Is your law firm missing out on hiring the best available talent? Read here what the experts have to say that ensures effective hiring.
Along with growth, recruitment is also one of the most crucial priorities of law firms. But the increase in the desire to hire competent new lawyers has resulted in the decrease of ideal candidates and the creation of a highly competitive market in many legal sectors.
Moreover, the inefficiency of law firms to execute a coherent recruitment process further increases the struggle of recruitment. This implies that teams are vainly missing out on recruiting the best available talent of the legal industry. Even the retention of existing staff gets affected due to this incompetence in hiring.
An improved recruitment process can increase your chances of acquiring the perfect candidate and keeping your existing team happy as well; let’s read what experts have to say on this topic.
Making your Law Firm Move through Effective Hiring
1: Matt Spiegel Founder & CEO, Lawmatics
Set a deadline and stick to it. Consider when you’ll need your new employee to start and keep that date in mind. Set aside time to focus on the recruitment process – busy schedules often cause partners to lose sight of the process.
Before you get to the offer and acceptance step, you’ll need to get a shortlist of CVs and then conduct first-round interviews (and possibly second interviews). You shouldn’t expect CVs immediately; your recruiter will need time to chat with the top candidates on the market.
If you’re looking for a replacement for an outgoing solicitor, keep in mind that any solicitor you hire will almost probably have a three-month notice period. As a result, you must act promptly to minimize the gap between the person’s departure and your new hire’s start.
02: Eric Rohrback, CMO at Hill & Ponton
A well-written job specification will pique the interest of active job seekers. However, a recruiter can assist you in reaching out to a market that may not be able to devote time to scouring job sites or reading comprehensive job descriptions. Additionally, a passive candidate pool can be targeted by a recruiter. Working closely with your recruiter to learn everything there is to know about your company, and team environment can help them pitch the opportunity to potential candidates more effectively.
Don’t hesitate if you see a CV that you like
If you receive a CV that you believe is ideal for the role, don’t hesitate to meet with the candidate. Top talent is swiftly secured in today’s candidate-driven market, and you don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to fill the post you’re looking for in a timely manner.
A prompt response will demonstrate to the candidate that you are eager to meet them and are interested in what they can add to your company. As a result, they’ll feel wanted, and you’ll make a terrific first impression. In addition, if you get ahead of your competition, the prospect will gravitate toward your company if they believe it is the best fit for them.
Conduct a thorough interview.
It’s just as vital for you to sell yourself to the candidate as it is for them to sell themselves to you during an interview. If a prospect had a better interview experience with a competitor, they are more likely to accept an offer from them rather than from you. It’s an excellent idea to talk about the fascinating work your team is currently doing, your client base, and your career chances.
It’s also crucial not to make any negative remarks about your competitors and adjust your queries to different candidates based on their backgrounds.
3. Tony Kelly, CEO at CameraGroove
As a CEO, I believe that one of the most effective recruitment tips to make your law firm move is to ‘pan for gold’. You could not know of any good associate prospects firsthand or second-hand, or even if you do, you might believe there’s someone better out there for you. When compared to the potential of snagging that superstar waiting in the wings, the time and money spent on advertising and interviewing may be negligible.
There are some most effective ways to publicize your job opening:
Word of mouth: Everyone you speak with should be aware that you’re hiring, whether quietly or firmly. This is similar to the above-mentioned network technique, but it is broader. At this point, you’re less concerned with the quality of referrals, you might receive and more interested in expanding the pool as much as possible.
Your firm’s website: Ensure your company website contains a career option where the potential candidates can get details regarding any employment opening. This section must remain up-to-date so that people stay assured that it’s authentic. You may also tell the visitors on your webpage that you are always on the look for discussions with talented attorneys and collect resumes regularly for the purpose of building a pool of prospects. However, this can invite a lot of queries, so stay prepared to answer them all.
Law school career offices: These are valuable venues to look for younger lawyers, particularly if you’re looking for grads from a specific law school. Because the school is interested in seeing its alumni placed, use their networks, and capitalize on their efforts.
Recruiters: You can always delegate the recruiting procedure to professional legal experts. Now you’re talking money, but a recruiter’s increased reach and screening abilities can be worth it.
4. Sam Browne, CEO/Founder of Findaband
As a founder, I believe that one of the most effective recruitment tips to make your law firm move is ‘to ask your employees for referrals’. Asking current employees to refer candidates is one way to find talent. Genuine recommendations from actual individuals go a long way toward assisting businesses in attracting good staff. People are hesitant to risk their employment for someone who will be a problem rather than an asset. In contrast, if they believe their former co-worker would be a great fit for your company, having them promote the firm and its culture may assist the applicant in accepting your offer.
5. Edward Mellett, Founder/Co-Founder of WikiJob.co.uk
As a founder, I believe that one of the most crucial recruitment tips to make your law firm move is *to use collaborative hiring. *Once you’ve gotten a candidate into the office for an interview, get the rest of the team involved. This may appear time-consuming, but the individuals who will be working directly with the new hire and who are familiar with the role’s day-to-day problems are in the best position to decide whether the candidate is a suitable fit. Allow them to ask questions and describe the role to the candidate in their own words.
6. John Berry, CEO and Managing Partner of PTSD Lawyers
I believe you can improve the hiring process by establishing a solid identity for your firm. What you put out, you will receive in return. The concept of the firm, the niche market, and the clientele will be the most significant vantage point to lure prospective candidates. From there, you need to find out what drives the prospect to do what they’re choosing to do. A sense of purpose will be a vast tell-tale and can be the difference between your retention and churn rate. One additional tactic that expedites a hiring process is to utilize your internal network, from current employees to peer references. Be sure your incentives are competitive and that the description of your practice is detailed and exact. Don’t mislead or over-promote. Let the role, firm, and field of work do the job for you.
7. Kim Chan, Founder and CEO of DocPro
We have been hiring a lot of university law graduates and students to help with the legal documents. It is a challenging environment for them to find work, and thus we could hire some of the best people.They are willing to work hard for little money to gain the summer work experience for their graduate career.
They are the best value employees ever. So long as we give them clear guidance on what they are required to do and set a reasonable target for them to meet, they can work from home without any issue. But, of course, we have regular calls for them to update us on their progress.
08: Andrew Taylor Director at Net Lawman
Often, I feel we tend to hesitate on a CV we like, tangled up with a few points that don’t precisely fit the bill. Yes, it is good to have a long list of criteria that you’re looking for, but if someone sticks out to you and they don’t tick all of the boxes, don’t be shy to jump on ahead with that person and get on a phone call or schedule an interview.
I also suggest that you do NOT keep potential candidates ‘warm’, even though this is contrary to popular belief. It is better to tell individuals you are not a solid ‘yes’ because the company is moving in a different direction and then surprises them. You would instead do this than tiring a candidate of waiting and losing passion for the role. It is relatively unlikely that they will be snapped up so quickly. This shouldn’t be a fear.
9: Seth Price Founding Partner of Price Benowitz LLP
Why “Quick” Recruitment Doesn’t Always Work: As contradictory to “quick” as it might sound, when it comes to effective recruitment for law firms, one thing that you need to avoid doing is rushing the process. As much as you might want to hire a new lawyer and get the ball rolling, rushing into things could cause you to miss out on a great candidate. When conducting our recruitment process, the timeline is a significant factor because we understand the negative impacts of rushing it and why quality is so important. The same can be said for going beyond the timeline. If you take too long to find a sufficient candidate, you might lose valuable options or waste time and money. It’s all about finding that perfect balance where you know you’re going to get the opportunity to hire a high-quality lawyer and do it in a healthy time frame.
Wrap Up:
In 2022, organizations want to ensure that they can sustain themselves in the long term before adding a permanent headcount. Therefore, focusing on hiring more external workers can be a better strategy over the next 12-18 months to ensure more flexibility and the ability to quickly adjust the headcount up and down based on immediate business needs.
Thus, spend some time rethinking talent strategy, learn how to integrate new talent acquisition tools into workflows, develop training manuals, and learn all about social recruiting, remote working, and virtual legal assistants. Still, if you believe that you are encountering trouble with these things, you can always consider legal support services for expert assistance.
