Recruiting highly skilled professionals for accounting positions remains a significant hurdle for employers. Whether the goal is to hire a CPA to work in business, government or public accounting, many organizations find it a challenge to attract candidates with the right mix of technical and soft skills.

A recent survey by Robert Half International underscores the ongoing difficulty of finding well-qualified candidates: One-in-five CFOs polled said this will be their greatest challenge in the next 12 months. Low unemployment rates for college-educated professionals and continuing strong demand for skilled financial talent have combined to keep the recruiting environment highly competitive.

In this environment, a well thought-out job description becomes an even more important tool because it forms the foundation for your recruiting efforts as well as a solid reference tool once individuals are hired. An effective description delivers the following benefits:

• Helps to prevent hiring mistakes by accurately capturing the essence of a job
• Outlines key hiring criteria
• Gives candidates a clear idea of what's expected of them if hired
• Serves as a reference tool in screening resumes and evaluating candidates
• Offers a performance benchmark after candidates are hired

The job description should be the basis of the job ad you create. As a result, the more time you spend refining it and ensuring that it's an accurate reflection of the requirements of a position, the more success you'll ultimately have in hiring and retaining the right people.

It may help to think of the job description as a "snapshot" of the job you're seeking to fill and of the type of person who would succeed in the role. Following are typical categories of job descriptions along with tips for making them as effective as possible:

Position title. Companies typically use the formal, full job title and, often, the title of the person to whom candidates would report. Make sure the title accurately conveys the nature and level of the position. You want to guard against overblown job titles, in particular. Although impressive-sounding titles might help attract candidates, they create false expectations and can ultimately lead to hiring problems.

General description. This short section, usually consisting of two to three sentences, outlines the overall responsibilities of the position. As you're putting together this part of the description, don't rely solely on what a job has entailed in the past. If the responsibilities of the position are evolving, be sure to capture what the job consists of now and what it may become in the near future.

Key responsibilities. Sometimes a bulleted list, this category describes specific tasks that applicants will be asked to perform on an ongoing basis. For example, the duties of a staff accountant in a public accounting firm might include preparing audit workpapers and conducting initial evaluations of internal controls. Take care to avoid blurring the distinction between responsibilities or tasks associated with the job and other special attributes needed by an applicant, which would be described in the next category.

Skills and attributes. Outline the knowledge, skills, experience, attitudes or traits needed to be successful in the role and within your corporate culture. Be sure to exert as much time and effort identifying the soft skills that are required as you would the hard skills. These intangible attributes or behaviors are especially important because, more often than not, new hires fail to work out, not because of insufficient technical skills, but because they lack the necessary interpersonal qualities. Although a hundred applicants might have the CPA designation that's called for, chances are that a much smaller number will have the soft skills needed to work in a collaborative, team-oriented environment.

Educational requirements. Include any academic degrees, licenses, certifications or training a candidate must have to be eligible for the position.

Although it is natural for managers who are urgently seeking to fill open positions or expand their staff to want to rush the hiring process, resist the pressure to simply post a job advertisement as soon as possible. By taking the time to develop a thorough description of what a position entails, you'll lay the groundwork for an effective job advertisement — and, ultimately, a solid hiring decision.

Founded in 1948, Robert Half Finance & Accounting, a division of Robert Half International, is one of the world’s first and largest specialized financial recruitment service. The company has more than 360 locations throughout North America, South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, and offers online job search services at www.roberthalf.com.