Recruiting trainee tax advisers in Austria: how your firm becomes their first choice

Why trainees choose the firm today

In the past, graduates sent applications to every firm in their city and took the first offer. Today it works the other way round: anyone who has finished a business or law degree and wants to become a tax adviser has a choice. Large networks recruit at universities, mid-sized firms advertise home office and study time, and the tax administration is hiring too. The small or mid-sized firm that only posts an ad saying "We are looking for reinforcement" barely registers in this comparison.

On top of that, trainees are not ordinary employees. They are pursuing a goal that requires three years of practice, a demanding professional exam and a lot of study alongside work. So they don't just ask "What will I earn?" but "Will I get to the exam here, and will I learn what I need for it?". A firm that answers this question clearly on its website and in the interview becomes the first choice, even against bigger names.

The trainee period under the WTBG 2017

To win trainees, you should know their path in detail, because that is exactly what they ask about in the interview. A Berufsanwärter:in is someone who works professionally for a licensed practitioner, for at least half of the normal working hours under the collective agreement (§ 40 WTBG 2017). The practice period starts with registration at the Chamber of Tax Advisers and Auditors (KSW). If someone changes employer, this is reported to the Chamber, and the practice already completed still counts. For you this means: a firm that doesn't convince loses its trainees without any disadvantage to them.

Three of the four papers cover the same subjects for both professions: business administration, accounting and corporate reporting, and law (§ 22 WTBG 2017). An oral part follows. Part-time work only counts proportionally, so anyone working reduced hours reaches the exam later. A seven-year time limit also applies to the exam procedure; the KSW publishes details on interruptions and registration. What happens after the exam, up to your own firm, is described in Setting up a tax advisory firm in Austria.

What trainees expect from a firm

Ask young professionals why they chose a firm and you rarely hear "the salary" alone. What matters is whether the firm gets them to the exam and stays human along the way. These points come up again and again:

• Study time and leave: paid study days before the papers, blocks of holiday without discussion, no filing deadlines in the week before the exam.
• Course fees: covering or subsidising preparation courses, for example at the Academy of Tax Advisers and Auditors (Akademie der Steuerberater:innen und Wirtschaftsprüfer:innen) or with private providers, with a clear rule on whether and when anything has to be repaid.
• Breadth of work: tax returns, annual accounts, tax audits, client meetings. Anyone who only does bookkeeping for three years has a harder time passing the exam.
• Contact person: a licensed practitioner who answers questions, reviews work and explains why something is solved a certain way.
• Predictable hours: honest information on peak season and overtime, compensation in time or money, home office where possible.
• Prospects: What happens after the exam? Working as a licensed practitioner, team lead, partnership or succession.

Pay follows the collective agreement for employees of Wirtschaftstreuhänder (tax advisers and auditors); many firms pay above it. More important than a high figure is that you explain clearly how pay develops with passed exam parts and after appointment. A clear step after the professional exam motivates more than a vague reference to "performance-based pay".

Start earlier as a training firm

Most trainees don't come out of nowhere. They had a student job in a firm, did an internship or know someone who works there. If you want to win new talent, build a pipeline that starts years before registration as a trainee:

Show these paths on your website. A firm that describes apprenticeships, internships and trainee positions side by side looks like a place where people can grow, not like a business plugging a gap.

The careers page: what applicants want to find

Before anyone applies, they look at your website, usually on their phone and often in the evening. A careers page that consists of nothing but a PDF job ad answers none of the questions trainees have. This content makes the difference:

The careers page only works if the team page fits it. Applicants look at who they would be working with: photos, professional titles, areas of focus. How to present portraits and titles correctly and why the team page is also a recruiting tool is shown in The firm's team page. Use correct titles: trainees are not "junior tax advisers" as long as they have not been appointed.

The job ad: mandatory information and clear language

In Austria every job ad must state the minimum pay for the position under the collective agreement and, if you pay more, mention your willingness to pay above it (§ 9(2) GlBG, Equal Treatment Act). The ad must also be worded in a gender-neutral way. This applies to ads on job boards as well as to positions on your own website and on social networks.

• A title people search for: "Trainee tax adviser (Berufsanwärter:in), full-time/part-time, Graz" gets found, "Talent (m/f/d) for our team" does not.
• First three sentences: what the person does, with whom and with what goal, for example "up to the professional exam as a tax adviser".
• Concrete commitments on study time, course costs and working hours, the same as on the careers page.
• Pay under the collective agreement with willingness to pay more, as a monthly or annual amount.
• Short application path: email or phone, response time, name of the contact person.

Specifics for audit firms

Anyone who wants to become an auditor needs two years of full-time work in auditing. For firms with only a few audit engagements, this is a hurdle: they can hardly offer that time. Conversely, it is a strong argument for audit firms. State on your careers page which audits you carry out, when newcomers take over their own audit areas and how much time they spend on site at clients.

The audit season between the start of the year and summer is the most common reason trainees leave an audit firm again. Honest information about peak periods, travel and compensation prevents disappointment. What else the website of an audit firm needs, from audit services to the transparency report, is covered in Website for auditors.

Your whole website does the recruiting

Applicants don't just read the careers page. They look at how the firm presents itself: Does the website look modern, are the areas of focus clear, are there recent articles, does it work on a phone? An outdated website with photos from 2012 tells young professionals that the way of working might be outdated too. Which pages a tax firm needs overall is summarised in Website for tax advisers.

• Careers in the main navigation, not hidden in the footer.
• A separate page for each entry point: apprenticeship, internship, trainee, licensed practitioner.
• Name your software and way of working, such as BMD, RZL or DATEV, digital receipts and a client portal. For many applicants this is a selection criterion.
• Current photos of the team and office instead of stock images.
• Structured data for job postings, so your ads can appear in Google for Jobs.

Common mistakes when recruiting trainees

• Only searching via job boards: anyone who clicks on the ad and finds no careers page applies elsewhere.
• Promising exam support without arranging it: at the latest before the first paper it becomes obvious that there are no study days. The disappointment spreads at the university.
• Not stating pay: in Austria it is mandatory, and ads without a figure get fewer clicks.
• Not replying for weeks: good applicants often have another offer after a week.
• Wrong titles: "tax adviser trainee" or "junior auditor" instead of the correct title Berufsanwärter:in.
• Leaving the time after the exam open: anyone who sees no prospects uses your firm as a stopover.

A careers page is not an afternoon project, but not a big one either. With a training plan, three honest commitments, a contact person and a well-written ad, you are ahead of most firms.