Articles From the Team
Legal recruitment agencies: why we're not the bad guys
I recently read an article stating that job seekers shouldn’t trust recruitment consultants: at legal recruitment agencies or otherwise. The article advises dishonesty on the part of the job seeker: when dealing with a recruiter, refrain from full disclosure. In essence, don’t give a recruiter all the details of your current situation. Why? Because a recruiter might use the information against you, or for their own gain. I strongly disagree!
As a recruiter working for a legal recruitment agency, the more I know about my candidates and clients (their lives, what they’re looking for and why), the more I can help them. How are we supposed to ‘hit bull's eye’ if we can’t see the board?
I started my recruitment career in an internal role working for an FTSE 100 financial services company, where we avoided the use of recruitment consultants and agents. From the get-go, I bought into a world that viewed ‘sales’ people and recruitment agencies as full of slimeballs who were big fat liars and only out for themselves!
Fast forward a couple of years and here I am, my eyes have opened and I feel a little ashamed for my previous thinking. Now, I’m not saying there aren’t some recruitment agencies like that; however, there are a lot that aren’t, BCL Legal being one of them!
The article advises dishonesty on the part of the job seeker: when dealing with a recruiter, refrain from full disclosure. Why? Because a recruiter might use the information against you, or for their own gain. I strongly disagree!
Some of the top reasons to use legal recruitment agencies
- We are experts! And I don’t mean that to sound like we’re bragging but we know our field of recruitment: we specialise in one area of the law, in one region. Therefore, we know our market inside out and back to front.
- We care! I mean that and not in a cheesy way. We have strong values, with caring, accountability and integrity being just a few of them. We don’t overpromise and under-deliver. We don’t try and squish a round peg into a square hole. We’re honest: if we can’t help our candidates or clients, we tell them! We provide advice that’s always in line with the market. Sometimes it’s a matter of obtaining what you need, that might not be what you initially wanted.
- We work hard! Recruitment is a high pressured environment and everyone wants to deliver and hit their target. With the market as busy as it is, there’s always more to be done. We get as much information from our clients as we can to ensure that we prioritise business critical roles!
- We think outside the box and are striving to find innovative ways to be better and do better.
There’ll always be the odd bad egg in any sector.
But there are no smoke and mirrors here. Honesty has and always will be the best policy!
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