Included here are examples of three essential documents used in the MATCH hiring process (in this example, for a controller).
Job description. The title should be an attention grabber that mentions both your type of company and the open position. Follow this title with:
The org chart, which allows the candidate to see very quickly where he or she will fit into the organization.
A brief description of the company and the primary, initial objectives. This section must include the size of the company and the industry.
More details of the skills, requirements, and other considerations. In this case, we have also added the salary. Many companies leave the salary off job descriptions. We do see some value in that, but in this case, the position is right in line with market, so no need to downplay it.
Interview questions. An internally shared series of questions that would be asked to the candidates who are being interviewed. The idea to stress is that each candidate is asked the same questions so that you can compare apples to apples.
Reference call questions. At least three references should be called for any candidate—in the case of controller, we'd suggest many more. As with the candidate interview questions, the questions should remain consistent for each reference to ensure a consistent comparison.
Controller with expected growth to CFO for expanding service organization Seeks Controller with Growth to CFO
The controller of this growing $10 million service organization will be responsible for managing the finance division. The first priority will be to streamline the accounting systems. Other duties include implementing an inventory control system. Costs need to be analyzed and contained. Dashboard reports providing quick views of the organization will need to be implemented. The right person in this role will grow to CFO.
The controller will report directly to the CEO and will be responsible for the following duties:
Establish and maintain the organization's accounting principles, practices, procedures, and initiatives in accordance with GAAP.
Prepare financial reports and present findings and recommendations to the management team.
Grow and lead a growing accounting department.
Implement strategies to increase revenue and decrease costs.
Implement cost standards that allow for scalable growth.
Develop budgets to map ongoing profitable growth.
Keep track of company assets and improve cash management strategies.
Advise management on best practices in regards to accounting or CPA firm work in the areas of tax and audit.
At least seven years of direct experience in the field. Must have proven expertise and extensive experience in planning and accomplishing corporate goals. A wide degree of creativity is expected.
Successful candidates will possess a combination of the following professional characteristics:
The desire to grow to CFO is a must.
Strong focus and appreciation of customer service.
Note: A typical interview form has three columns: Question, Response, and Comments. Fill out the form during and immediately after the interview. For the sake of saving space, we've shown just the first question in the form. Further, for the sake of this example, I have aligned the skills and competency questions with assumed prioritized areas. As I have noted throughout the book, the MATCH process is designed to produce a customized set of questions for each position. My intent here is simply to show how it all comes together.
Question | Response | Comments |
|---|---|---|
(After initial small talk and ensuring candidate is comfortable) | ||
1. Please take five minutes and walk me through your career starting with your first job after college, up to today. |
Let's focus more on your specific skills.
Take me through your experience with:
Establishing and maintaining an organization's accounting principles, practices, procedures, and initiatives in accordance with GAAP.
Preparing financial reports and presenting findings and recommendations to your management team.
Growing and leading a growing accounting department.
Increasing revenue and decreasing costs.
Implementing cost standards that allow for scalable growth.
Developing budgets to map ongoing profitable growth.
Keeping track of company assets and improving cash management strategies.
Advising management on best practices in regards to accounting or CPA firm work in the areas of tax and audit.
Now, some general question:
Describe your ideal job.
Describe your ideal industry and explain why your strengths match that industry.
What is your management style?
Under what type of management are you most effective?
What has been your best management success?
In your career, what was your toughest management hurdle, and how did you overcome it?
How many direct reports do you currently have?
What size company do you think you'd fit best in and why?
What size is your current organization?
Please give me an example of a time where you went above and beyond in the area of customer service.
What initiative or project were you able to implement that had the biggest impact on the bottom line for your current organization?
What is the biggest mistake you have ever made in your career?
What are your greatest strengths? Give me an example of how you apply those strengths.
What are your greatest weaknesses, and how do you manage those weaknesses?
If I were to talk to your references, what do you think they would describe as your strengths/weaknesses?
How do you deal with stress?
Please give me an example of a time where you allowed stress to get to you at the workplace.
Describe a recent incident where you encountered a nonperformer. How did you deal with it? What was the outcome?
What has been the toughest career obstacle you have encountered, and how did you deal with it?
Who are your career role models and why?
What is your favorite business book and why?
If you were hired for this position, what would you do during your first week? Month?
How do you set goals?
How many hours per week did you work last year?
What motivates you?
What are your long-term goals?
As with the interview questions, the questions for the candidate's references should have columns for the question, response, and comments. For the sake of saving space, only the first question here is put into the typical format.
Question | Response | Comments |
|---|---|---|
Introduce nature of the call 1._______ has listed you as a reference, please let me know in what capacity and during what time you had the opportunity to work with ________. |
Let's focus on specific skills.
Take me through __________'s experience with:
Establishing and maintaining an organization's accounting principles, practices, procedures, and initiatives in accordance with GAAP.
Preparing financial reports and presenting findings and recommendations to your management team.
Growing and leading a growing accounting department.
Increasing revenue and decreasing costs.
Implementing cost standards that allow for scalable growth.
Developing budgets to map ongoing profitable growth.
Keeping track of company assets and improving cash management strategies.
Advising management on best practices in regards to accounting or CPA firm work in the areas of tax and audit.
Now, some general questions:
Describe __________'s ideal job.
Describe __________'s ideal industry and explain why his/her strengths match that industry.
What is __________'s management style?
Please give me an example of a time where __________ went above and beyond in the area of customer service.
What initiative or project was __________ able to implement that had the biggest impact on the bottom line for his/her current organization?
What are __________'s greatest strengths? Give me an example of how he/she applies those strengths.
What are __________'s greatest weaknesses, and how does he/she manage those weaknesses?
How does __________ deal with stress?
What motivates __________?
I am considering hiring __________ as a controller with growth to CFO. In that role, he/she will be doing __________. What are your thoughts on him/her in that role?
Is there anything else that I should know about?