Articles From the Team
Not just a postbox
Recruitment consultants generally speaking have a bad reputation – apparently we’d all sell our own grandmothers for a fee. Not just that, but once we get our grubby little mitts on a CV we indiscriminately fire it out to every law firm within a 50 mile radius in the vague hope that one of the recipients will be interested in interviewing the candidate.
I must admit that when I was practicing as a solicitor and looking for a new job, I had the same perception. I remember seeing a job advertised by an agent and sending my CV across. I expected them to act as an online post box for my CV and then act as a postman in delivering it to the client without any interference in between. I was surprised when I received a call from the agent who started asking questions about my experience and background. I really wasn’t in the mood to waste my time in speaking to a recruitment consultant who in my opinion needed to be treated in a similar way to double glazing salesmen – say no except on very specific and clear terms and then dispatch them forthwith. I didn’t appreciate that the law firms had any real involvement with the agent except to arrange interviews.
That may be so for some recruitment consultants, but not all and certainly not those consultants at BCL Legal. We fly the flag for honesty, transparency and professionalism which is why we are a preferred supplier for most of the law firms for which we work.
Our clients (law firms for private practice consultants) expect us to do a good job for them. They pay us to provide them with a professional service and to find suitable candidates for their roles taking into account the culture of the firm and the dynamics of the team. They invest time and money in us to find them lawyers with the right skillset, experience and personal attributes for the roles they are looking to fill. We often meet with the recruiting partners in order for them to give us a better overview of their team and practice and to tell us about what sort of lawyer they are looking to recruit. In return for their investment in time, they expect us to do a professional job in finding them a suitable candidate. That isn’t just achieved by looking at the CV. We need to understand the candidate’s situation, their career history and their career aspirations in order to make sure the firm and the role match their expectations as well as making sure the candidate will match the client’s brief. That involves a detailed discussion with the candidate or if possible a meeting in person.
Our job is twofold – to find suitable candidates for the right role but also to make sure the role is the right one for the candidate. Moving jobs is a stressful business and it’s important that the move you make is the right one. For example, if you are looking to move because you want to get more involved in business development or client relationship management, it’s important that you’ll actually be able to do that in the next role, otherwise you’ll be frustrated in the next job. For those reasons, please take the time to speak to us in detail about your situation, your career history, why you are looking to move, how you like to work and what kind of work you’d like to focus on going forward. That way, we can help you find the right role, not just any role and by the same token ensuring that the clients are recruiting the right candidates for their roles.
For more information about legal roles in Bristol, please contact Georgina Inson or visit our website BCL Legal.