Skilled labor is hard to find. In the legal industry, the challenge is even more significant. Small law firms may not have the time and budget required to establish good hiring practices. Even if they do, they may not be aware of the complete know-how of the process. In such scenarios, you may be left in confusion, thinking about what to do next.
Here are some tips to ease the process for you:
List your needs
Before you start looking for candidates, it is vital to figure out your exact needs. Knowing what you want will help you fetch suitable options from the pool. Do you want a full-time employee or a part-time one? Do you have any specific requirements that should be highlighted in the job description? These are a few questions you should ask yourself.
Reach out to a staffing agency
After determining what you want from, it is time to connect with the best employment agencies that provide legal staffing. Before connecting with them over the phone, you should make sure to check their portfolio and ensure whether they have served law firms in the past. You can also extract a lot of relevant information from the customer reviews.
Streamline your criteria
The next step is to discuss your requirements with the agency you’re working with. While doing so, you need to be as less rigid as possible. You should be open to streamlining your criteria, if required. It is all about finding candidates that promote diversity and inclusion in your law firm. Avoid mentioning anything that may encourage bias, unless it is necessary.
Showcase your values
To attract the right prospect, you need to set things right. Employees, these days, look for a positive, relaxing work environment. In the case of law firms, it becomes even more critical as legal hassles and associated brainstorming are unavoidable, and nobody wants to add to that stress. So, make sure to create a job description that showcases your firm’s positive attributes well.
Interview the best candidates
While interviewing the shortlisted candidates, you should keep a list of skill-based questions handy. In addition, you should ask something more that is not related to the job or skills and helps you dive deep into the candidate’s personality. This will help you get a clearer picture of whether they will add to your firm’s harmony or take the other way. Follow your gut while reaching a decision.
Prefer temp-to-hire
Let your agency know that you’re looking for temp-to-hire candidates. Though you should keep yourself flexible throughout, it is still a good idea to prefer temp-to-hire (if you get a decent number of available options). This will further increase your possibilities of finding the best fit.
The bottom line
Legal staffing is very different from other forms of staffing. It may be difficult for you to find a reliable person for the job at times. Hopefully, these tips will help you hire the right fit as per your law firm’s needs.
In case you’re looking for a legal staffing agency, reach out to us today.
Comments