How one accounting professional is pitching in to solve a workforce crisis.
“Every day I hear a level of panic from clients,” says Katy Gagne, who helps businesses find accounting and finance talent amidst a national shortage of trained professionals. The number of accounting grads has been declining for years, and businesses are feeling the crunch.
“They need to replace retirees, or employees are moving out of state, or they’re just realizing some executives simply won’t come back to the office,” says Katy. And there aren’t enough graduates in the pipeline to replace them.
It’s a problem she’s passionate about.
As an accountant herself, Katy knows how many opportunities the career can provide. She’s worked the financial side of everything from mergers and acquisitions to business intelligence to financial planning, and she’s passionate about getting the next generation excited about the possibilities.
These days, she’s taking an active approach to the problem as part of Scouts Talent, an on-demand employment firm that places accounting and finance professionals in interim, project-based, and fractional roles for businesses of all sizes. Through a program called One-to-One, Scouts is helping to reverse the shortage—by directly supporting students who are pursuing an accounting degree.
Supporting graduates to support the industry
Here’s what Katy loves about the One-to-One program: With each consultant placed by Scouts, part of the revenue sponsors an accounting class for a student at Metropolitan State University encouraging more to come into the profession.
This financial support is significant for the Metro State students—many of whom are raising families and working full-time while they pursue their degree—but Scouts’ investment extends beyond the money. Once those students graduate, the Scouts team mentors them with one-on-one resume and interviewing advice and, when they see a good fit, they’ll make introductions, connect the grads with local businesses for internship or job opportunities.
Katy sees the difference this program is making.
“Some groups are talking about this workforce crisis, but few people are doing anything about it,” says Katy. “That’s what really attracted me to Scouts.”
In the meantime, Katy works with businesses to creatively solve their hiring challenges. “What is the issue? What is your fear? I’m the queen of whiteboarding solutions!” she says.
Learn more about how Scouts Talent is giving back and supporting the industry.
