Articles From the Team
Why use a legal recruitment agency?
Moving jobs can be a life changing or at least career changing decision. It's therefore important that you get the best consultative advice possible from recruiters who are specialists in their field.
Many law firms now have their own internal recruitment teams and advertise their vacancies via their own website, other job boards or via social media, usually Linkedin. You may even get approached directly by firms looking to 'headhunt' you. Despite these efforts, the legal recruitment industry continues to grow and for law firms, we continue to offer an invaluable resource for securing the best legal talent in the market and the most appropriate candidates for their jobs.
As a candidate you would be forgiven for not knowing whether to apply to firms directly or via a legal recruitment agency, which route will give you a better chance of securing that career making move?
At BCL Legal, we provide a highly consultative service (which costs you nothing!). We spend time getting to know you, finding out about your skills and experience, your career aspirations and importantly where they sit amongst your list of life priorities. It is important that we fully understand your personal circumstances so that we can offer up the most suitable opportunities to you. Whilst a corporate job at a top tier firm may have been the ultimate goal for you at 25, by 40 you may be happier in a job that enables you to get away from the office at 5/6pm so that you can get home and spend time with your family. We can provide advice on working hours/culture and firm ethos to enable you to decide if a particular job is going to work with your lifestyle.
A major advantage of using BCL Legal is the extra knowledge it gives you; all applicants will have access to the job specification but frequently that provides little guidance in terms of what firms are really looking for, what personality will fit their teams and which particular skills are the most crucial in their new recruit.
At BCL Legal, having worked with our clients for many years, we are able to provide you with a unique insight into exactly what these firms want. As well as knowing what their interview format looks like and the type of questions they usually ask, we can also advise on the types of candidates they like; personality fit can often be as or more important than the appropriate skills and experience.
In addition to having a head start when it comes to the interview, there are a number of other benefits we can offer. We will reformat your CV into a style that is easy to read and which highlights what you can offer to the job. We will also provide you with advice in relation to how you can improve your CV and work with you until it reflects you in the best possible light for any particular job.
We make the applications on your behalf, organise interviews and manage your entire job search for you, this all saves you a considerable amount of time.
We also follow up with firms once we have put an application forward on your behalf and talk through your experience and personality and why we feel you're suitable for a given role. Our close working relationship built upon trust and a successful history of placing the right people into their jobs enables us the benefit of being able to do this.
We hold considerable sway in our recommendations and since we also know you well, we can answer any initial questions which firms may have about you which, without clarification, could otherwise see your CV on the reject pile. You are therefore more likely to secure an interview when applying through BCL Legal.
BCL Legal are also better placed to negotiate upon your salary and overall package, something which can feel a little uncomfortable when done directly. Having knowledge of budgets, salary bandings and flexibility and the urgency with which a particular role needs filling, we do this from an informed standpoint.
Ultimately, we want to ensure that you are making the best move for your career, taking into account all of your circumstances and also that we are placing the most appropriate lawyers with our clients.
If you are interested in considering a career move, please contact Angharad Warren at BCL Legal. Angharad specialises in the placement of corporate, commercial, banking and emloyment lawyers into Birmingham's leading commercial firms. If you are looking for a move in a different location or work within a different discipline then please do get in touch and we will put you in touch with the most suitable consultant for you.