Strategic Recruitment Solutions : IT and Legal Recruiters

Human Capital Management for Legal and IT Professionals | (888) 366-6508

Home » Employment News

Employment News

by Leave a Comment

Continuing Education Will Help You Secure Your Next Legal or IT Job

 

Continuing Legal Education is a chess move in your favor.

To remain at the top of your field as a paralegal or IT team member, you must keep your skills current. In addition to keeping up with any changes in statutes and case law, paralegals should stay on top of changes that will affect their ability to do their jobs efficiently. Both paralegals and IT employees should remain tech-savvy and current with document management improvements, trial techniques, and court rules. 

As a paralegal or IT professional, taking continuing education courses is an excellent way to stay on top of changes in the law and advances in the legal field. 

Here are the top 3 benefits of continued education:

  •  Increased value to the firm. Increasing your knowledge, building additional skills, and strengthening your current skills will make you invaluable to your law firm. In the long run, staying on top of your game may also lead to a raise or promotion.
  • Better performance. As you gain confidence by learning how better to perform your job, you will be able to handle more tasks. Your new techniques and skills will make you more productive and efficient.
  • Advanced communication skills. Paralegals often are the “go-between” for all parties involved in a case (attorneys, clients, courts, experts, witnesses). IT personnel are usually solving multiple problems at once under highly stressful situations. Successful law firms are built on great communicators!

Paralegals and IT team members who regularly attend continuing education courses are more marketable and have more opportunities for career growth. Not only does learning more help you to be an asset to your law firm, but it will also open the door for your career growth. Remember to update your resumes annually with your completed continuing education credits. 

Top IT Skills

 In February of this year, Team BRYTER wrote that in-house legal technology budgets will grow 200% by 2025. As these departments become increasingly dependent on technology to keep up the pace, IT specialists and tech-savvy legal professionals will most likely skyrocket.

One specialty predicted to continue in high demand is e-discovery/litigation. As document formatting changes due to improvements in software, professionals who are well-acquainted with the latest in e-discovery and knowledgeable about file compatibility across different platforms will have a leg up against other candidates. A paralegal with a background in predictive coding and further analysis software might cut document review by hours and make for a highly valued prospect. 

What Recruiters are Looking For 

Workflow, in general, will continue to embrace both automation and digitization, and having tech-friendly skills at hand will only help your chances on the market. Updating your skill set in these areas will raise your chances of success in the face of future tech innovations and a changing work environment. 

Recruiters look for candidates with experience using legal research products such as Westlaw and LexisNexis. Potential employers may also expect proficiency in client software suites such as Google Workspace and Office 365. In addition, if you know law practice management software such as Clio and PracticePanther, you may gain an edge over your competition.

At Strategic Recruitment Solutions, we have matched top companies with top talent in the Gulf Region for over a decade. Our focus is on building long-term relationships with the companies we assist. Call us today at 888-366-6508. We can help you find the best candidate to join your legal or IT team or aid job seekers in finding the most appropriate position for their talents. 

by

HOW TO PREVENT IMPOSTER SYNDROME IN YOUR LAW FIRM

Imposter Syndrome
Professionals in highly stressed occupations are more likely to experience imposter syndrome

The term ‘imposter syndrome” was first coined in 1970 by clinical psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes. It describes the experience of successful individuals who feel they are not deserving of their success. These individuals are constantly waiting to be exposed as “frauds.”

Although imposter syndrome is in every profession, it is particularly prevalent in high-pressure careers. This is likely due to the competitive nature of legal and medical jobs and the high expectations placed on lawyers and doctors to perform at a consistently high level.

Law Firms and Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome can harm both individual lawyers and the legal profession as a whole. For individual lawyers, imposter syndrome leads to feelings of anxiety and self-doubt, which may affect job performance. Additionally, this syndrome can make lawyers less likely to take risks in their practice or be innovative because they fear being exposed as “not good enough”. Imposter syndrome can also create a work environment where employees do not feel comfortable sharing initiatives or ideas, thereby stifling creativity and innovation.

Steps to Prevent

Creating a supportive work culture to combat imposter syndrome in the legal sector is vital. A positive work culture is one in which employees feel comfortable taking risks and trying new things. One way to prevent this syndrome is to implement an in-house action plan. The action plan should be tailored to legal recruits and encourage positive work culture. Mentorship programs can also provide support for new employees who are struggling with trying to find their place and identity in a new work environment. Finally, by taking these steps, the legal profession can create a more welcoming environment for all incoming recruits and improve the turnover rate for prospects. 

At Strategic Recruitment Solutions, your success is our success. Our reputation for client satisfaction results from our commitment to clients’ objectives and beyond. We are the legal and tech recruiting firm for top employers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the Gulf Region. Our focus is on building long-term relationships with companies that employ the highest-quality professionals. Call us today at 888-366-6508. We can help you find the best fit to join a legal or IT team.

by

POSITIVE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCES INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFIT

Strategic Recruitment Solutions - Employees
Employees who are engaged are happy employees!

Did you know that are not engaged or actively disengaged cost employers 7.8 trillion dollars in lost productivity last year? According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report, only 21 percent of the world’s employees were engaged at work. Employers who make engagement the controlling factor in day-to-day operations stand out from their competitors. Employee engagement translates to:

  • 10% higher customer loyalty/engagement
  • 23% higher profitability
  • 18% higher productivity (sales)
  • 14% higher productivity (production records and evaluations)
  • 18% lower turnover for high-turnover organizations (those with more than 40% annualized turnover)
  • 43% lower turnover for low-turnover organizations (those with 40% or lower annualized turnover)

Employee Productivity Equals Profit 

Employees who associate positive feelings with the workplace are by far more productive. One reason is that workers who are enthusiastic and passionate about their work spend less time on distractions.

 Studies show that employers who create a positive work experience are more likely to see a profit. Companies with a high employee engagement have 41 percent less absenteeism and 17 percent more productivity.

Specific to Law firms 

COVID and the Great Resignation combined to create a scarcity of talent. As a result, many more law firms are finding it harder to hire and retain associates and paralegals in today’s highly competitive environment.

Law firms have been transitioning since 2018 when according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector reported a loss of 1,400 in January and February alone. Legal staff cited time demands and a toxic culture as the main reasons they left their jobs, while associates wanted more respect, collegiality, and kindness.

If your firm is experiencing a higher-than-average turnover rate, it may be time to consider the following five factors for employee retention.

  1. Inclusion is Crucial

When an employer commits to diversity, this helps to improve the overall employee experience. However, an effective dedication to inclusion and diversity must be genuine.

Though employers may say they’re dedicated to inclusion, it’s easy to leave implicit biases unchecked that may be more obvious to the employee. After all, they are directly affected by decisions informed by possible bias. A genuine commitment to inclusion involves a philosophy in which all employees and their unique experiences inspire each other to go the extra mile for the firm. An employer must be willing to examine its cultural blind spots and address unconscious bias to implement these ideas.

  1. Value Employees 

Employees who feel valued are likely to go the extra mile. By showing interest in your employees and getting to know them, you will learn which projects they enjoy and their aspirations for their career growth. Another way to show you value an employee is to acknowledge their work publicly.

  1. Provide paths to progression

According to the NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education and its 2021 survey of 126 law firms, pre-COVID associate hiring decreased by nearly 50% between 2019 and 2020.

Engagement research outside the legal arena suggests that systems with clear paths for progression, measurable progress, benchmarks, etc., align with what people want right now. Lawyers are likelier to thrive when leaders set clear expectations and pathways to advance.

  1. Build Trust With Your Employees 

Trust builds over time. Employees want to work for people with integrity. Always maintain a professional and ethical environment and when you are wrong, admit it. Building trust allows you to have difficult conversations without damaging relationships.

  1. Support Mental Health

Did you know that, during the pandemic, more than one-third of Americans exhibited clinical anxiety and depression? This statistic is alarming for the legal profession, whose numbers were already high. Anxiety, depression, stress, and substance abuse are no strangers to the legal profession. When you create a psychologically safe space for employees to speak up and be themselves, you create a healthy work environment. Your firm can also encourage a balanced lifestyle, respectful behavior towards others, and valuing diversity.

The world has changed. Today’s associates have different wants and needs. If you want to win the talent war, you’ll want to take the right steps to help your firm be the law firm of choice.

At Strategic Recruitment Solutions, your success is our success. Our reputation for client satisfaction results from our commitment to clients’ objectives and beyond. We are the legal and tech recruiting firm for top employers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the Gulf Region. Our focus is on building long-term relationships with companies that employ the highest-quality professionals. Call us today at 888-366-6508. We can help you find the best fit to join a legal or IT team.

by

HOW TO HIRE THE BEST CANDIDATES IN A LEGAL COMPETITIVE MARKET

Strategic Recruitment Solutions
Two tips to hire the best hire candidates

As discussed in our recent posts, market trends for the legal and IT sectors have transformed due to the pandemic. Despite job availability decreasing in some areas, Above the Law reports that the legal job market “is hotter than ever – with companies expanding and hiring at massive levels.” However, even with a hot market and more potential candidates than positions, some firms are reverting to their outdated and unproductive pre-COVID hiring practices, leaving roles empty that could otherwise be filled.

 Want to avoid becoming obsolete as an employer in this brave new market?  Here are two important things to consider:

  1. Remain Candidate-Focused

Here’s the hard truth: It’s no longer about you. Your firm’s reputation is not the sole incentive for a prospective hire. You should start asking what you can offer the candidate, not the other way around. Ask yourself, what does your staff want: Bonuses? Perks? Child Care? Of course, they do. If you’re not offering an enticing hiring package, then the expectation of luring in star talent is nothing less than a wish, and an empty one, at that.

Common mistakes to avoid are all about communication: You’re not responding to candidates after they send a resume, or you refuse to follow up with an interviewee about their status or rejection. Trust us, the word will get out about your application and interview process, and you will continue to lose out on the rock star candidates in the future.

  1. Your Lack of Engagement Will Hurt Your Chances for Hire

Your staffing organization works very hard for you, but all that effort is wasted if a lack of engagement with your agency costs you candidates. You’re busy, and we understand that. At the same time, taking longer than a week in the search process is pretty much guaranteed to make a candidate lose interest in today’s market. When jobs close, be sure you’re letting your agency know. Otherwise, it’s time and money down the drain.

At the end of the day, agencies like Strategic Recruitment Solutions (SRS), follow your firm’s directives, it’s easier for job seekers to choose another firm that will communicate with them quickly and consistently. After all, what works for our business works for your business.

At SRS, your success is our success. Our reputation for superior client satisfaction results from a tireless commitment to exceeding our clients’ objectives. We are the recruiting firm for top employers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the Gulf Region. Our recruiters will partner with you in searching for highly talented legal, management and technology hires. Furthermore, our recruiters will lend their industry knowledge, experience, tools, and technology to enhance your recruiting strategy. We have been matching top companies with top talent in the Gulf Region for over a decade. Our focus is on building a long-term relationship with your company. Call us today at 888-366-6508. We can help you find the best candidate to join your legal or IT team.

by

HOW EMPLOYERS CAN NAVIGATE AROUND “THE GREAT RESIGNATION”

It’s a job candidate’s market, as employees request higher pay, flexibility and work-life balance.

For employers, the pandemic’s economic crisis caused plenty of revisions in employment policies and procedures. Most organizations found innovative ways to retain talent while keeping their employees safe and productive. However, not every employer successfully kept the economic fallout at bay. Many had to face impactful changes to their workforce. As of January, an estimated 4.5 million Americans quit their positions and sought employment in a new role or another industry. 

The Achievers Workforce Institute reported in 2021, 52 percent of employees did not intend to stay in their current roles and were seeking new employment. In addition, 64 percent of employees polled thought about leaving. And a shocking 77 percent of those employed in their current position for less than a year said they were open to seeking employment elsewhere.

Recruiting and Retaining Talent In Law Firms

Employers lost workers and had trouble replacing them as other companies offered more incentives. As employees continue to request higher pay, flexibility, and work-life balance, it is undoubtedly a candidates’ market.

In its 2021 State of the Legal Industry Report, Thomson Reuters Institute and the Center for Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown University stated law firms could lose up to 25 percent of their legal talent annually.

According to the report, here are some of the actions employers can take to improve a firm’s position for retention or recruiting:

  • provide resources for lawyer and professional staff support through wellness and mental health programs;
  • take a flexible approach to remote work, part-time work, and flextime arrangements; and
  • develop policies and procedures to assure equity and fairness in an assignment, evaluation, compensation, and promotion decisions;
  • make appropriate investments in technology to keep the firm on the cutting edge of technology; and
  • find additional ways to foster social engagement and camaraderie within the firm.

Finally, it is time for law firms to think beyond financial incentives. To effectively recruit and retain law firm talent today, you must continue to elevate the employee experience.

What Can Employers Do?

Listening to direct input from employees is one of the simplest ways to retain talent. If an action plan develops with employee concerns in mind, its success is more likely. Showing appreciation  to a demoralized workforce is crucial.  Seventy-nine percent of people leaving their jobs say they feel unappreciated.

The truth is the solution to keeping your best talent is not scientific. Employers willing to offer growth and opportunity within a high-performance work culture will incentivize employees to stay.

The solution is to bolster retention while ramping up your recruiting efforts immediately. Does your firm have recruiting marketing strategy? If not, now is the best time to create one.

Harvard Business Research suggests that employers take note of the following when retaining and recruiting employees:

The Best Employers Elevate Their Employee’s Purpose

Prove to employees that there’s more to your organization by defining your purpose.  Don’t just talk about purpose. Use it to shape what you do and how you do it.

Provide Opportunities for Advancement 

Give employees new opportunities to advance. Employees want to stay if you give them a reason to stay. Most importantly, each time you provide a chance for advancement, you provide incentives to the other team members to do their best work.

Prioritize culture and connection

Take the time to connect and build relationships. Research revealed that the social connections within an organization during the pandemic positively impacted productivity.

At Strategic Recruitment Solutions, your success is our success. Our reputation for superior client satisfaction results from a tireless commitment to exceeding our clients’ objectives. We are the recruiting firm for top employers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the Gulf Region.

Our recruiters will partner with you in searching for highly talented legal, management and technology hires. Furthermore, our recruiters will lend their industry knowledge, experience, tools, and technology to enhance your recruiting strategy. We have been matching top companies with top talent in the Gulf Region for over a decade. Call us today at 888-366-6508. We can help you find the best candidate to join your legal or IT team.