Klein Hamilton News
10 Reasons to use a Recruiter when seeking a new role
Written By - Ellen Dolan - August 29,2017
The technological age has presented candidates with a broad range of different choices when seeking a new opportunity; this can be both beneficial but also overwhelming and confusing. With all these options candidates, may feel that there is enough resource available to manage the job search themselves. Obviously, being a recruitment consultant myself you may feel I am going to be biased, well yes, but with good reason. These are my top 10 reasons why using a reputable, accredited Legal Recruiter can add real value to your job search, and the best part is, it is a free to candidates:
1. You will be in a smaller select pool of candidates – Agencies will only send over a limited number of candidates after paying careful attention to the specification, meaning much less in the way of competition. We will spend time discussing our candidates with the hiring manager letting them know the reasons for sending each candidate across, thus, further selling each applicant for the role. For instance, our average CV to interview ratio is 80%, meaning for every five candidates we send across, four will obtain an interview.
2. CV advice – We have expert knowledge in knowing what sells and what doesn’t. We spend our careers advising candidates on how to sell themselves best. Lawyers can be notoriously bad at selling themselves, and it is our job to get an in-depth understanding of you, the role you are seeking and then to adapt your CV to ensure it sells you as well as it can do.
3. Recruiters provide a no cost service to candidates – Let’s face it, there isn’t much in this world that is free. However, we offer a free service to candidates with businesses paying our fees. You will receive advice from a market specialist with years of market knowledge, contacts, and experience at no cost, so take advantage of this!
4. Have a market specialist SELL YOU – Often when applying for a job you will join a paper pile, internal HR departments are very busy, and responses can take a while. Using a GOOD agent will open doors, they will be your biggest advocate, ensuring your CV comes to life and gets seen by the right people. When we work with a candidate, we often secure interviews on the same day as registering, speeding up the process for you. Recruiters understand the market, how to sell and introduce people.
5. Coaching and advice for interviews – Interviews can take a wide variety of different formats. We have years of expertise in preparing candidates to ensure that they are confident, well informed, and knowledgeable for interviews. Often, we will be able to obtain much more information about the format of the interview than if you were going directly to a firm; we will also know the personality of the person interviewing and can cover these aspects with you.
6. Exclusive opportunities – Recruiting can often be a sensitive matter for a firm, meaning they do not want to advertise themselves externally. A large proportion of our roles is given to us on an exclusive basis. Sometimes we do not even advertise these positions externally; we will have sufficient top talent within our internal database. It is wise, even if also applying directly to firms to, in addition, work with a select few agencies to maximise your opportunities.
7. Over 50% of senior hires by agencies - Recruitment agencies are involved in just over half of all senior-level job changes per a study by the International Association of Corporate and Professional Recruitment. I believe this number is most probably higher within the legal profession.
8. Managing the process better – Agents are specialists at managing expectations and the recruitment process. HR departments are busy, and often feedback can take longer, we will ensure that you know what is always happening, in and out of hours to take feedback and answer any questions that you have.
9. Ability to negotiate a better deal – I believe agencies can generally always negotiate a better deal than a candidate going direct. It still seems to be a British taboo to discuss money, and it is always a topic that can make people feel uncomfortable. Fear not, we are specialists at negotiation and often will know what budget is set aside for a role. Also, we will be able to advise how you rank against other candidates regarding experience and salary.
10. Good recruiters have an extensive network of contacts – We spend our working life (and many evenings) building our network. As the saying goes, “it is not what you know it’s who you know”. While this is not entirely accurate for legal, it speaks much truth. We can open doors easier because of our network of past placements and relationships.