Competing For Talent: Recruiting In A Competitive World

It seems that one price we pay for a sound economy is a growing shortage of talent. Finding and keeping good talent in a strong economy, for many firms, is becoming a major intrusion in firm management, consuming large blocks of valuable time.

If you're a major international law firm, recruiting is relatively easy. But if you're not, you face a vast array of problems. You may be competing against larger or more prestigious firms. You may be in a small town that nobody ambitious wants to work or live in, or a town with expensive housing. You may find yourself in an area with a large number of competing firms. And recruiting, remember, is a competitive business.

Work For It

There may have been a time when recruiting consisted of a simple ad in the professional journals. “We are seeking an associate with labor relations experience.” That was then and this is now, and this kind of simple recruiting ad just won't work anymore. And unless you're a super international firm, located in an economic world center, it certainly won't get you the candidate who's a potential star.

Successful recruiting in today's competitive environment – in an environment that is, in effect, a buyer's market in which the prospective recruit is the buyer ' doesn't begin with advertising, particularly the old fashioned help wanted kind. It begins with your firm itself. Are you a good place to work? Do you offer recruits ' from the new associate to the lateral move partner ' opportunities for growth, for a good career, for personal and professional respect?

Nor do money and benefits alone do the trick. Bidding wars work only when the firm itself offers opportunity, a good and professional work envron-ment, and, these days, consideration of the recruit's home and personal life.

The recruiting process begins, then, with an assessment of your firm's working environment. Are you a contemporary firm, offering a professional environment that lives up to any new hire's expectations of his or her own professionalism?

Does your firm offer a learning opportunity as well as a sound professional experience? Have you thought through your leverage program, and how you extend opportunity for client relations for new hires? Are you ' or should you be ' on a two tier program, and can you spell that out for the new hire? For that matter, how transparent to newcomers is your firm's operating plan?

Are you up-to-date technically? Do you have a Web site (try getting talent without one)? Do you use the latest technology, from blogs to extranets?

Because you can't offer growth without the mechanism to grow, are you a progressive and strongly competitive marketer?

Understand the competitive nature of recruiting. Know precisely what you're looking for. Know exactly what you have to offer. Have a system for greeting and interviewing applicants. And by all means, recognize the acoustics of the profession. Today, every law school graduate, and every law firm associate, knows a lot more about your firm than you think they do. Professionals talk to one another.

Now you can talk about advertising.

Tell Them What They Want

Recruiting advertising is like any other, in that telling people what you want won't work. Offering people what they want, and how you're going to give it to them, works. Some ideas that have succeeded mightily:

• Sell the environment. Some headlines that worked:
• • We Cherish Excellence. You bring the excellence, we supply the opportunity.
  • We Cherish Professionalism. You get the opportunity to do your best work here.
  • For lateral hires, an ad that really pulled said, “If you've been practicing your kind of law but haven't enjoyed it where you are, bring your skills here. We'll supply the pleasure of good legal practice.”
  • Don't be dull. “Wanted ' a lawyer with 3 years experience” is for recruiting labor, not professionals. A tremendously successful recruiting ad said, “Imagine. Professionally.”
• Be different. Be imaginative. Otherwise, you'll lose good candidates to a firm that's different and imaginative.
• Be a firm that good people want to work for. For example, don't advertise that you're an up-to-date firm but don't have a Web site. How up-to-date is that? Make sure that you are contemporary ' technically and professionally.
• Use your Web site as a major recruiting tool. Today's young lawyers and law students go right to the site before they'll talk to you. If they don't like what they see, you won't get the candidate. Your site should reflect your firm as exciting and professional, one that anybody would want to work for. It should show the environment as appealing ' the kind of place that any ambitious professional ' new or experienced ' would enjoy working in.
• And most important, as with any advertising, don't offer what you can't deliver. If you find that you don't like the way your firm is perceived, don't think you can change that perception by manipulating symbols. You can't. To change the way you're perceived, change what you are.
• If you lose a good candidate to another firm, take the trouble to find out why. You'll learn how to do it better next time.

As the market for lawyers gets more competitive, and as the demands for legal services get more complex, getting the best talent is a major survival tactic. In today's economic, regulatory, and technical environment, talent counts heavily. Recruiting the best is no longer an option. It's vital.

It seems that one price we pay for a sound economy is a growing shortage of talent. Finding and keeping good talent in a strong economy, for many firms, is becoming a major intrusion in firm management, consuming large blocks of valuable time.

If you're a major international law firm, recruiting is relatively easy. But if you're not, you face a vast array of problems. You may be competing against larger or more prestigious firms. You may be in a small town that nobody ambitious wants to work or live in, or a town with expensive housing. You may find yourself in an area with a large number of competing firms. And recruiting, remember, is a competitive business.

Work For It

There may have been a time when recruiting consisted of a simple ad in the professional journals. “We are seeking an associate with labor relations experience.” That was then and this is now, and this kind of simple recruiting ad just won't work anymore. And unless you're a super international firm, located in an economic world center, it certainly won't get you the candidate who's a potential star.

Successful recruiting in today's competitive environment – in an environment that is, in effect, a buyer's market in which the prospective recruit is the buyer ' doesn't begin with advertising, particularly the old fashioned help wanted kind. It begins with your firm itself. Are you a good place to work? Do you offer recruits ' from the new associate to the lateral move partner ' opportunities for growth, for a good career, for personal and professional respect?

Nor do money and benefits alone do the trick. Bidding wars work only when the firm itself offers opportunity, a good and professional work envron-ment, and, these days, consideration of the recruit's home and personal life.

The recruiting process begins, then, with an assessment of your firm's working environment. Are you a contemporary firm, offering a professional environment that lives up to any new hire's expectations of his or her own professionalism?

Does your firm offer a learning opportunity as well as a sound professional experience? Have you thought through your leverage program, and how you extend opportunity for client relations for new hires? Are you ' or should you be ' on a two tier program, and can you spell that out for the new hire? For that matter, how transparent to newcomers is your firm's operating plan?

Are you up-to-date technically? Do you have a Web site (try getting talent without one)? Do you use the latest technology, from blogs to extranets?

Because you can't offer growth without the mechanism to grow, are you a progressive and strongly competitive marketer?

Understand the competitive nature of recruiting. Know precisely what you're looking for. Know exactly what you have to offer. Have a system for greeting and interviewing applicants. And by all means, recognize the acoustics of the profession. Today, every law school graduate, and every law firm associate, knows a lot more about your firm than you think they do. Professionals talk to one another.

Now you can talk about advertising.

Tell Them What They Want

Recruiting advertising is like any other, in that telling people what you want won't work. Offering people what they want, and how you're going to give it to them, works. Some ideas that have succeeded mightily:

• Sell the environment. Some headlines that worked:
• • We Cherish Excellence. You bring the excellence, we supply the opportunity.
  • We Cherish Professionalism. You get the opportunity to do your best work here.
  • For lateral hires, an ad that really pulled said, “If you've been practicing your kind of law but haven't enjoyed it where you are, bring your skills here. We'll supply the pleasure of good legal practice.”
  • Don't be dull. “Wanted ' a lawyer with 3 years experience” is for recruiting labor, not professionals. A tremendously successful recruiting ad said, “Imagine. Professionally.”
• Be different. Be imaginative. Otherwise, you'll lose good candidates to a firm that's different and imaginative.
• Be a firm that good people want to work for. For example, don't advertise that you're an up-to-date firm but don't have a Web site. How up-to-date is that? Make sure that you are contemporary ' technically and professionally.
• Use your Web site as a major recruiting tool. Today's young lawyers and law students go right to the site before they'll talk to you. If they don't like what they see, you won't get the candidate. Your site should reflect your firm as exciting and professional, one that anybody would want to work for. It should show the environment as appealing ' the kind of place that any ambitious professional ' new or experienced ' would enjoy working in.
• And most important, as with any advertising, don't offer what you can't deliver. If you find that you don't like the way your firm is perceived, don't think you can change that perception by manipulating symbols. You can't. To change the way you're perceived, change what you are.
• If you lose a good candidate to another firm, take the trouble to find out why. You'll learn how to do it better next time.

As the market for lawyers gets more competitive, and as the demands for legal services get more complex, getting the best talent is a major survival tactic. In today's economic, regulatory, and technical environment, talent counts heavily. Recruiting the best is no longer an option. It's vital.