How do legal recruitment agencies work?
Legal recruitment agencies are there to help you achieve your career goals and take the pain and stress out of the job searching process. For many, finding a new job can be an irritating and time consuming. This is especially true for those who are already working hard in their current role and seeking employment outside of their work hours.
For this reason, many people choose to work with a legal recruitment agency to pass the workload onto someone else. Working with a legal recruitment agency means that you get to relax and continue working in your current role, whilst the recruiter matches you to your ideal role and company.
So, what happens when you work with a legal recruitment agency? And what are the main steps in the process?
What does working with a legal recruitment agency involve?
Working with a legal recruitment agency couldn’t be easier for a candidate, and is perfect for someone who is in a junior role, studying, or unfamiliar with the job search process. All you need to do is submit your resume to a legal recruiter who will contact you to understand more about your job search. When working with a legal recruiter, they should not share your information without your consent.
A legal recruiter will then use their knowledge and expertise to contact law firms with openings that suit the candidate. They act as the middleman between candidate and employer and help the candidate show off their strengths, whilst matching them to a role that they will enjoy.
To learn more about working with a legal recruitment agency, take a look at our frequently asked questions about legal recruiting.
What are the steps of working with a legal recruitment agency?
There are the steps that normally occur when working with a legal recruitment agency:
- Submit your CV
- Discuss your resume and desired role with a recruiter so they can evaluate you
- The recruiter will research available openings and the candidate will pick firms to apply to
- The recruiter will use their industry links to place you in front of the right people
- An interview is organized by the recruiter
- You go through the recruitment process with the law firm
- Background checks are done
- Once an offer is on the table, the recruiter helps with salary negotiations and contract signing
As you can see, the process couldn’t be more simple. If you want to learn more about the process of working with a legal recruitment agency then take a look at our summary of the law firm recruitment process.
How do legal recruiters make a living?
Professional search consultants receive fees from the law firms that take their candidates and this is how working with a legal recruitment agency works. The fees that are charges by legal recruitment professionals vary and are usually set between the recruiter and the hiring organization before the recruitment process takes place. Our standard fee is lower than most legal search firms and BCG Attorney Search has placed candidates for as little at $1,000 or no fee at all when working with smaller firms.
Working with a legal recruitment firm shouldn’t be about paying huge fees, and we’ve always believed that legal recruitment agencies that ask for huge sums (up to 40% of a salary!) won’t last. Our priority is always linking the best talent with the best law firms.
How do recruiters conduct a professional legal search?
It’s important to make sure that you’re working with a legal recruitment firm that priorities a personal touch over a number game. Finding a candidate the perfect role means understanding their needs and experience so that the recruiter can place them in front of people confidently.
Look out for dodgy legal recruitment firms who will use your CV as an introduction and send it round to many law firms. This can make you look really bad and achieve negative results. Instead, choose to work with a legal recruitment firm that is reliable, professional and interested in conducting a job search that is personal to you.
How to get your legal recruiter to work for you
A big part of knowing how to work with a legal recruiter is being able to get them to work for you. The attention of a good recruiter can seem hard to get, but if you want to get your CV to the right law firms you will need their help.
Get a legal recruiter to focus on your job search by:
- Being enthusiastic about your job search
- Being open to suggestions
- Being honest about your career
To find out more about why you should work with a legal recruitment agency, take a look at the placements that BCG Attorney Search have made recently. You can also browse the things that Attorneys and Law Students need to remove from their resumes to prepare you for working with a legal recruitment agency.