Sandra J. Bishop, president of Executive Solutions, is an executive coach and career strategist. She will periodically answer questions that can help lawyers get that next position.
The bottom line: It’s all about full-contact networking!
• Never fail to get into the office of anyone who is mentioned to you.
• Never depart with less than three new names.
• Never leave follow-up solely in the hands of the person you just saw. Always keep the ball in your court!
• Remember, never try to reschedule a repeat performance with this networking contact — unless one of his or her leads pans out and you would benefit from this person’s continued guidance.
• When the dust settles and you have your great job as a result of this person’s referral, let’s just say more than a thank-you note is required.
Should I work with a recruiter?
Why not? We already know that you are better off getting to the employer or law firm on your own, but if you haven’t landed a job yet, I encourage you to work with anyone who will extend the hand of friendship to you. It is extremely important to understand that as a job candidate, you NEVER pay a fee for anyone to get you a job. All fees are the responsibility of the hiring organization.
If you get far enough into the process with a recruiter, you must in good conscience pursue every opportunity only through the recruiter who introduced you to the professional opportunity. If you try to go around the recruiter, you risk falling out of favor with the prospective employer. Why? It is because you didn’t respect this process. If you are willing to disrespect this process, the employer may project that you would be willing to disrespect processes within the organization or partnership.
If a recruiter calls you with an opportunity and you are not interested, the polite response is, “No, thank you. I would prefer to find my own opportunities.” Realize that recruiters will call you with an opportunity without revealing the name of the corporation or partnership until you are scheduled for an interview. So if you decline to work with a recruiter, you may never know who he or she was a recruiter for.
To help you understand the types of recruiters out there, I offer the following:
Internal recruiters
Internal recruiters are members within a company or firm who typically work in human resources. They are multi-functional serving in an HR general role — negotiating, hiring, recruiting or in a specific role of recruiting. They tend to be either permanent employees or hired contractors.
Executive search recruiters
Retained search
High-end executive search firms get a retainer (up-front fee) to perform a specific search for a company officer or other senior executive position. Typically, retained searches tend to be for positions that pay upward of $100,000 and often far more.
Retained recruiters work for the organizations that are their clients, not for job candidates seeking employment.
Delimited search
An additional aspect of the executive search is the delimited search, which is similar to the retained search, although there are distinct differences.
Like retainer firms, delimited search firms expect an initial fee before engagement of the search. However, delimited search contracts require a date set forth by both parties for when the project must be completed, or the fee is refunded. This is becoming a popular tool today.
Attorneys in Transition Event on May 8, 2009
