Articles From the Team
Hiring managers: your legal recruiter needs you to help them to help you!
Businesses call upon our support to help them seek out talented lawyers. When we find them, do you know whose help we need? Yours!
A very rough calculation is that 25% of job offers that we receive for lawyers, lead to the lawyer NOT taking the job. Either they’re staying with their current organisation or accepting a different offer. Put simply, 1 in 4 offers are rejected!
When it comes to winning the war for talent, there’s only so much a recruiter can do. Hopefully, our network and knowledge of the market help us to find lawyers of interest, but when it comes to getting them over the line (your line) there’s really only one person that can make that happen – you!
A recent example
For example, we’ve been helping a business source a new lawyer. We were only able to introduce them to one person: who hit the criteria and matched the ‘who’ and ‘what’ our client was looking for (the lack of choice is currently not unusual).
Both the first and second interview went well and an offer was put forward. Unfortunately, the client wasn’t able to match the lawyer’s aspirations and the offer was rejected. A revised offer came through, and after agonising over the weekend, the candidate lawyer still decided to reject the offer.
Why? In part, the frustrations in their current role had lifted slightly, but also the ‘incentive’ to move (more money) wasn’t enough to give up the safety of her current position. With all looking lost, the client picked up the phone for one last attempt in changing her mind. And it worked!
At the end of the day, this new recruit is investing their trust and career with you – not the recruiter. Yes, we can sell the benefits of a role but we’re only a part of the process.
Another example
Interestingly, I was berated by a client at the end of 2018 in asking for their help: to speak to a lawyer who had two options to choose from. I felt I’d done all that I could and asked the Head of Legal to speak to the individual. They were happy to do so but the HR team demanded I reduce our fee “because I’d passed the responsibility back to them.”
I couldn’t believe it: by making a suggestion to help them secure their chosen candidate, I was being penalised and told I wasn’t doing my job. I argued that I was precisely doing my job, and if I felt that their input was needed, then far better to ask for it than call them with a “sorry, they’ve gone elsewhere.”
It’s Quarter Two of 2019 and we’re seeing a lot more of these final direct calls/meetings taking place.
In conclusion, as the talent pool for lawyers has become ever smaller, everyone in the recruitment process has to do all they can to secure the right person/the person they want. If that means the hiring manager makes a final sales pitch, they should do so. Without delay!