Articles From the Team

Two clients, similar advice, two different responses...

Recently, we gave two clients similar advice on how to make their recruitment process more effective: to get the lawyers they want to hire, instead of losing them to other businesses.

First response:

“For reference, we had an extremely bad experience with BCL Legal about 18 months ago, so we wouldn’t look to use you as an agency, even if at any point we did need support with a legal vacancy.” 

Second response:

“I have particularly appreciated your candid feedback (on the recruitment process), which has been passed on… I’m tooting the BCL trumpet all over the place here in the hope that when we come off vacancy freeze, you’ll be front of mind for our recruitment requirements…”

What some clients seem to forget – or just not get at all – is that we’re on the same side.

The in-house legal recruitment team at BCL Legal has worked with over 2500 lawyers: placing them in roles at hundreds of businesses across England. We know what works and what doesn’t. We know why lawyers pull out of processes, why they reject offers, why they choose some businesses over others.

If you’re a business that has never had your offer of employment turned down, you’re very lucky, and you're the exception right now: most of the lawyers we are working with at the moment have two or possibly three options in front of them, so for each role they decide to go for, one or two hirers are let down.

If we’re supporting you with a search we want you to get your first choice. 

What some clients seem to forget – or just not get at all – is that we’re on the same side. If we’re supporting you with a search we want you to get your first choice. We understand that businesses have processes but if you can’t flex them to suit the market this will damage your hiring abilities.

We give you our advice to help not hinder. We don’t change in our approach – the difference as you can see  from the two responses is how our advice is taken!