After an extremely active legal job market in 2019 and an equally great start to 2020, we hit a mammoth roadblock with the COVID-19 pandemic. Scheduled interviews quickly went from in-person to video or phone to being canceled altogether. Employees began working remotely and within a week, office buildings were empty and Zoom and other video platforms were commonplace.
Articles under Career Goals
Selecting A Recruiter And Starting A Conversation
When you’ve uploaded your resume to a job site, you’re undoubtedly bombarded with a wave of recruiters and agencies reaching out. We often take recruiters for granted and lump them all into the same box, but there are several factors that can go into picking the recruiter that best fits your needs.
Keeping in Contact with Your Recruiter
Considering partnering with a recruiter to assist you with your job search? That relationship will partly be determined by your current employment status and situation. Are you unemployed and looking for a job today? Moving to a new area and looking for a job in 6 months? Employed and looking to make a move in the next year – “keep me in mind if you hear about X”? If this is an attainable request, let the recruiter know.
Choosing a Recruiter that Meets Your Company’s Needs
A recruiter can be a partner in every aspect of a law firm or company’s hiring plan. An experienced recruiter should have industry knowledge, including local job markets, compensation information and trends. Recruiters often begin their careers in a particular industry, commonly working as paralegals or lawyers before becoming legal recruiters. This previous experience can be invaluable when headhunting, since many of these recruiters are seen as peers and former colleagues.
How In-House Counsel Candidates Can Shine in Interviews
Years ago, the Texas energy industry was thriving and candidates were driving the hiring process. Candidates could sit back and let the client sell them on why they should move from a job that is stable and fulfilling to an even better opportunity. But our legal headhunters saw a dramatic shift recently. Corporations suddenly held the bargaining chip – a job. Sometimes, the job was pulled before an offer went out to the selected finalist due to other corporate constraints.
Texas Legal Recruiters See Demand For Legal Operations Specialists Continue To Rise
As legal and compliance recruiters in Texas, we continue to work with corporations who are improving their legal operations and getting more out of every dollar of legal spend. General Counsels remain focused on optimizing performance and creating new efficiencies in order to positively contribute to the bottom-line. Creating a well-run legal machine with enhanced productivity and improved efficiencies requires lawyers to combine their legal knowledge with business judgement. Enter stage right – Legal Operations Specialists – now indispensable members of the corporate legal team. Legal Operations Specialists arrive at their specialty through myriad paths, from legal work as an attorney or paralegal, an I.T. background, accounting, or other internal operations.
What defines a successful legal career?
SUC·CESS /səkˈses/
The accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Antonym: failure.
The attainment of popularity or profit. Prosperity, prosperousness, successfulness, affluence, wealth, opulence and luxury. Antonyms: failure, poverty.
A person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity. Synonyms: triumph, bestseller, box-office success, sellout, coup. Antonyms: failure, flop, disaster.
Compensation Conundrum: To Disclose or Not Disclose
So far, fifteen states have enacted legislation that precludes employers from asking about current compensation from job applicants. Texas being a pro-business state, this type of legislation has not been enacted in Texas and was not a topic of discussion in the current legislative session, nor will it likely be in two years when the session meets again. So, the question for Texas job applicants continues: “Should I disclose my current compensation in a job interview or application”?
Ready to Accept that Job Offer? Thinking about a Counteroffer?
While working with legal professionals looking for a new job, compensation is of course one of the primary things we discuss. Unless you’re a lawyer working for a big AmLaw firm with stair-step salaries, it’s important to do your homework and have all the facts before you accept an offer, or a counteroffer is made. Maybe they did “hit you with their best shot”, putting significant thought and consideration into your offer. If you’re working with a recruiter, they should be able to offer insight into their client about “wiggle room” in the budget, additional equity or that available corner office. But, before you accept or a potential insult is delivered and a counteroffer ill received, know the facts.
Law Firm Hiring in 2019 – How to attract and hire the ones you want!
With unemployment at a record low, it’s more challenging than ever for law firms to find and hire lateral attorneys. In this red-hot Texas market, job seekers need to be enticed to leave their current jobs. We’ve found most of the on-point candidates are ones we’ve “headhunted”. Sometimes they are passively in the job market, keeping an eye on job boards or checking-in with us periodically to “test the waters”. Often, we are starting from scratch.