalence of women in accounting/bookkeeping, it's worth considering how women might perceive the ad. Focus on 'essential' requirements and consider leaving out 'bonus' requirements. I suspect that section about C#/SQL might be intimidating for some (that's complete gibberish for a non-programmer) so might be something that can be fleshed out later in the recruitment process and left out of the upfront ad. Perhaps 'someone with an interest in technology and willingness to learn quickly' is what you're really after here?

BlinkyBill

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#2568947 21-Sep-2020 08:09

I have a few suggestions:

1) don’t write out just a list of skills you want the person to have, outline the role and key skills

2) reduce the length of the ad by at least 50%

3) hire a copywriter

gehenna

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#2568948 21-Sep-2020 08:15

^As above, advertise based on outcomes. The candidate's skills will quickly become evident during shortlisting.

wellygary

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#2568973 21-Sep-2020 09:08

Throwing in the coding "nice to haves" n significantly confuses the ad,

If they are not required drop them, if they are, then specify what is expected...

Asking for specific language knowledge is likely to deter a great many of the accounting/book keeping applicants,

ShinyChrome

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#2568975 21-Sep-2020 09:13

That is a lot of different things you are asking for in that ad; it kinda makes it sound like you want a team of people for the price of 1 person.

I'd agree with the above, drop the superfluous stuff and stick to the specific duties you are hiring the person for.

trig42

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#2568981 21-Sep-2020 09:31

It sounds in that ad as if you are replacing a specific person who did all of those things, even though some of them may not have been their 'job'.

I agree with the above. Simplify the requirements. What is a must have? Bookkeeping/Accounting (what level, an accountant is more than a bookkeeper, but a bookkeeper may be all you need), Rural/Farming background/knowledge - could this come second to accounting - ie., if you get someone who is brilliant at the accounting stuff, is great on the phone and know windows backwards, will they miss out on the job to someone who knows the farming terms (after all, accounting is pretty much accounting, just the income and expenses have different names).

I read the ad from my point of view. I have a BCom in accounting and finance, but have spent the last 12-13 years employed in tech support roles - home users, small business and now running the NZ helpdesk/IT Support for an AU based retailer. That job looks like something I'd be pretty good at, and New Plymouth is a pretty nice part of the world. I would probably not apply because my farming background 'would be checked', telling me there is no point wasting their time. How long could it take to teach someone the difference between small business and farming business?

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kingdragonfly

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#2569061 21-Sep-2020 11:20

We're a small software company, so not enough demand to have an full-time migration / help-desk / migration expert.

There's a lot of farming specialized knowledge, and it's rather complex.

For most farmers, the difference between going bankrupt and staying in business easily comes down to a few percent tweaks. Many farmers have million dollar loans and huge yearly spends, and wind up with a few tens of thousands left after paying expenses.

The accounting can range from a single-owner single-tractor small farm, to farms with thousand of animals / complex crops, and millions of dollars in futures, loans and equipment and lots of seasonal workers.

There's a lot of red tape from everything to inventory of dangerous chemicals, reporting industrial accidents, environmental reports, animal tracking, crop rotations, tracking vet care, ...

That why a lot of farms are run for generations by a few people.

gzt

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#2569131 21-Sep-2020 12:06

Salary range is missing

kingdragonfly

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#2569282 21-Sep-2020 13:35

In the original post

"I'm looking for feedback on an "Accountant / help desk / sales" position, in particular salary range."