In the world of the law and legal firms, legal recruiters play a special role. Several firms have established their reputation on providing their clients in the legal community with the right people for the job at hand. Yet, what are the characteristics of a good legal recruiter? What makes Legal Recruiters in New York or elsewhere so successful, while others fail?
Finding Legal Recruiters
When you start looking for a legal recruiter, or a legal recruiting service, you should follow the usual routes:
• Talk to friends
• Ask career offices at law schools – if you are a candidate
• Ask colleagues – if you are a potential client or candidate
• Contact law bodies
• Go online
Once you have compiled a list, you then continue your research. This time, you are digging deeper. You need to consider them in terms of their characteristics.
Questions on Legal Recruiters to Consider
When it comes to narrowing down your search, it is important to put together a list of a few questions to ask and a few characteristics to consider. You can look at the following as a basis for your ongoing refining list of candidates.
• Published: Have they published any articles on the subject?
• Ethics: Does the firm have an ethic policy or guidelines you can examine?
• Established: Is the firm an established one? How long has it been in operation?
• Qualifications: What are the qualifications of the legal recruiters in this New York agency?
• Experience: What kind of experience does the agency have? Is it beneficial to you? Is it diverse enough?
• Reputation: What kind of reputation does the firm have?
• Communication: Do they communicate well: Look at their website. Talk to or email the legal recruiters you are interested in and see how and how long they take to respond.
• Geography: Many legal recruiters work locally. Is this true of this firm? Is it what you as a client or candidate want or do you want an agency or individual who can take you into or tap from the national and/or international market?
• Focus: What is the focus of the agency? Does it focus on one aspect of the legal market?
• Favoritism: Does the recruiting agency favor clients over candidates? It should favor neither as both are an essential part of the agency’s success.
These are a few of the qualities you need to look at and questions you need to consider when searching for the perfect legal recruiters. There are many professional companies that are capable of doing the job. You may be satisfied with that, but it is in your best interest to find a recruiting agency that not only does the job but does it right.
