human resources

April 6, 2022 by Amy Shanks

NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO MAKE YOUR LEGAL CAREER MOVE

If you are looking for a job change, now is the best time!

As the saying goes, “timing is everything”. While there may be a lot of competition, the volume of interest on the employer side has consistently been higher than the number of people looking for work. Translated, that means right now, it is a great time to make your legal career move.

Why The Best Time to Seek Employment is Early January to April?

Twice as much hiring goes on at law firms and corporate counsel departments from January to April than at any other time of the year due to:

January’s new hiring budgets
In December, hiring and firing decisions are finalized.
For lawyers and partners who considered a career move last year waiting for their end-of-year bonuses before searching

The Second-Best Time for a Career Move

August to October is also a great time to make a career move, as staff members have completed their fall vacations, and the summer internships have ended.

Here are a few things to give you the competitive edge:

Stay Current

Stay up to date with what’s happening in your industry so you will be ready when a new position is available. Consider how a particular practice area may be affected by current events. For example, when if there is a oil spil or class action against a major corporation (big pharma), the firms that land the case, will be looking for experienced litigators.

Economic Growth

Another driving force within a given geographic area is how well the economy performs. Some practice areas, such as real estate, experienced rapid economic growth in the past 2 to 3 years.

There Are No Lack of Jobs in the Legal Industry

The 2021 Leopard State of the Industry Report reveals that the legal industry is hyper-competitive and shows no signs of slowing down in 2022. Firms have pulled out all the stops to attract the top-level talent they need. From raising salaries to offering signing bonuses to paying off law school loans to allowing lawyers to work remotely for the first time and hiring lawyers to work in cities where they did not have offices, firms were forced to step outside of their comfort zones to meet their hiring needs.

Remember that finding the right job for you may take some time. Not every job you apply for will be right for you. If you receive a job offer and are unsure, carefully consider your next move. The career that fits you is waiting for you.

Good Legal Recruiters Place Candidates Full-time, All Year Long

Timing and qualifications trump time of year for talented attorneys seeking a career change. Several other market forces also influence hiring if you’re a potential employer. Good legal recruiters grasp these trends and work as advisors whenever career advancement openings become available. Local recruiters have insider information, networking contacts, and candidate-vetting capabilities to serve the interests of all parties involved better.

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 focus is on building a long-term relationship 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.

October 28, 2021 by Amy Shanks Leave a Comment

SRS – RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION – 5 THINGS EMPLOYEES WANT MORE THAN A RAISE

Employee retention will increase your bottom line. Read these five tips to increase employee retention.

An estimated 41 million employees voluntarily quit their jobs in 2019, according to the Work Institute. By the end of 2020, the firm predicted that 47 million, or roughly 1 in 3 workers, will leave their employment. According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, businesses lose up to a trillion dollars annually due to voluntary turnover.

When you consider that cost of replacing an employee is one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary, it makes sense to work on retention. For example, for a 100-person firm with an average annual salary per employee of $50,000, turnover and replacement costs may be $660,000 to $2.6 million per year.

Employee retention is when managers know how to put employees in the right roles and give them suitable projects to keep them engaged, productive, and want to work for the company and the manager.

The benefits of employee retention are:

Increased employee satisfaction
Better employee morale
Increased performance and productivity
Improved work quality
Increased return on your investment (ROI)

Conversely, the price of replacing an employee includes recruitment costs, training, lower productivity, and a lower level of customer satisfaction.

In their book, Love ‘Em or Lose’ Em, authors Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans asked over 18,000 employees why they stayed with their organizations. The result was a bestselling employee retention guide that provides valuable insight into employees’ top non-financial reasons for
staying.

In a Gallup survey, over 50 percent of exiting employees said that in the three months before they left, neither their manager nor any other leader spoke with them about their job satisfaction or future with the organization.

Most employees agree that what they want is exciting, challenging, or meaningful work. Although we all can’t have jobs as exciting as being an astronaut, here are five ways to improve your employee recruiting practices and increase the retention of employees in your business.

1. Form teams.

While in teams, workers learn more, have more variety in their work, and perform much better with follow-up tasks. Teams are great for keeping active engagements and encouraging more accountability. It is a win-win for everyone.

2. Challenge Employees with New Assignments.

New responsibilities can help your employees feel valued. Show your employees you trust them by giving them responsibilities that allow them
to grow.

3. Seek Employee Feedback.

Employees want more than an annual review. Furthermore, employees want to know about their performance, and if you provide them with continual feedback, their work will improve considerably.

4. Recognize Quality Work.

The rewards you give your employees should speak to their emotional needs and should go beyond their monetary compensation. Recognition contributes to the positive culture of the company and can be a great morale builder.

5. Provide Your Employees with Learning Opportunities.

German law provides a Bildungsurlaub, five days off annually to participate in an approved training course. Although not many countries have a law like this, the idea of enriching a job via a learning experience will keep your employees educated and interested.

Finally, communication is key to a great workplace. When your employees feel that they can come to you with ideas, questions, and concerns, this leads to a positive environment.

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. Furthermore, we are the recruiting firm for top employers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the Gulf Region. Our
recruiters will partner with you in your search for highly talented legal, management and technology hires. They 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 more than 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.

August 2, 2016 by Amy Shanks Leave a Comment

5 HABITS OF A HIGHLY INEFFECTIVE JOB SEEKER

The 5 Habits of a Highly Ineffective Job Seeker

Let me offer a brief preamble to acknowledge that the title of this article is in homage to the late Dr. Stephen Covey, the brilliant author of must-reads like THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE^® and THE 8TH HABIT^®: FROM EFFECTIVENESS TO GREATNESS. Dr. Covey’s positive messages and practical advice has been boosting the productivity of professionals in business for generations. Therefore, I’d like to humbly reveal the seven bad habits job seekers should avoid.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the executive recruiters at Strategic Recruitment Solutions, LLC, typically do not work with the “average” job seeker.

Our firm partners with top-tier professionals and executives in industries like Legal, IT, Marketing, and Business Management. And even though our core clientele generally has impeccable credentials, immense experience, and/or advanced degrees…a large segment has very little real-world practice in the fine art of searching for and landing a job. After all, top-tier professionals often rise quickly (and seemingly effortlessly) during the first few phases of their career, so the opportunities for seeking out a job on their own are rare.

Naturally, it stands to reason that high achieving professionals will regard a job search as more-less an easy, methodical task rather than a skill that must be honed. And, without the benefit of previous trial-and-error or past failures at landing a desirable job on their own, many will very quickly develop bad habits which will render their current job seeking efforts ineffective.

1. Not Listening to Expert Advice and Guidance

You don’t know what you don’t know. So, if you truly want to know, you should listen to someone who does know. I’m not suggesting you heed all advice or be swayed by all the guidance offered, but simply listening to what verifiable experts have to say can AT LEAST identify what you don’t know, and AT BEST tell you something you didn’t know.

2. Ignoring Your Online Persona

You are who the internet says you are. Before you dismiss that statement as utterly ridiculous, consider that one of the first actions an HR representative is going to do is Google your name. And the results that Google returns will define YOU, regardless of your professional achievements, your educational background, or the hundreds of hours invested in charity work.

If an initial search returns only a smattering of vague and non-relevant mentions of your name (like in an Ancestry.com listing or an archived white pages listing of an old phone number), it generally portrays you as (1) having not done anything important enough to mention in a news or blog article, or (2) someone who is intentionally trying to hide something. Neither scenario is good for a top-tier professional job seeker looking for a prime opportunity!

3. Ignoring Your Social Media Identity

Many of our core talent partners – especially in the Legal and I.T. fields – are social media averse; some consider it a waste of time and other consider it as posing undue personal and professional risks. OK, point taken. However, when searching for a new career, you may have to adapt more to the “mainstream” in order to maximize your visibility and provide a bit of transparency for potential employers evaluating your non-academic, non-technical traits.

A decent social media presence can help “populate” Google search results with relevant content…thus, helping to fix the Online Persona issue discussed above. Having active and updated social channels can also convey that you have a network of industry associates, outside interests, and actual friends. Think of social media as a “humanizing” factor for high-end professionals.

The social media platforms most beneficial to job seekers are LinkedIn and Google Plus. Your LinkedIn profile should have a considerable amount of detail, as it will be the most relevant to anyone evaluating your credentials. Be sure to add as much detail as possible on past work history, credentials, professional associations, and education. This channel also allows you to connect with industry associations and other interest-based groups without flooding your email inbox with unsolicited messages.

Google Plus (YES, Google Plus is a thing!) is an essential tool for anyone looking to gain high visibility in a job search. The simple reason is because Google Plus IS GOOGLE! Whatever is entered into the “About” section on your G+ profile gets indexed on Google within minutes! This channel is especially important for someone actively looking for a new opportunity and is not concerned that a current employer may stumble across their G+ profile. Kissmetrics has a fantastic article on how to optimize your Google + profile and page.

4. “Call to Action” is Missing in a Resume and CV

Remember that Marketing class you were forced to take Junior year? Well, now you get to put those 3 credit hours to good use because, when you’re seeking a new position, you’re selling yourself! The first chance you have to make a first impression to a potential employer is going to be in your Resume and CV.

Forget templated, boilerplate intro sentences and personal statements. No…seriously…put them completely out of your head. A true top-tier professional is expected to come strong with a unique “call to action”; a compelling argument on how you could personally add value to the company. If you are feeling bold, use that call to action as the Subject Line of the email when submitting your credentials.

5. Relying On Job Boards to Identify Opportunities

The epitome of an ineffective job seeker is someone who responds to a plethora of job listings, then sits back and waits for the job offers to come rolling in. Sure, offers occasionally pop up…but they are probably not offers fit for a professional at the top of his/her game. The listings you see on job boards are broadcast to a huge universe and generate huge responses. These responses are filtered by automated screening algorithms and make it difficult for even the most qualified candidates to get the attention they rightly deserve.

The truth is, a majority of desirable opportunities for professionals are either found through industry connections or identified through an advocate, like an executive recruiter. In either scenario, you are likely to discover opportunities that have yet to be listed. Sometimes reaching out to people in the same industry may not be in your best interest…especially if you’d like to perform a very low-key job search. In that case, partnering with a professional headhunter or an executive recruiting firm may be your best route for forging a new career path.

Whether you are an executive-level professional at the top of your field, or up-and-coming talent looking to reach the next level, a job search can quickly be stymied unless you avoid these bad habits. So if any ring true, do yourself a favor and break the bad habits before you lose out on the opportunity of a lifetime!