Articles From the Team

How can you go from being the best candidate a recruiter is representing to the worst

By having totally unrealistic expectations and requirements that ALL need to be matched!

At BCL Legal we are all about delivering what our candidate lawyers are looking for in a new role as well as of course the people/skill sets that our clients require.

Every individual that we assist, whether that be job seeker or recruiting client, will have a list of requirements, some necessary and non negotiable and others that are nice to have/ negotiable.

When it comes to job seekers we try and ascertain what the main motivations are for a job move. In our experience a move is generally driven by one or more of the following:
• Increase in package
• Work/life balance
• Location
• Level of role
• Type of role
• Stability of business/ redundancy

We will do all we can to find the best opportunity for an individual based on what they tell us regarding the above. However like everything in life compromise is often required.

So back to the question poised above. Sam*, a lawyer in private practice recently contacted the in-house team looking for a move from an American law firm based in London to an in-house role in the regions. I have often joked with other relocators looking to do the same move. I start by asking them when it comes to salary expectations "how much are you looking to reduce your salary by". To give you an idea we have just assisted one lawyer who was looking to make the move from London to the North West. They ‘happily’ took a 40% cut in salary.

Back to Sam. Sam made it quite clear from the very start of our conversations that although focused on an in house role he wanted one that would be of as little impact on his current package. His equivalent level of PQE in the location he was looking at would be on 60% less than what he was on. Through numerous conversations we agreed on what a possible package might look like and agreed that as and when an opportunity arose at a company that might pay above market rate we would contact him.

This happened and Sam received an amazing offer from a listed company to do a great role. Unfortunately Sam felt the 20 mile commute was going to affect his daily life too much and therefore rejected the offer. Given Sam's expectations I doubt we will be able to satisfy his requirements and therefore until he changes his outlook or a miracle role transpires in his ideal location I very much doubt we will be able to help him.

For more information, please contact Mark Levine at BCL Legal.

* Not the individual’s real name!