How to Secure Top Talent in a Talent Short Legal Market
Anthony Demarco • June 9, 2019
It is no secret that securing top quality legal support staff is becoming harder and harder. This is due to a couple of reasons:
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91% of law firms are looking to develop and expand their legal support numbers or recruit replacements when staff leave. As such a high number of firms are recruiting at any one time, it is extremely competitive.
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Unemployment rates in NSW dipped below 4% in January 2019 – the lowest ever seen – which means there are less people in the market, overall.
Here are some tips which will help you attract the top talent and make the process easier when recruiting for legal support vacancies:
1 - Use a temp
A temp can take the immediate pressure off the team and ease the recruitment process whilst you look to recruit a permanent member of staff. In most cases, job seekers will be required to provide a notice period to their current employer and not able to start straight away. A temp will give you time in the recruitment process to find the right person.
2 - Speed is everything
All job seekers are active in the market and most are considering more than one job opportunity. It is essential that if you interview a job seeker and they are the right fit for the team or the firm, you keep the process moving. If you think they’re top talent, you won’t be the only one! They will not be on the market for long.
3 - Sell the benefits
Remuneration is not everything. Although salary is important, most legal talents are seeking staff benefits, such as flexible working hours and arrangements, health and wellbeing programs, social events etc. A big shift we have seen in 2019 is more firms remunerating in different ways such as bonuses (these can be measured on financial performance of the team or how the staff member portrays the values of the firm) or extra benefits such as restaurant, shopping and entertainment vouchers.
If you are having difficulties sourcing legal support staff, need a temp whilst you recruit a permanent member of staff, or you would like more information about the legal recruitment market, please feel free to reach out to me on +612 8270 9715 or email me anthony.demarco@people2people.com.au
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In business since 2002 in Australia, NZ, and the United Kingdom, people2people is an award-winning recruitment agency with people at our heart. With over 12 offices, we specialise in accounting and finance, business support, education, executive, government, HR, legal, marketing and digital, property, sales, supply chain, and technology sectors. As the proud recipients of the 2024 Outstanding Large Agency and Excellence in Candidate Care Awards, we are dedicated to helping businesses achieve success through a people-first approach.
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