Amtec Hiring Guides

How to Hire Chief Financial Officers in San Francisco

Amtec Hiring Guides

How to Hire Chief Financial Officers in San Francisco

Current Environment

Hiring a Chief Financial Officer for your company can seem like a daunting task and something that you may not need or be able to afford. However, not having a CFO can actually be more expensive than hiring one. A successful CFO Recruiter will apply a process for identifying a top-notch candidate who matches both the required qualifications and is a long-term cultural fit with your company.

A chief financial officer can help your company generate the requirements for operational and departmental budgets, create and enforce operational policies that increase systemic efficiency and reduce costs, and manage or co-manage all banking activities, financial agreements, and funding as well as debt sources.

History

For most of the 20th Century, the role of the chief financial officer didn’t exist. However, after the regulatory changes of the 1970s, companies had to take financial considerations much more seriously than they ever did before.

Then, as mergers became particularly popular in the 1980s, companies learned that they needed to perform better or get swallowed up by the competition. CFOs became indispensable for identifying the weakest performing business units and helping them to grow and improve efficiency.

Today, 70% of billion-dollar companies have expanded the role of their chief financial officer to include strategic business analysis. Of course, your company doesn’t need to be a billion-dollar company to hire a CFO. The vast majority (76%) of 250 surveyed CFOs see themselves as a “navigator,” well equipped to guide their teams through fluctuating economic conditions.

Will COVID-19 Affect the Finance Field?

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected employment and the job market, however, the role of the CFO has become increasingly important for companies as they look to recover from the economic challenges experienced in the past year. Describing their future priorities, 86% of CFO respondents say they will be required to protect their organization today while enabling future growth. Also, the CFO will continue to need to focus on traditional mandates, such as corporate reporting, along with new ones like overseeing digital transformation.

2021 has seen a mix of responses as economies start to open up once again now that the distribution of the vaccine has increased. There is much to be hopeful about. The role of the CFO will be front and center in helping economies – big and small – to recover and prepare for the future. In fact, with the right talent, preparation and insights, CFOs can successfully navigate their company through a crisis—and emerge stronger.

How will Recruiting chief financial officers Help Your Company?

How will Hiring chief financial officers Help Your Company?

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, a company’s CFO is more integral to operations than ever. In fact, about 41% of CFOs spend the majority of their time on non-finance-related activities, fueling data-driven decisions across the business.

The role and responsibilities of the job are rapidly changing. It’s clear that for the modern CFO, the job description now includes business strategist. These company power players are expanding their traditional responsibilities and tapping the power of data analytics to forecast and make strategic decisions to fuel business success. By providing company stakeholders with a holistic view of the entire organization, the CFO takes center stage and enables the executive team and board of directors to embark on a rapid growth trajectory.

chief financial officer Details

Responsibilities

Before we get to exactly how to hire the best Chief Financial Officer, let’s review some of the details of the job.

CFOs are responsible for managing the financial decisions of a company or organization. They are often responsible for executing the company’s financial strategy, developing plans for growth to increase company profit while also reducing expenditure, identifying investment opportunities and managing mergers and acquisitions, and assisting the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to develop financial plans.

Additional job responsibilities:

  • Manage accounting procedures and generally an accounting and finance staff
  • Financial forecasting
  • US GAAP
  • Understanding of compliance and regulations
  • Finance/cash management
  • Accounts payable/receivable
  • Big data and analytics
  • Mathematics
  • Leadership abilities
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Have a growth mindset and the ability to instill that in others.

Looking for another position? View other positions we place in San Francisco, California.

Education

Most CFO positions require a Bachelor’s degree, and many CFOs require a CPA, CFA, and/or an MBA and significant experience in the financial industry (5+ years). Some experienced CFOs may be able to use their years of experience to replace an academic degree. While candidates can complete a degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Finance, or Accounting, a wide variety of degrees may qualify someone for the role, depending on their previous experience.

Top Schools – US News & World Report rankings.

Top Schools

  •

    University of Texas at Austin

  • BYU-Provo

  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2019 U.S. National Data

Salary Range

chief financial officers in the U.S.

$57k
Low
$135k
Average
$208k
High

$k

Average
Salary

$

Average
Hourly
2252k

Total chief financial officers Employed in the U.S.

57.9%

Men

42.1%

Women

chief financial officer Salary Comparison

National

CFOs are typically lumped in with other C-Suite executives. According to the BLS, there is a projection that there will be an average amount of growth in the next 10 years. The role of the CFO will continue to be more complex and more technologically driven, thus all but guaranteeing that, as long as there is money involved with a company, there will be a growing need for experts in the role.

California

The average annual salary for chief financial officers in California was k in 2019. The hourly wage averaged $.

For more detailed compensation information for chief financial officers in San Francisco, download our free compensation/salary report below.

Working in San Francisco

Do chief financial officers find the beautiful seaside city of San Francisco a good place to live and work? Most people say yes, although some of that is based on good-paying, steady employment. Those with high-paying jobs love the city, and those without struggle financially with the high cost of living.

As the de facto national hub of tech and innovation, jobs in these fields are highly valued and in demand. Companies regularly entice the best candidates with the lure of living in this picturesque and diverse city, and for those top-notch candidates, the salaries are some of the heftiest in the U.S.

Here are a few first-hand comments about the pros and cons of living and working in the City by the Bay.

Pros

    • Tech leadership: From startups to established industry leaders,  like Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Salesforce, the city attracts world-class business, capital, and talent from all over the world.
    • 350,000 tech jobs. Between San Francisco and its close neighbor San Jose, 200,000 digital services jobs have been added since 2010, concentrating 11% of the nation’s digital services employment, equalling nearly 350,000 of the nation’s 3.1 million total tech jobs, according to Brookings Institution research.
    • Dog culture. If you have a special, four-legged friend, you will love San Francisco. From dog parks to dog hotels and even dog-friendly workplaces, accommodations for your furry friend are everywhere.
    • Ethnic diversity. A minority-majority city, it boasts an ethnically diverse population and celebrates the culture and history of Chinese-Americans, Latinos, Italians, and more. The LGBTQ+ community is a driving force of this community, and its members and supporters are loud and proud.
    • Beauty and history. The cityscape of San Franciso and its surrounding communities is magnificent, from the spectacular Golden Gate Bridge, and historic Fisherman’s Warf, and so many cultural attractions, it’s a great place to spend time.

However, living in this urban paradise comes at a price. The con that stands out the most for San Francisco’s current and wanna-be residents is housing costs, and a few more.

Cons

    • Housing: It’s one of the most expensive areas in the world to live. It has a staggering average monthly rent of $3,111. The median home value is a staggering more than $1.3M.
    • The homelessness crisis. San Francisco’s homeless problem is also more visible than it is in other cities and an especially stark contrast with the wealth in the city.
    • Not great for kids. San Francisco, population 865,000, has roughly the same number of dogs as children: 120,000.
    • Weather. Although this is not a con for all, the city is notoriously foggy, creating what some consider bone-chilling cold in the winter.
San Francisco, California

Current Weather

Not your city? View other cities where we place chief financial officers.

Demand for chief financial officers in San Francisco

Demand for chief financial officers in San Francisco

Chief financial officers are responsible for the care and strategic forecasting of the whole of the company’s finances. As such, they can expect to be well compensated for the high levels of responsibility that accompany the job. As long as companies involve money, there will continue to be a place for the chief financial officer.

The supply of candidates and demand for open positions have a direct correlation to a company's ability to hire. Download a free Supply and Demand report for chief financial officers in San Francisco, California below.

How to Hire the Best chief financial officers

Finding and hiring the best chief financial officer candidates can save you money right away and well into the future.

The costs of making a bad hire are well documented. The cost can run as much as 30% of the employee's first-year earnings according to the US Department of Labor. Bad hires can cost a whopping $240,000 in expenses related to hiring, compensation, and retention per The Undercover Recruiter. 74% of companies who admit they've hired the wrong person for a position lost an average of $14,900 for each bad hire according to CareerBuilder. These statistics support our long-held position that behavioral questions are the best way to get to know your candidates and past behavior is the best indicator of future performance.

Recruiting Best Practices

The information below comes from the best practices Amtec uses for finding the highest quality candidates.

Defining the Position

When defining the role you are creating, we recommend a position profile to fully evaluate the position you are hiring for. You must decide if the engineer can work remotely or must work in California. If working in San Francisco is essential, make sure you include that in your job posting so candidates can decide how many miles they can commute.

How to Source the Best Candidates

When you are looking to source the best quality candidates for your open positions, make sure you have done the legwork to hire an "A Player". You can do this by making sure your company's perspective is aligned with the current market, you have taken into account the job responsibilities, as well as what type of characteristics you are looking for to fit your company culture. Then proceed to write a job posting to attract high-quality candidates.

Characteristics of chief financial officers

According to many reports, while the mainstays of the chief financial officer have and will remain the same, the CFO of the future will increasingly be called upon to:

  • Take on organizational strategy, which is particularly daunting for a large organization with multiple divisions, locations, or business units.
  • Be an internal negotiator, cheerleader, and decision-maker, as the person in the role is ultimately responsible for favorable financial results.
  • Be a leader and company spokesperson regarding financial results

In today’s fast-paced business environment, the role of the CFO is extremely fluid; hence, hiring the right person is critical for your organization.

How to Screen Candidates

You wrote a job posting, posted the position online, and received a lot more resumes than you’d bargained for! Next comes the enormous task of sorting through those resumes to eliminate the ones that are clearly not a good fit. Now, you have a stack of resumes for candidates who have potential. So how do you go about screening the remaining candidates?

It starts on the phone! As a recruiter, the goal of your telephone screening is to learn more about your candidates. You can confirm that they have the educational qualifications and relevant experience, but you also need to determine if they would fit into your company's culture. To make this job easier, use a system to consistently evaluate results. This way you can equally and objectively compare candidates and evaluate their "soft skills", like communication and thinking process. Download Amtec's Professional Assessment Questionnaire below to help with screening candidates.

Free Professional Assessment Questionnaire

An individually customized questionnaire that helps assess a candidate's competence with written communication skills, thinking processes, and other relevant skills.

How to Interview Candidates

At Amtec, we believe in the power of behavoral interview questions to go beyond the experience and skills listed on the candidate's resume. Although you will want to confirm in the interview that the candidate does indeed have the experience listed on their resume, your assessment needs to go much deeper than that. An interview using behavioral questions can help you determine how well the candidate will fit with your company culture.

Download Amtec's best practices on conducting super effective interviews to find the best candidates and fill your open jobs.

Behavioral Interview Guide

Get the info you need to hire the best chief financial officers

Free Interview Guide