What steps must you take to find employees?

Having the right employees can make all the difference in your firm’s success, lightening the load for everyone when you can depend on them to deliver quality, timely work and provide top-level customer service. Finding the right employee is no small feat, but taking the time to make the best hire is a much better strategic business choice than hiring just to fill the spot.

Write a description that sells the position.

Getting applications isn’t the same thing as getting the best applications. Many people are looking to work for a law firm and it’s likely your firm is going to get plenty of resumes to choose from. But if you’re looking for the absolute best out there, you’ll need to sell them on why your firm is the place for them.

Explain the benefits of working for the firm, including any particular values or parts of the mission statement that could be helpful, along with the firm culture. If you have regular firm retreats or events, this is the time to highlight those. Also focus on the experience they’ll gain as well as any possible opportunities for mentorship, especially for more junior positions.

Post in the right places. 

There’s no limit to job posting sites to choose from. Be sure to choose the ones that make the most sense for the position and the legal industry. Your state, as well as county bar association, can prove to be great resources for job postings, as well as law school alma maters. Non-legal job posting platforms, such as Indeed and LinkedIn job listings, should also be considered.

Reach out to your network. 

In the legal community, not everyone who is looking for a new position is spreading the word about it. In the event someone is looking and you don’t know it, be sure to spread the job posting to your personal network. Mention it during networking events, post it to your company’s social media as well as your personal LinkedIn account and ask others to do the same.

Screen resumes and conduct interviews. 

It’s ok if this part of the process takes some time. Hiring someone requires a lot of investment, including time and money, with a recent study showing the average cost to hire for companies at over $4,000^[1]. Making the wrong hire will not only cost you the time and money you spend training and on-boarding them, but will also make lose out on other potentially qualified candidates.

As you look through the resumes, look for key skills you know you’ll need from this employee from the start. During the interview, ask questions that relate not only to the technical aspects of the job, but also ones to determine if they’re a good fit for the firm’s culture. Including behavioral interview questions^[2] can be helpful to see if the candidate has qualities that can be difficult to teach, such as initiative and the ability to work well with others.

Making the right hiring decision can be difficult, but finding the right fit for your firm can have a huge positive impact.

References

1. Average Cost-for-HIre for Companies if $4,129, SHRM Survey Finds
2. Lawyers: How to Handle Behavioral Job-Interview Questions