Business valuation is a worldwide phenomenon. As an industry, it may not have the history…
Dennis Reinstein, Partner
Hooper Cornell
Boise, ID
Hooper Cornell is a local CPA firm with 4 partners and a staff of 20. Our firm has developed a robust practice in litigation support and business valuation, in addition to the normal complement of accounting and tax services.
The growth of our specialty practice had stalled out because of the workload and we knew we needed a highly qualified valuation/litigation expert to supplement and support the work of our two senior partners.
We floundered for about a year and a half testing the tried, but unproductive classified ads and electronic job services. Those sources brought in a lot of resumes, e-mails and phone calls – some of which were entertaining, most of which were irritating and none of which were responsive or acceptable. We weren’t making any progress and we were too busy to devote more time to that which would eventually free up some of our time and add some depth and longevity to our specialty practice.
We happened on to John Borrowman as a result of an advertisement for his salary survey. When following up on the survey ad, we noticed that John provided recruiting services. An inquiry brought a surprisingly prompt reply from John asking how he could help in our recruiting saga.
We were suspicious of “head hunters” – after all; consider the origin of the name. We had worked with others in the past that were more interested in their fee than the successful placement of a quality recruit. However, faced with the reality of our lack of success, we decided to give John a try. How could we do any worse?
In a short while John provided us with the names of two individuals whom he thought would meet our needs. In all we interviewed 3 or 4 individuals and hired one who has worked out very well for us. John got us focused, helped us work through the intricacies of the hiring process and kept us on task. John proved to be an effective and valuable resource to us by weeding through the masses and getting us to those individuals who were truly qualified to meet our needs.
So in today’s high tech world, why isn’t it easier to find someone? Before John’s help, the speed of high tech world only brought us to the same old dead end, just with more volume and maybe a little faster. There’s no doubt that who you know is what matters in your ultimate success, not only in conducting a successful professional practice, but also in locating and hiring quality recruits.
