Articles From the Team

Why use a legal recruitment agency?

I’ve recently made my first foray into legal recruitment and I can honestly say that I never really understood the importance of using a recruitment agency before.  I hadn’t realised what goes on behind the scenes and how it is so much more than sending CVs to jobs!  I also didn’t appreciate how a good recruitment consultant can help your job search so it’s been a big learning curve for me and I feel I should share what I’ve learnt!

Moving jobs can be a life changing decision.  It's therefore important that you get the best consultative advice from recruiters who are specialists in their field.  Part of the reason I joined BCL Legal is because I could see that they are great at what they do and the model they use ensures that you are always dealing with an expert in both legal discipline and geographical area.

So how do we help you secure that career making move and what advantages can a good consultant offer you?

• BCL Legal provides a highly consultative service (which costs you nothing!).  

• We spend time getting to know you, finding out about your skills and experience, your career aspirations and importantly where they sit amongst your list of life priorities.  It is important that we fully understand your personal circumstances so that we can offer up the most suitable opportunities to you.  We can provide advice on working hours/culture and firm ethos to enable you to decide if a particular job is going to work with your lifestyle. 

• A major advantage of using BCL Legal is the extra knowledge it gives you; job descriptions frequently provide little guidance in terms of what firms are really looking for, what personality will fit their teams and which particular skills are the most crucial in their new recruit.  My colleagues here at BCL Legal, have worked with our clients for many years and any new recruit like myself usually works with a consultant with 10+ years experience so we can therefore offer a unique insight into exactly what these firms want.  

• We know what interview formats look like at different firms and the type of questions they usually ask, we can also advise on the types of candidates they like; personality fit can often be as or more important than the appropriate skills and experience.

• We will reformat your CV into a style that is easy to read and which highlights what you can offer to the job.  We will also provide you with advice in relation to how you can improve your CV and work with you until it reflects you and your experience in the best possible light.  

• We make the applications on your behalf, organise interviews and manage your entire job search for you, this all saves you a considerable amount of time.  

• We also follow up with firms once we have put an application forward on your behalf and talk through your experience and personality and why we feel you're suitable for a given role.  

• We hold considerable sway in our recommendations and since we also know you well, we can answer any initial questions which firms may have about you which, without clarification, could otherwise see your CV on the rejection pile.  

• We are better placed to negotiate your salary and overall package, something which can feel a little uncomfortable when done directly.   Having knowledge of budgets, salary bandings and flexibility and the urgency with which a particular role needs filling, we do this from an informed standpoint.

• We know what firms are offering in terms of home/office working as we ease our way back to some office time post Covid restrictions.

Although I’ve only worked at BCL Legal for the past couple of months, I can hand on heart say that our consultants work with absolute integrity putting your best interests first!  We want to ensure that you are making the best move for your career, taking into account all of your circumstances.  We also want to ensure that we are placing the most appropriate lawyers with our clients and that it’s a good match for both sides! 

If you are interested in considering a career move, please contact us here at BCL Legal for a no strings attached conversation.