Would you hire someone as a Senior who has been one for 15-20 years?

Their salary expectation might be higher than a typical senior, but if there is a need for a seasoned person who can crank out returns and wont fold under pressure, that's pretty valuable these days.

I would love to have someone on my team with that experience. Know they understand the role and what’s expected of them. Typically they work above their level and well worth the additional comp for their tenure and experience.

As an almost senior, I have changed jobs to have less responsibilities and unfortunately less pay. However, what I’ve gained in work life balance and to be able to focus on the people and things that really matter far outweighs anything else. Do I often work above my pay? Yes. Do I do more than expected? Yes. Happy to help the team and flow of work. The beauty of age is that I’m not competing to climb. I know my value regardless of my title.

Yeah? Depending on if the meet the qualifications for the role. Why not. Not everyone wants to climb the ladder

I wouldn't hold it against them. People stay at jobs for different reasons.

Absolutely. Folks have different life goals and as long as they are solid, I’d hire ‘em

I find that no one is going to say no, that would be discrimination, so they look for other ways to get around the hire. I am a senior who is looking for work because my wife's medical expenses are hurting us financially. Not looking to get rich . But even though I have references and many years experience. I am constantly turned down with we are going another route.

I’d kill to move back down to career Senior and cap my salary at my current SM1 but I don’t think anyone’s going to take me up on it.

My husband is probably what you’d call a ”senior.” We are in our 60s. We sold our practice 4 years ago, relocated and now he’s working part-time as a tax reviewer and he does limited preparation on complex returns (complex trusts, corporate and non-profit). They are paying him pretty good money. He’s not sure how much longer he’s doing it for, but he’s twice as fast as every other reviewer or preparer and the partners trust him only on the complex trusts. He also trains newer preparers. He’s found his niche. Before we sold our practice and during Covid, basically everyone in our office was in their 50s or 60s and had some kind of issue (three cancer survivors, one person with Parkinson’s, etc.). We called ourselves the “Island of misfit toys). One of the misfit toys was my husband’s dad who started the company - in his 80s and he’d work tax seasons and was till tearing it up on complex stuff. During Covid, no one left. Not a single employee. The practice was growing like crazy and we were turning out a huge number of returns for our size and lots of complex work and great customer service. The practice was at a peak and we decided to sell and slow down and enjoy life. My husband works elsewhere now (and that was a good choice for him) but I still work remotely for our buyer. The island of misfits was very successful. Seasoned people, including those who only want part-time or seasonal can be very valuable.

If Senior is as high as they're interested in, sure, why not? Whereas if they want to be higher, but have been stuck at Senior anyway, that's an entirely different scenario -- in which case I'd certainly wonder why they haven't moved up

Yeah. Maybe they don’t want manager? Maybe they don’t have their CPA (and don’t care to sit for it) and cannot become manager.

I did this, was a tad concerned but hoped they were telling the truth on their skills. Biggest regret I've ever made in hiring. I have staff that do much better work than this person.

Yes—but only under the right positioning. The example shared by Accountant 1 is a niche case, not how the broader market behaves. Here’s the part many mid-career professionals don’t see coming: If you spend 15–20 years as a “Senior” doing standard GL or month-end work, the market will not view that as stability—it will view it as a mismatch.

When you go back out to the market, employers aren’t thinking about loyalty or years of experience. They’re asking: are we overpaying for this role, why hasn’t this person progressed, and how long will they realistically stay? Bias also plays a role whether people want to admit it or not. Age perception matters, and even small things like a profile photo on LinkedIn can influence first impressions.

And in routine accounting functions, replacement is real. Higher-cost seniors are often swapped out for less expensive staff. That’s not personal—it’s cost control.
This isn’t meant to be negative—it’s meant to be clear: if your experience hasn’t evolved beyond routine work, the market will eventually force that conversation for you.

Better to see it early than when you’re already back on the job market. So, when people say this pattern isn’t real, they’re ignoring how hiring decisions are actually made.

Depends on the person, if they interviewed well yes but if I got the vibe they just wanted to coast, then no. I agree about ppl not caring about ladder climbing but ngl it is usually a red flag more often then not

Yes, some extremely talented folks are content with not being a chief.

If they were good, yes

Yes without hesitation.

Maybe - if it's someone who's not looking to climb the ladder and wants to put in an honest day's work, sure. If your department is "up or out" and looking for flexible and adaptable people who can drive transformation and change, this isn't your person. Maybe look past the title for a second and focus on their actual experience / accomplishments? Maybe they're a senior manager in seniors clothing.

I am ACCA over 20 years experience both as a professor and in the field. I am currently looking for opportunities

Yeah why not?