It's true that today's bleak economy has hit the job market, and the economy, hard. Jobs in the legal profession are no exception, and new attorneys especially are having trouble finding work. In addition, many law firms are downsizing and laying off employees instead of hiring. Most people think that this particular situation is temporary, though, and that within a short amount of time the situation will correct itself so that attorneys, and by default recruiters, will be busy and in demand once again.
What Does an Attorney Recruiter Do?
In fact, there are many roles those in attorney recruiting positions can fulfill. Legal recruiters (also sometimes called legal search consultants) seek out and find legal talent for law firms, corporations, and other places needing to hire legal talent, including lawyers.
Oftentimes, legal recruiters travel worldwide to scope out talent, but one of the most important places they look for new talent is in law schools. In this age of the Internet, they also target folks who may be looking on job placement boards for new jobs.
Other Duties with Attorney Recruiting Jobs
Attorney recruiting jobs aren't always about going out and finding new talent, though. In fact, many attorney recruiting jobs deal more with administrative duties instead of directly recruiting talent.
Legal recruiters can be in a variety of positions, from assuming direct recruiting duties to coordinating recruitment efforts. For example, a legal recruiting director may serve as the contact for organizations involved in the recruiting process outside of a law firm, and act as a sort of liaison with the firm itself. In addition, he or she may also handle employment inquiries and in some cases set up interviews to fill jobs. He or she may also conduct preliminary and final interviews, as necessary. Oftentimes, legal recruiters in these positions fill lateral positions. Legal recruiters may work for a particular law firm recruiting legal talent for that firm, or they may work for a company that specializes in attorney recruiting jobs. In some cases, they may freelance for themselves in this way, too.
In general, those in the actual position of specifically recruiting legal candidates seek out, test, and interview applicants to find qualified employees for positions that need to be filled. One of the places they look most for new lawyers is at law school campuses.
Education of the Legal Recruiter
Other Responsibilities of the Legal Recruiter
One of the things many people and think about when it comes to hiring candidates for jobs is that discrimination is still a major factor in the job place. At one point, discrimination was commonplace and legal. Otherwise, qualified candidates were discriminated against because of race, gender, marital status, and disability. Fortunately, laws have been put in place to ensure that those who can truly do the job are not discriminated against because of these factors (including disability as long as it's not related to the ability to perform the job itself); in many cases, it's also illegal to discriminate against someone and not give him or her a job because of sexual orientation. It's also usually illegal to discriminate against a woman, for example, because she may get married or become pregnant, or because she has children.
Therefore, the legal recruiter is very versed in antidiscrimination laws and is very careful to follow legal hiring practices when considering candidates for jobs.
Outlook for Attorney Recruiting Jobs
The current economy is somewhat bleak; therefore, because law firms aren't hiring, legal recruiters, too, are not as in demand as they once were. However, before this current downturn, legal recruiters could expect to be in great demand. They are expected to be as in demand and to have a growth rate about equal to the rest of the economy until 2014. It remains to be seen whether or not the economic downturn will significantly affect jobs for legal recruiters, but as the rest of the economy recovers, so too will this sector.
Conclusion
As with the rest of the job industry right now, legal recruiting jobs, too, are suffering as more law firms actually lay off employees instead of hiring them. However, should this economic downturn proved to be temporary, attorney recruiting jobs will once again be in demand as they once were. As recently as last year, lawyers in all sectors were in great demand, and this may be true again once the economy recovers. As of last year, this particular sector of the job market was expected to grow as fast as others through the year 2014.
See the top legal recruiters ranking on LawCrossing.
