Articles From the Team
Who are you trying to fool… just be honest… everything can be sorted except lies
As a recruiter everyday we deal with people, over days, weeks, months and years that adds up to a lot of people. And a lot of ‘changing’ situations.
Thankfully the vast majority of the lawyers that we deal with are honest, discerning and caring individuals. And when things with these lawyers do go wrong i.e. they turn down job offers after accepting them, although we are left with a very disappointed and frustrated client at the end of the day there is little we can do about it. We are in the business of getting lawyers the jobs they want that will enhance their career – if they end up getting that where they are (and it is genuine...) then that is fine by us.
But then there are ‘the others’… the ones that tell you stories that just don’t quite add up. A recent example involved a lawyer accepting a senior role to start in a short time scale, they accepted the role but a week before they were due to start and after all the other applicants having been ‘let go’ they told us the news that they were not able to leave their current role in the time scale that they thought they would be able to. We got to work and re-filled the role. A couple of weeks and a catch up with the individual reveals that they did get to leave their current employer earlier than expected and actually started another role…
In this scenario I can only imagine that the individual decided the offer we had for them was not the one they wanted and another role was trundling along which was preferred. He got sorted and so did our client – so all is well that ends well…
The main issue going forward is how do we ever trust this individual again? The likelihood is that they will contact us again and without the foundation of trust at the cornerstone of the relationship it really does make it hard to help them again.
This month alone lawyers that had agreed moves in December have for various reasons decided not to move in the end. Of course this is not ideal and as the introducing recruiter we are left to pick up the pieces with the client.
At the end of the day there is not a lot that we can do about this – we can’t drag the lawyer to the new opportunity. All that we do ask is for honesty along the way.
For more information please contact Mark Levine at BCL Legal.