Although there are welcome signs of new growth, the uncertain legal climate is having a serious impact on legal recruitment and resourcing for the future. With such volatility in the market, how can you stay ahead of the curve and attract the best legal minds to grow your business?<\/p>\n
In their dotage, lawyers may look back fondly on the golden days of legal recruitment planning. Pre-GFC it was a matter of managing that relentless drive in profits by fuelling the incessant growth with the right people in the right jobs, mostly well in advance. Legal recruitment planning, like nostalgia, is not what it used to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the market has been so up and down, planning is now done on an ad-hoc basis\u201d, says Andrew Johnson, national recruiter at top-tier firm Clayton Utz in Sydney. \u201cIt\u2019s now very hard to know where the roles are going to be in the future\u201d.<\/p>\n
Annus horribilis<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Depressed consumer and business confidence still lingering from the GFC and the nine-month lead-up to the election were all factors in last year\u2019s annus horribilis for the legal industry.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the GFC, firms are more wary\u2026 and probably take a more conservative view of their planning\u201d, says Dominic Peacock, manager of legal at Dolman Legal Search & Recruitment. \u201cFirms are more cautious about forecasting significant growth because of the unpredictability of the financial markets and the state of the economy\u201d.<\/p>\n They are putting roles on hold and changing the specifications for advertised jobs, such as reducing the number of qualifying years required, asking recruitment agencies to send through CVs for dozens of candidates, taking months to choose a candidate, and withdrawing advertised roles, says Belinda Fisher, senior consultant professional services at Legal Personnel in Sydney.<\/p>\n Some are reducing staff through natural attrition. \u201cWhereas in the past people would have been replaced, the hiring effectively stopped\u201d, says Peacock.<\/p>\n Employers are loathe to sack staff<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n While firms are reluctant to hire or sack staff, they are increasingly moving staff across the firm\u2019s practice areas to maximise their value and keep them occupied, ready to spring into action if and when the work comes in.<\/p>\n Although many would prefer to be employed, lawyers will often be working in areas in which they may not be specialised, and their workload may be very heavy if they\u2019re carrying the work of staff that have left. Some leave because they can\u2019t take the stress, but then they can face many months searching for another job.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an employer\u2019s market\u201d, says Fisher. She\u2019s never seen such an oversupply of lawyers looking for work \u2013 and this is swollen by Australian lawyers whose overseas opportunities have also faded.<\/p>\n Trapping the unicorn<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n But for the all the oversupply, it\u2019s the unicorn that everyone wants.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s harder to find good people than ever before\u201d, says Johnson. \u201cIf you\u2019re good you\u2019re going to be well looked after, but in the current climate you\u2019re too scared to move\u201d.<\/p>\n The entry of international firms into the market has not only put pressure on firms competing for work, but also boosted competition for the best talent. What firms have to avoid is being in a position where they find they suddenly need to hire loads of people, and other firms have beaten them to it.<\/p>\n \u201cPlanning will always be important\u201d, says Peacock. \u201cSome firms hire ahead of the curve \u2013 they see that happening, they see the trends and the patterns and they take advantage of the markets\u201d.<\/p>\n Planning amid volatility<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n So how can you plan for future legal recruitment needs amid such volatility?<\/p>\n Create a more flexible workforce by sharing resources internally, suggests Johnson. \u201cWe\u2019re looking across the firm and seeing who\u2019s not being fully utilised and moving them across to a division that really needs someone\u2026 We\u2019re making our lawyers more mobile to be where the needs are\u201d.<\/p>\n Make sure you fully understand what it is you need in a role before you go to market to recruit for staff. \u201cSpend time now rather than making costly mistakes later\u201d, advises Fisher.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important to consider cultural fit, which encompasses personality, work style, ethics and values. If the candidate\u2019s values aren\u2019t aligned with the firm\u2019s, they won\u2019t go the extra mile. “Firms need to know their new recruits will have a personal investment in the organisation”, says Samantha Pearce, HR manager at Addisons.<\/p>\n \u201cIrrespective of the technical competence candidates may have, if they don\u2019t have a good cultural fit for your firm, it\u2019s not going to work\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n Take a multi-tiered approach to recruitment. Increasingly firms are adopting a mix of recruitment strategies. Ninety per cent of Clayton Utz\u2019s appointments in 2013 were made through direct recruitment \u2013 referrals, alumni, internal movements and internal secondments.<\/p>\n Keep a talent pool of prospective candidates for future roles so that when the need arises and resources are available, you are ready to recruit. Johnson uses LinkedIn Recruiter and Taleo recruitment systems to identify talented lawyers. \u201cI have a chat with potential candidates, keep their names on file and stay in contact so that when a role comes up I\u2019ll get back in touch\u201d.<\/p>\n The trick for any law firm is to be battle ready, strongly networked to detect any movements in the market and poised to pounce with a flexible workforce that can respond to dips and peaks as they appear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The uncertain legal climate is having a serious impact on legal recruitment and resourcing for the future. With such volatility in the market, how can you stay ahead of the curve and attract the best legal minds to grow your business?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[576,623],"tags":[243],"insight_job_role":[597,627],"insight_practice_area":[],"class_list":["entry","author-virginiag","has-excerpt","post-609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business-management","category-recruitment","tag-flexible-working","insight_job_role-hr-ir-professional","insight_job_role-senior-executive","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n