Are you too looking for great talent?
You’re not alone. According to the Corporate Finance & Accounting Talent Study 2026, 61% of finance leaders have experienced either minor or significant shortages of CPAs and accountants.
The problem is that most firms are taking the exact same approach.
They rely on job boards and recruiters. And when everyone uses the same methods, everyone ends up competing for the same pool of talent.
Here’s the good news: there’s a better way.
Today, I’m going to show you how to build an inbound recruiting system that attracts qualified candidates to your firm, so you’re no longer completely dependent on recruiters and job boards.
No time to read? Watch the video instead: https://youtu.be/VhaB5d4RR-I
How to Create an Inbound Recruiting System Two Ways
There are two routes you can take when you build an inbound recruiting system. I’m going to cover both, so you can decide which one will work best for your firm. Many of the firms we work with actually utilize both types of systems.
Route 1: Organic Social Media
The first route is organic social media, and this is a great option if you:
- Want some new talent, but don’t need a TON of new talent
- Aren’t waiting to spend at least money on paid advertising
For this strategy, I want you to go over to LinkedIn using your personal page or someone at your firm’s personal page.
Now, start thinking about who it is you want to hire because you’ll need this information for the next step.
Start Conversations
Once you have a clearer idea of your ideal candidate, you can use Sales Navigator to get specific on who the person is, start connecting with them and start having conversations with them.
When I talk about having conversations with them, I don’t mean that you should say, “Hey, I have this job opening. Do you want to apply?”
If you were meeting someone in person, you would never walk up to them and say that.
Instead, I want you to have a conversation with them.
Ask them:
- How are things going at the firm you’re working at?
- What are you most excited about?
Get to know them as a human.
Why does that matter?
Algorithms are smart. They’re going to see that you’re having conversations with these types of people.
This means that they’re:
- Going to start showing these people your content, and
- Recommend your profile to more types of people like the ones you’re conversing with
Algorithms will see that not only are you interacting with these types of people, but they’re also interacting with you. That feeds the algorithm and has a compound effect over time.
Along with having conversations with these people, I also want you to start commenting on any posts they’re publishing and on other people’s posts that are like them.
Create the Right Type of Content
Engaging with people and starting conversations is only one piece of the puzzle.
I also want you to start creating content that:
- Talks about your leadership
- Shows what it’s like to work at your firm
- Helps people get to know you as a person
Can you ever post about having a job opening? Absolutely. But we don’t want that to be the main bulk of your content.
The content that shows what it’s like to work at your firm and helps people get to know you is what builds trust and relationships.
Engagement and Content Work Together
You’ve been starting conversations and posting great content about your firm and who you are. What happens now? People are getting a feel for you and your firm.
They’re seeing your posts and getting to know you.
Often, your ideal candidates aren’t even actively looking for a new firm. They’re going about their daily lives and they may have had a little thought about being interested in a new position.
These are the people that you will appeal to if you follow this strategy.
Suddenly, they’ll start raising their hands and asking, “Hey, are you hiring?”
This is the organic side of things, and it can be a powerful recruitment tool if you use it this way.
But what if we want to amplify that and start running paid ads as well?
Route 2: Paid Ads
With the organic strategy, we have to rely on the algorithm to show our posts to people. We only have so much control over the outcome.
Some firms need more volume. That’s where paid ads can really help.
With paid ads, we give it some content and say, “We want to pay to get this in front of X amount of people.”
Maybe we create a piece of content that’s a quiz or a career guide. Then, we pay to put that in front of a certain number of people.
Once a person opts in and receives their guide, you can start asking questions, like:
- What made you opt in for this guide?
- How’s your career going?
From here, you can build the relationship organically.
Now you can see why many of the firms we work with use both routes together. They go hand-in-hand in many cases.
The Bottom Line
The reality is that your ideal talent probably isn’t actively looking for a job right now, but they likely have had at least a small thought about possibly changing positions.
Your job is to show them how great it is to work at your firm and to help them get to know you through your content.
That’s how you get a predictable and consistent pipeline of talent that reaches out to you, not the other way around.
And if you need more volume or exposure, paid ads can also be built into your strategy.
