Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Recruitment: An Essential Strategy for Your Finance and Accounting Jobs

At St-Amour, we have been supporting companies in Quebec and across Canada with their finance and accounting recruitment needs for over 50 years, while helping candidates find the job that truly suits them. Over the course of these five decades, one thing has never changed: the quality of an organization is also measured by how it treats its talent, regardless of gender, age, background, or career path.

Why DEI Directly Impacts Recruitment

In a landscape where finance and accounting positions are among the most sought-after, the organizations that succeed in attracting the best candidates are often those that offer fair and transparent hiring processes. A genuine culture of inclusion isn’t limited to a policy posted on a website—it’s lived out in every interview, every hiring decision, and every interaction with a job seeker.

Prohibiting discrimination, offering equal opportunities to all, and reflecting the diversity of local communities—these are precisely the principles we strive to apply with our clients and candidates every day.

What This Means in Practice for Our Clients

When we take on an assignment, our role isn’t limited to finding the right person for a position. We also have a responsibility to present companies with a representative pool of candidates, free from bias or shortcuts. This means prioritizing the assessment of skills and fit for the role, asking all candidates the same questions during interviews, and ensuring that every person has an equal chance of being considered, regardless of their background.

It also means guiding our clients in reflecting on their own hiring practices: a gender-neutral job description, a structured interview process, and clear selection criteria make all the difference in attracting a diverse talent pool.

And what about language in all of this?

One aspect that is less often discussed, but just as important when it comes to equity, is language. In Quebec, many of our clients operate in an international context and need employees who can communicate effectively in English with teams, suppliers, or clients outside the province. This is a legitimate business need that we fully understand and take into account in every project.

That said, there is a difference between requiring effective professional communication and demanding perfect fluency or a specific accent. A candidate who speaks with an accent, whose native language is neither French nor English, or who has not yet achieved complete fluency in a second language may still possess all the technical skills sought for a position in finance or accounting.

Our role, as a recruitment partner, is to encourage our clients to distinguish between language requirements that are truly necessary to perform the job well and those that are more a matter of preference or unconscious bias. Being more open to different accents and varying levels of fluency also means expanding access to a talent pool that is just as competent—one that is often overlooked for the wrong reasons.

Today, there are some very interesting language training apps that allow employees to address specific language gaps directly on the job. Rather than automatically ruling out a candidate because their English or French isn’t yet perfect, a company can leverage these tools to support the employee’s development once they’re on the job. It’s a simple solution that benefits both the employee and the employer.

A Shared Responsibility

Diversity, equity, and inclusion aren’t just the concern of large corporations. They are just as relevant to the small and medium-sized businesses and accounting firms in Quebec that we work with every day. As a recruitment partner, we believe our role is to highlight this responsibility, to embody it in our own practices, and to continue building bridges between exceptional talent and organizations that reflect the diversity of today’s workforce.

After 50 years of recruiting in finance and accounting in Quebec and across Canada, one conviction remains: the best teams are those that bring together diverse perspectives. It is this conviction that continues to guide our work, assignment after assignment, job after job.

Take Action

Are you having trouble recruiting people in finance, accounting, and tax?

Talk to Cathy Lavoie, Senior Recruiter.

She can help you:

• Identify key profiles based on your specific challenges

• Align your recruitment efforts with your business strategy

• Access passive and highly specialized talent

Contact Cathy Lavoie by email at clavoie@st-amour.com today to strengthen your teams and boost your operational performance.