How to Build An Effective Recruiting System for Law Offices
Did you know that there are over one million lawyers practicing in the United States? If you have your own law firm you can agree that it’s not only important to attract the right talent but also retain this talent. Our guide below will go over how to build an effective recruiting system for law offices.
Read on to learn the ins and outs of legal recruiting.
Don’t Wait
If you wait too long to hire employees it will make things more difficult. For example, you will more than likely end up rushing through the onboarding and training. The best time to hire new employees is before you have an influx of clients.
When you hire before your firm is too busy you won’t take shortcuts when onboarding and training.
Where Do You Start?
When you are lawyer recruiting keep in mind that your employees alone aren’t going to carry your firm. The better you set up the infrastructure in your legal practice the better your employees can carry out their duties and make a difference.
You want to start by making a list of all the duties you want off your plate and that you want other lawyers to take care of. Once you have this list done then develop a system to pass those responsibilities to others. It is best to be as specific as possible so that you don’t find yourself over your head.
Whether you want someone to take care of billing, take phone calls from clients, or carry out paralegal duties, the more specific you are with the help you need the more likely you will find the best fit for the position.
You also want to create the ideal persona for each position you are filling. The key is to find someone that has the right skills and also the right soft skills and personality traits that will mesh well with your team and yourself.
Define Your Company Culture
Getting clear on what the culture is in your firm is also a big step to keeping the right talent around. Decide what core values you want every employee to embody. For example, no matter how good someone’s resume is you should not hire them if they are bullish and your core values are humility and openness.
One of the quickest ways to stunt your law firm’s growth is by hiring someone that doesn’t mesh well with your culture. They will impact the entire team and will usually do more harm than good. Put culture first when going through the recruiting process.
Onboarding and Training
This is a critical part of setting up your team for success and no matter how small your firm is you don’t want to skip this step. During your onboarding process you want to clearly outline the job duties for that position.
Itemize the tasks that you are expecting the employee to carry out daily and weekly. Depending on what their current skill set is you might need to give them additional training.
After having the outline of the duties the job entails then you want to give the employee the best training possible. Having a training syllabus is ideal because you won’t accidentally miss any important training steps.
You can also create a training online where your candidates can refer back to whenever they need a refresher.
For example, if you hire an in house marketing team you can have a training for them where they can master concepts such as positioning and branding to help your firm stand out. Instead of only training them in person you can find a specific training created for law firm marketing teams.
Diversity
Make sure that you commit to hiring a diverse and inclusive set of people. This will help your law firm be innovative because the more diverse your employees are, their backgrounds and experiences will bring your firm new perspectives and approaches on doing things.
Having diversity will also help strengthen your brand and will attract new talent.
Act Fast When You Find a Perfect Candidate
After conducting interviews if you find someone that you really like, don’t wait too long to give them an offer. With today’s competitive environment, you can’t afford to wait while you explore more options.
Be Prepared for Counteroffers
Legal candidates are in a good position to negotiate their pay, so make sure you have a strategy in place to address counteroffers. If you are a smaller firm and can’t match the pay they want, think about what benefits, perks, and development opportunities you can offer instead of paying more.
Tracking System
Find a way to keep track of all the applicant’s for each position. You can opt to create a Google Sheet to do this or find a third party software solution. This tracking system will help you keep track of the candidates that you have phone screened, assessed, interviewed, etc.
It will avoid you mixing any candidates up by accident and it will keep everything up to date.
Ready to Level Up the Talent in Your Law Offices?
Now that you have learned our tips on building an effective recruiting system for law offices, you can lower your turn-over rate and keep top legal talent for as long as possible. You can now take action and ramp up your recruitment process and watch the talent you hire grow and flourish.
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