Sara Sabin, tipped to become one of the UK’s top tech entrepreneurs in the accountancy space next year has been busy building one of the most in demand and much needed portals for the accountancy sector.
Whilst most tech firms are still only predominantly focusing on helping accountants streamline their processes, Sara is looking at things a little different.
And that’s by challenging the way practices recruit for new staff.
Sara, an ACA qualified accountant, trained in the tax department of a Top 10 accounting firm, founded ProCircle in 2016 which is a rapidly accelerating professional networking site for Accountants.
We were fortunate enough to catch up with Sara to ask her a few questions.
Q1) Hi Sara, thank you so much for meeting us and congratulations on starting ProCircle. What inspired you to start it?
“Thank you so much for having me!
I look at the world around me and wonder why it is that things must be done in a certain way. When I was little, my mum always used to answer my questions with ‘because’. For me, the answer ‘because that’s the way it’s always been done’ just doesn’t cut it.
As I progressed in my career, I always wondered why finding a new job worked in a certain way.
Fast forward ten years and I created exactly what I would have liked to see when I was a professional. ProCircle.
Accountants have a bad rep as boring, grey people. The ones I know are sportspeople, love travelling, love surfing. I want to give them more time to do the things they love.What I’m suggesting will disrupt the accountancy recruitment industry for good.
My vision – every job seeking accounting professional in the UK to find their next job on ProCircle.
A survey carried out in 2016, in conjunction with LinkedIn, suggests that 85% of people now find their job through networking. The accounting industry is nowhere near that figure. Isn’t it time they caught up?The benefits of networking to find your next job are:
Both sides of the table are more likely to find a better fit. Chances are if you enjoy talking to someone and share their values, you are more likely to enjoy working together.Which means that you are more likely to find someone who will be employed for the longer term.”
Q2) Can you tell me a little more about why you focussed on improving the Networking concept for Accountants and how you see it working.
“I realise networking takes time.
If only we all had the time to network, recruitment could be a lot easier.
We would meet people, form an assessment about them and potentially forego the need for expensive recruitment fees.
Great advice in theory but the reality is that most of us don’t do anywhere near as much networking as we should. Myself included!
We’re all busy people and finding the time is challenging. It’s much easier to pick up the phone to a recruiter. Perhaps, you wish you could network more but even when you have done it, you would have liked to get better outcomes from it?
Now, I’ve built a solution where you don’t have to leave your desk (unless you want to) to network with professionals who are the right fit for your team.
After all, everything is moving online, right?
That’s where a platform like LinkedIn comes into play. You can connect with a whole host of professionals online.
The great thing about LinkedIn is there are millions of people on it (500M+).
And the bad thing? There are millions of people on it.
If you’re looking for a particular type of professional, it’s better to go to a niche platform.
ProCircle ONLY caters for the accounting and tax community.
The future of recruitment is an easy, more cost-effective way to find employees, and s/he will ALSO be a perfect fit for your team.
Our advanced matching algorithm brings the focus back to quality, not quantity – better to have 3 great matches, then 20 average ones.
Bringing the human element back – no more job boards, no more recruiters.”
Q3) So by combining A.I with niche platform concept you have created a social networking site based around recruitment with an advanced matching algorithm. Can you tell me more about that?
“Our advanced matching algorithm suggests connections with professionals that you might want to hire, based on your candidate specifications. And best of all, we incorporate a personality questionnaire into our platform, so you are more likely to find the perfect team fit.
You only need communicate with suitable, interested candidates, where you want to.Only if a match request is sent and accepted can you start communicating. Eradicating pointless, awkward conversations.”
Q4) So by doing that you have effectively automating the traditional recruiters role?
“Yes, exactly.
The system automates the matching process for you. And best of all, no more expensive recruitment commissions!
Sounds great. And for any firms out there looking to test drive ProCircle, how easy is it for them to get started?
We’re offering employers 3 months FREE use of the platform during the beta phase. All they need to do is:
1. Contact me at sara@procircle.co to claim their discount code
2. Sign up to the platform and fill out their company information
3. Choose a subscription package
4. Create their candidate profiles and start matching!”
For more information, visit https://www.procircle.co/signup/employer-register
Sara, thanks so much for talking to us and we wish you the very best over 2018 and beyond.
Should anyone want to talk to Sara directly then contact her at sara@procircle.co and/or look at the Sign-Up page for more information https://www.procircle.co/signup/employer-register
