The Top 8 of '08

What a year it's been. The election, the economy, the Olympics, the weather are just a few of the things that have made 2008 one of most amazing years in recent memory. This year has brought numerous personal and professional challenges and victories for me as well.

One of the achievements that I'll most remember from this year was the launch of Success starts here. This corporate recruiting blog has been a few years in the making (in my mind), but five months, 50+ posts and 3800+ visitors (3K in the last three months) later, it's off to a good start in my estimation. There's alot more for us to do here at Success starts here however. In 2009, we'll have new contributors, more multimedia, and more opportunities for this to be an interactive forum as well. And if there is anything that you would like to see here, tell us!

Above all, I'd like to thank Ken, BJ, LoriAnn, Jay, Todd and Dave (and many many more) for their contributions and support of Success starts here. The success of this blog wouldn't be possible without everyone's enthusiastic participation.

This will be the final post for 2008 as most of us will be taking time off between now and the new year. To wrap up 2008, I'd like adapt the tradition of end-of-year 'Best Of' list making, and offer up to you my Top 8 of '08. My selections (in chronological order) are purely subjective in nature, based solely on my opinion. So, without further adieu...

• What Does Public Accounting Look Like - The Interns in our Phoenix, AZ office developed this incredibly creative video as part of a summer project.


• The Big Give - One of many great examples of the numerous local community service activities McGladrey is involved with.


• Iowa is for Winners - Ira would of been very proud this year of Iowa's own Shawn and Zach Johnson.


• Importance of Networking - Never has networking been so important for professional survival.


• The Power of Influence - The McGladrey launches a website directly geared to those who are a significant resource to young professionals as they make their career decisions.


• Women RISE and SHINE - An inspirational story about one of our great female Partners in Southern California.


• Podcast: What Not To Do In An Interview - Tiffany, Todd and I had alot of fun putting this together.


• Best Accounting Firms? McGladrey is One - McGladrey makes Accounting Today's first ever Best Accounting Firms to Work For list.

Ask BJ - The difference between applying to a job and the on-line employment application

We’ve recently received several questions from candidates asking:

“What is the difference between applying for a job on the McGladrey Career Center and completing an on-line employment application? Why am I asked to do both?”

When you create a Career Center Profile and you apply to a specific job, that is indicating that you want to be considered for that open position. Once you are engaged in the interview stage, you will be asked to complete our firm’s employment application, which is done through our on-line process.

Surveying our way to Success

30 to 60 days after you have been hired by McGladrey, you get an email from me to complete a survey. This survey essentially measures your experience in our hiring process from the time we invite you in for an interview up to your first day of employment. The survey also provides us with valuable information regarding what resources our new hires used while looking for a new job, and why they accepted our offer of employment.

Overall, the results have been very positive, but we do get negative feedback as well. By allowing our new hires to leave comments, we have been able to learn more details regarding what may of not gone well in their experience, therefore providing us insight into what process improvements may be necessary if those issues were discovered to be systemic.

I was reviewing the most recent survey results just last week when I came across a comment that was not just very positive in nature, but glowing to the extent that I felt it should be shared with you. Susan C., a recently hired Tax Supervisor in our Greensboro, NC office had this to say about her experience in our hiring process:

“It was a wonderful experience. After getting a few offers from other public accounting firms and industry firms - McGladrey was just perfect! I immediately loved the people during the interview process and was ecstatic about the additional responsibility with this role. I feel McGladrey, above any other public firm that I know, really puts an emphasis on the people. We don't just feel like an assembly line …we feel like a team here. Even with the other offers, accepting with McGladrey was easy with the great opportunity they presented working with these wonderful people. Managers even took the time to eat lunch with me after the offer, to better get a feel of what I would be doing. Everyone did a great job making me feel welcome - including beautiful flowers sent to my house - which made me feel SO much better after I gave my resignation (to my previous employer). This was a wonderful experience and you guys are doing a great job with recruiting.”

Kudos to the Carolinas Economic Unit and their Talent Acquisition Manager, Caroline Cash, for delivering such a spectacular experience for Susan. And thank you Susan for sharing with us such glowing words of appreciation.

Have you interviewed with McGladrey? Do you have any comments to share? If so, please share them with us here. We are always seeking ways to ensure that our hiring process is a gratifying, engaging and productive experience.

Social Media Props for McGladrey

So I'm on LinkedIn earlier this week, and in the company-related news section (which I love BTW) was a blog post about McGladrey's relationship with Natalie Gulbis and the "Who's Behind Your Success" promotion. We posted information about this promotion earlier this year, so I was very familiar with what it was all about.

What I didn't know however was the extent our Marketing department went to reach out to online social media. The blog post goes on to praise McGladrey as being

"...ahead of the curve not only in the accounting/finance world, but in the general business world with respect to their marketing strategies. They have incorporated social media marketing and succeeded with it while some companies are still trying to hone in on what the difference between and blog and a discussion board actually is. This is a big step forward for the blogosphere, RSM McGladrey and Natalie Gulbis"

Very nice compliments indeed. I like to think that we are being progressive with Success starts here, as we are one of only a few companies that actually have active corporate recruiting blogs (along with Microsoft (and here), Sodexo, and HCA West Florida). Corporate blogging, whether marketing or recruiting-related however is still in it's infancy.

Our marketing department has been very supportive of our efforts to date, so it's great to see them recognized in the blogosphere for their open willingness to embrace social media.

McGladrey is a 2008 Best Place to Work in Charlotte

The awards and recognition keep rolling in this year. Our Charlotte, NC office was just recently named by Charlotte Business Journal as a Best Place To Work in the midsized business category. The office moved to it's new location in the SouthPark neighborhood just this past year. The office houses not only our Audit, Tax and Business Consulting staff, but also our National Marketing organization. Team McGladrey members Zach Johnson, Chris DiMarco and Natalie Gulbis have stopped by on occasion for a visit.

Results were gathered via an employee survey completed by more than 80 percent of Charlotte office employees. The survey posed questions about employees overall experience working for the firm as well as specifics related to leadership and effectiveness. This is the first year that the firm has participated in this survey and the local leadership has been enthusiastic about the feedback received indicating employees are engaged and excited to work for the firm. The top three areas that we scored the highest in were Individual Contribution, Trust with Coworkers and Trust in Senior Leaders.

National 'best place to work' awards are great, and we do get those. But I like local recognition just as much. Congrats to our Queen City teammates on this great achievement!

Running and Walking To Raise Lung Cancer Awareness

The following post was contributed by Monica Luke, Campus Recruiter in our Philadelphia Economic Unit.

The Philadelphia Economic Unit participated in the Free to Breathe Lung Cancer 5K Run/Walk on Sunday, November 2nd which took the runners/walkers along the Schuylkill River down Kelly Drive alongside Philadelphia’s famous Boat House Row. We had a great turnout of employees, clients, family and friends and raised over $1,200 for the National Lung Cancer Partnership.

To up the ante, we added a friendly competition between two McGladrey teams to see which team could round up more participants. After tallying up the final results, the winning team won by just two points with great representation from both sides!!

Congratulations to Katie B., the daughter of Jim B., Audit Director, who finished second among females and 13th overall with a time of 20:09. Chris I., Audit Associate and our highest finishing employee, completed the race in 21:42 finishing 26th overall. Not too shabby!

The National Lung Cancer Partnership is a group of leading doctors and researchers, patient advocates, and lung cancer survivors who are working together to improve treatments for lung cancer patients. They are dedicated to raising public awareness of the disease and generating funding for lung cancer research.

This Free to Breathe® event raised public awareness of lung cancer. The proceeds from the Free to Breathe® event will help fund the National Lung Cancer Partnership’s research program.