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Recruitment

Find news and best practice for recruitment procedures, assessment methods and interviewing with our selection of articles, guides and online resources.

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Latest on recruitment

Read our latest features and articles on recruitment.
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How to fill talent gaps through social mobility
  • Article
  • 10 Dec 2025
BDO is using a school leavers scheme to identify more talent outside of the usual pools. Its Head of Audit for Scotland explains how it works.
Image of Victoria Street and West Bow in Edinburgh, on a sunny day. Shoppers are in the street and bunting hangs between the shops.
Employers warned to avoid payroll tax credits schemes
  • Article
  • 18 Nov 2025
HMRC has published a briefing warning employers and recruitment agencies against using “fraudulent” schemes that claim to reduce employment taxes.
Image of Victoria Street and West Bow in Edinburgh, on a sunny day. Shoppers are in the street and bunting hangs between the shops.
Review supply chains for mini umbrella companies, says HMRC
  • Article
  • 15 Sep 2025
HMRC is writing to employment businesses and recruitment agencies to ask them to check for and remove any mini umbrella companies (MUCs) from their supply chains.
Female in smart attire working on her laptop
Perceptions deter businesses from adopting school leaver apprenticeships
  • Article
  • 14 Feb 2025
Most businesses that recruit school leaver apprentices plan to recruit more in the next five years. However, preconceived ideas about the work it takes to offer such apprenticeships mean many organisations miss out on young talent.
Female in smart attire working on her laptop
Five in-demand skills for accountants in 2025
  • Article
  • 14 Feb 2025
We speak to recruitment experts to reveal the key skills and attributes accountants need to stand out in a competitive job market.
A pair of hands typing on the laptop keyboard
The headhunter’s view: AI means it’s time to get personal
  • Article
  • 29 Jan 2025
AI is coming for parts of your job, but if you can’t beat them, join them, says Mark Freebairn.
Female in smart attire working on her laptop
The headhunter’s view: the downside to remote working
  • Article
  • 22 Oct 2024
Want to get ahead? Get into the office, says Mark Freebairn.
Female in smart attire working on her laptop
The skills most in demand by accountancy recruiters
  • Article
  • 03 Oct 2024
Average CFO salaries in London demand £246k-plus and accountancy employers encourage staff to explore generative AI tools as demand for accountants proficient in digital transformation, automation and AI ramps up.
Read more

ICAEW recruitment resources

  • Helping you to recruit
    ICAEW programmes and services to help ACA employers promote their firms to students.
  • ICAEW Jobs
    Job portal advertising qualified accountancy roles in business, practice and the not-for-profit sector

Reports

Exclusive Special Report 52: People and skills
  • Report
  • 2016
  • PDF (4,295kb)
This quarterly report deals with recruiting and retaining the right staff with good practical tips and advice from a variety of specialists.

Webinars

How to stop accountancy’s brain drain
  • Podcast
  • 23 Aug 2024
In this episode of Behind the Numbers, we discuss ways to improve recruitment and retention in accountancy.
How accountancy can win the talent war
  • Podcast
  • 02 Mar 2023
In this ‘Insights In Focus’ episode, we discuss ways to attract and retain talent in the accounting profession.
Surviving the cost-of-doing-business crisis
  • Podcast
  • 04 Oct 2022
In this Insights in Focus episode, we discuss the major challenges facing UK businesses, including energy costs, recruitment and retention of staff, and wage inflation.
The changing landscape of job hunting
  • Webinar
  • 09 Jun 2020
Hear from expert recruiters on the impact this pandemic has had on the job market, and gain tips on how to still successfully job hunt during Covid-19.
Recruitment
  • Webinar
  • 18 Feb 2019
This ten minute webinar presented by ACAS, is part of a series on essential employment issues. This webinar covers recruitment.
More webinars

eBooks

The ICAEW Library & Information Service provides full text access to a selection of key business and reference eBooks from leading publishers. eBooks are available to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users. If you are unable to access an eBook, please see our Help and support advice or contact library@icaew.com.

Exclusive Boards that lead
  • eBook chapter
  • 2016
  • John R.S. Fraser
  • Handbook of Board Governance
This title provides comprehensive, expert-led coverage of all aspects of corporate governance for public, nonprofit, and private boards. This chapter looks at board leadership and maps out what active leadership from the board should look like. Includes a section on recruiting directors who add value and a checklist for recruiting new board members.
Exclusive CEO succession planning
  • eBook chapter
  • 2016
  • David F Larcker, James Irvin Miller, Brian Tayan
  • Handbook of Board Governance
This title provides comprehensive, expert-led coverage of all aspects of corporate governance for public, nonprofit, and private boards. This chapter reviews the process of hiring, evaluating and occasionally removing or replacing the CEO.
Exclusive Handbook of model job descriptions
  • eBook
  • 2008
  • Barry Cushway
A managers' guide to constructing job descriptions.
Exclusive Recruiting staff
  • eBook chapter
  • 2017
  • Barry Cushway
  • Employers Handbook
This chapter of the Handbook looks at the process of staff recruitment including: preparing a job description; how to recruit; interviewing and other selection methods; avoiding discrimination; making a job offer; and rejecting candidates.
Exclusive Resourcing strategies
  • eBook chapter
  • 2006
  • Michael Armstrong
  • Strategic Human Resources Management
This title provides guidance on combining human resource management with business strategy. This chapter looks at strategies for obtaining and retaining the people required and employing them efficiently.
Exclusive Staff recruitment: Selecting and picking winners
  • eBook chapter
  • 2011
  • Pat Wellington
  • Effective People Management
Chapter 6 of this title deals with the staff recruitment process: starting the selection process; interview preparation; carrying out the interview; after the interview; and the induction.
Exclusive Talent management handbook: making culture a competitive advantage by acquiring, identifying, developing and promoting the best people
  • eBook
  • 2017
  • Lance A. Berger, Dorothy Berger
A guide to finding, developing and keeping the best talent. Contains material for identifying, recruiting, positioning, and developing highly qualified, motivated people to meet current and future business requirements.
Exclusive Talent management strategy
  • eBook chapter
  • 2006
  • Michael Armstrong
  • Strategic Human Resources Management
This title provides guidance on combining human resource management with business strategy. This chapter deals with talent management strategies - the process to attract, retain, motivate and develop the talented people required.
Terms of use

You are permitted to access, download, copy, or print out content from eBooks for your own research or study only, subject to the terms of use set by our suppliers and any restrictions imposed by individual publishers. Please see individual supplier pages for full terms of use.

More HR eBooks

External resources - Guidance and advice

Access Accountancy
  • Website
  • Access Accountancy
A collaboration between employers and professional bodies to improve access to the profession for young people. The Member Resources section has a set of messages for talking to young people about a career in accountancy (requires login).
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
  • Website
  • CIPD
The CIPD website features news, training courses and research publications on a wide range of employment issues including including diversity, performance management, employee relations, recruitment and training.
Employing disabled people and people with health conditions
  • Website
  • HM Government
Government guidance on how to attract, recruit and retain disabled people
Minimum wage: work experience and internships
  • Website
  • Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Government guidance on the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage for organisations who offer work experience, including placements and internships.
Recruitment and disabled people
  • Website
  • HM Government
Government guidance on employers' responsibility to not exclude disabled people from applying for a job and reasonable adjustments they must make in the workplace.
Recruitment and hiring
  • Website
  • HM Government
Collection of government guidance for various recruitment and hiring topics such as child employment, employment checks, right to work and employing ex-offenders
Recruitment and induction
  • Website
  • Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
CIPD factsheets, podcats and reports on staff recruitment, selection methods and induction processes
Right to work checks: an employer's guide
  • Website
  • UK Visas and Immigration / Immigration Enforcement
Government guidance on how to carry out right to work checks, why you need to do them, and which documents you can use.
Terms of use

ICAEW accepts no responsibility for the content on any site to which a hypertext link from this site exists. The links are provided 'as is' with no warranty, express or implied, for the information provided within them. Please see the full copyright and disclaimer notice.

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