I've spent five years in recruitment, the most recent stretch of it in public practice accounting here in Queensland. The thing that's surprised me is why most people quit their role.

“I’m keen to grow” or “I want a salary increase” is usually the reason they give. It's rarely the reason they truly start looking.

They start looking when the flexibility they were promised quietly disappears during the busy season. When they ask about their career pathway and hear "let's revisit next month”. When they've been reviewing staff work for a year and still have the old title and salary.

None of this shows up in an exit interview. People are polite on the way out.

The firms that hold on to their people aren't always the ones paying top of the market rates. They're the ones who check in before the review, not at it. They follow through on the small promises. They communicate to their team about growth trajectories before they have to ask.

One accountant I placed has a growing young family and needs flexibility that actually holds up. His firm gave it to him, paid for his study clawback upfront, and has since given him another $12,000 raise without him having to push for it. He's not going anywhere. Nobody gets far calling him either, because he doesn't need to take the call.

That's the whole thing, really. Make sure your best people have no reason to entertain the call when a recruiter rings.

Including me.

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Em