Vital position suddenly opens up? Be prepared with these passive recruiting tips.
When a key law firm or department member leaves, the resulting vacancy can pose a threat to both productivity and profitability.
To minimize any related downtime, firms and in-house entities must be able to quickly locate a qualified replacement. Utilizing a passive recruiting approach to find candidates long before there’s a need to hire them can help.
Numerous industry members recruit on an ongoing basis, continuously unearthing future candidates — including Farrell Fritz, comprised of approximately 70 attorneys. Managing Partner Bob Creighton says relationships with recruiting firms, clients and other entities can help yield hiring options.
“The best way to try to identify candidates is to have an integrated, multipronged effort to stay in touch with as many people as you can — and keep the word out about your firm’s desire to grow and the opportunity your firm offers candidates,” says Creighton. “So when they’re thinking of changing jobs, your firm is front of mind.”
If your organization has historically relied on launching candidate searches solely when a hiring need arises, the following practices can help you more proactively prepare to fill critical roles.
In addition to soliciting resumes through a career page on their website — regardless of whether there’s an opening — a number of employers are encouraging their recruiting and marketing professionals to work together. The goal is to find ways to convey the organization’s employee experience, according to Valerie Fontaine, a Partner at legal search firm SeltzerFontaine.
“Firms are paying a lot more attention to brand building,” Fontaine says. “The recruiting professionals within the firms need to encourage their marketing people to be thinking about messaging that promotes recruiting, as well as client and business development.”
Social media posts can extend beyond just job listings. For instance, Fontaine says sharing information about attorneys’ pro bono achievements on venues like LinkedIn and Instagram can potentially help raise a firm’s public profile.
“Talk about some of the successes the firm has had or new areas of law it’s getting into,” she says. “Make sure you are highlighting the achievements of your diverse attorneys so you appear welcoming to all kinds of folks out there. If you hire somebody, make a big deal in the press about it. Potential candidates need to know you are a firm that’s on the move and growing.”
The marketing department at Creighton’s firm regularly posts items on LinkedIn and other social media outlets, ranging from substantive information about published articles to notifications of events firm members are scheduled to speak at.
“All of that is designed to just keep the firm’s name and brand in front of others, so if people are looking at Farrell Fritz, they’ll be able to see all of that information on a relatively current basis,” Creighton says. “It creates some degree of buzz in the community when the firm is hiring. We hope that may make people more inclined to inquire about opportunities here; that definitely does happen.”
“Firms are paying a lot more attention to brand building,” Fontaine says. “The recruiting professionals within the firms need to encourage their marketing people to be thinking about messaging that promotes recruiting, as well as client and business development.”
Donaldson and Weston’s HR Manager, Heather LoGalbo — who Partner Dante Weston says has more than a decade of experience in the human resources field — catalogs information about candidates the firm encounters. The HR Manager tags elements such as whether a person might be someone to consider for future roles.
“One of the benefits of having an HR manager is possibly you meet someone today that you want to hire six months from now — making sure you keep track of that,” Weston says. “Both on the administrative side as well as the recruiting side, it’s hugely helpful. Instead of me perusing the internet, trying to look for the right sites to post on, she knows there are sites available where she can post one ad, and it’ll go to 10 or 20 locations. It’s really helped us create a digital presence.”
Attorneys and support staff members can help increase the exposure of a social media post from the organization, too.
“They certainly should at least like it; possibly reshare it; [or] make a comment — like, ‘Welcome, we’re so happy to have such and such here;’ ‘This was a really exciting win;’ or ‘I’m so proud of my firm to be part of doing this good thing in the community,’” Fontaine says.
Employees can also take a more direct role in passive recruiting by suggesting possible current or future employment candidates. It’s a type of input employers may want to encourage.
“When [employees] make a referral, the likelihood it’s going to be somebody who will be attractive to the [organization] and successful are higher than just somebody coming in cold,” Fontaine says.
Donaldson and Weston sponsors an ongoing incentive plan to obtain referrals from within the firm. Current employees receive a bonus if their recommendation is eventually hired and are paid another bonus when the new hire completes 90 and 180 days with the firm.
“It’s one thing to a hit a number — we need five people, so let’s get these five,” Weston says. “But it’s another thing to balance that out with making sure they’re good fits and quality candidates. We pay [the employee] a retention bonus to not only try to find someone who will maybe apply for or take the job, but also to work with [the new hire] to make sure they onboard as efficiently as possible.”
“Firms are really looking at pipeline opportunities where they are working with colleges or even high schools and providing programs for people who think they might want to join the legal profession.”
Attorneys, paralegals and other staff members have submitted hiring suggestions — former coworkers, people they knew in law school — who Weston says have largely been good hires.
“They’re taking more of a role in recruiting,” he says. “They’re out, they’re about, they know colleagues at other firms. We have probably a dozen people that have come through the referral process currently. What we’ve found is candidates hired through the referral program end up getting promoted quicker to higher positions than those that come in without knowing anyone.”
Creighton says the alumni network Farrell Fritz has sponsored for more than a decade has helped the firm remain in contact with former employees. They have a dedicated portal on their website and host social events that current employees also attend.
“We think it’s a smart thing to do for a lot of reasons,” he says. “Those lawyers are all now working in other law firms or businesses, and they could refer work to us. They could be good resources from a recruiting perspective, because if they come across people looking to work in Long Island or in New York, they can refer those people to us; that’s happened quite a bit.”
Keeping former employees updated about what the firm or legal department is up to and inviting them to participate in webinars and other events can result in positive feelings that alumni may pass on to others in the industry, Fontaine says.
“The reason you want to have alumni groups is multifold,” she says. “One, just to let potential candidates know this is a community-friendly, caring place; we wish you the best, regardless of where your career takes you — and it’s brand building. Another way of [passively] recruiting always has been word-of-mouth [information sharing]; you want that word-of-mouth to be regular and positive.”
Fontaine has also noticed an increase in boomerang hiring, where, after leaving a job, employees work for their previous employer a second time — which offers clear advantages.
“We stay in touch on a regular basis with the recruiting firms we work with. They know to generally present candidates because when the right people come along — whether or not we were actively looking to recruit in that space — we’ll be pretty opportunistic at trying to hire [them].”
“People are returning,” she says. “Your alumni know the folks — the culture, the ins, the outs and what works and doesn’t at your firm. Be nice to them on the way out, and when they’re leaving, let them know you’d be happy to hear from them in the future, if they might entertain returning. Sometimes firms lose people they don’t want to lose. You want to make it easy for them to come back.”
Pinpointing anticipated future hiring needs — and actively helping to prepare a pool of candidates to meet them — can also shorten hiring time. A number of industry members, according to Fontaine, have undertaken outreach efforts to help encourage and develop future industry members through workshops, career fairs and mentoring programs.
“Firms are really looking at pipeline opportunities where they are working with colleges or even high schools and providing programs for people who think they might want to join the legal profession,” Fontaine says. “There’s been a lot of concentration of those kinds of efforts for [diversity, equity and inclusion] purposes, as well.”
Farrell Fritz supports some local law schools through scholarship funds, Creighton says, which has provided opportunities to engage with the institutions and students. The firm also has uncovered solid candidate options through correspondence it receives from recruiters.
“Our two go-to firms have worked with us for a long time, so they do a good job screening and present really good candidates to us, both at the associate and partner levels,” he says. “When you’re getting unsolicited email blasts, more often than not they’re candidates we pass on, but occasionally, we find some we’re interested in talking to.”
Professional organization initiatives — such as community bar programs — can be a source of new talent, Fontaine says. Farrell Fritz firm members are encouraged to be involved in their community, according to Creighton. In fact, he says the majority of its lawyers are part of a bar or civic association or philanthropic organization.
“The not-for-profit community is really vibrant on Long Island,” Creighton says. “We are engaging it, really, because it’s consistent with our core values, but those relationships have far-reaching effects. Often, we get opportunities to talk to people who are looking for jobs because they’ll talk to a friend who knows somebody at Farrell Fritz. That will lead to opportunity for us.”
No law firm or department can flawlessly foretell the future. Even with the most arduous planning, some may find they’re unprepared to fill key positions. One potential solution is to shift the organization’s talent supply ahead of its present demand — a successful approach Farrell Fritz has employed.
“We stay in touch on a regular basis with the recruiting firms we work with,” Creighton says. “They know to generally present candidates because when the right people come along — whether or not we were actively looking to recruit in that space — we’ll be pretty opportunistic at trying to hire [them]. Taking the view that if you build it, they will come: If we hire good lawyers, we’ll get the work. We’ll be able to support that. We really try not to miss opportunities to hire the right candidates.”
As law firms continue to hire C-Suite professionals to drive business operations, earning your CLM designation will help advance your career.
For Karie Rivkin, CLM, the plan had always been to obtain her MBA, but working full-time while raising three children and other life events forced her to place that goal, at that time, on hold.
“Still wanting something more, the [Certified Legal Manager (CLM)® designation] seemed to be my logical and natural next step,” says Rivkin, who is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Eichelbaum Wardell Hansen Powell & Muñoz, PC, and a Director on ALA’s Board of Directors. “Since the CLM is an ALA offering — and ALA is recognized in the legal industry — the credential would help validate my expertise.”
Though already responsible for guiding the strategy and vision of the firm’s future, the CLM credentials provided her the opportunity to update her title from Firm Administrator to Chief Financial Officer. It validated her skills.
It’s an example of how the way firms approach business has drastically changed in recent years. One notable change that’s pertinent for legal management professionals? Relying on C-Suite level positions to drive the business part of the law firm and leaving lawyers to do what they do best — practice law.
As Rivkin’s story illustrates, expanding your professional development is an important way to enhance your C-Suite credentials and make yourself more valuable to the firm. The CLM certification is one meaningful way to sharpen skills and demonstrate expertise.
“For even the most seasoned leaders,” says Rivkin, “the CLM preparation materials provide relevant legal industry and management expertise for continued professional growth and development.”
The CLM exam is rigorous, designed to test the mastery of core competencies needed to be an effective administrator. In other words, it’s an excellent foundation for those looking to advance their positions within the firm.
While it can be a good place to start in your C-Suite journey, there are other things to consider, too, according to Matthew Sullivan, Executive Vice President, Finance and Operations, at Sullivan Law and Associates, and Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Unravel Legal. (He also serves as a member of ALA’s Professional Development Advisory Committee.)
“To be successful in a C-Suite position, you need to assess situations at a very high level and operate strategically — weighing options, assessing risks and making calculated decisions based on all the information,” says Sullivan. “Cultivating this skill does not come naturally to many — especially administrators — who are used to doing and handling the nuts and bolts of the business.”
Maybe you’re interested in expanding your knowledge in the field and learning how to take on a more strategic role in your legal organization. Or, perhaps, you’d like to set your career course on a C-Suite track. Or maybe, like Rivkin, you are already doing many of the tasks required of a C-Suite position — but you just need that extra piece to demonstrate your expertise to firm leadership. Whatever your course, here’s how earning your CLM can bridge the gap to get you to the next step.
Developing a strategic skill set requires experience, managing shoulder-to-shoulder with leadership and learning on the job. However, if you’re not in the position of making strategic decisions just yet, you still can “play out the scenarios in your mind, much as a bench coach would in baseball with the team manager,” says Sullivan.
Communicating your readiness and willingness to move out of your comfort zone is another important step. A recent article about transitioning from upper management to the C-Suite noted that gaining the attention and trust from current C-Suite occupants is one of the first steps managers can take. That means raising your hand to take on more responsibility. Although you may not be ready to advance right away, the point is to demonstrate your potential and create — not just measure — value at the firm.
In Rivkin’s case, she was already doing that. She had a seat at the table and was involved in the firm’s forward-looking planning. But the education and courses in preparing for the CLM exam provided her with new ideas — for example, for preparing budgets and calculating future profitability.
“For even the most seasoned leaders, the CLM preparation materials provide relevant legal industry and management expertise for continued professional growth and development.”
Rita Nielsen, CLM, PHR, SHRM-CP, is an Office Administrator at Locke Lord LLP, and CLM Director for the Chicago Chapter. “It is a well-respected certification within the legal field,” says Nielsen. “It is an important bridge to upper management.”
In a field that’s quickly evolving, the continuous learning required to keep your CLM (much like attorneys do with continuing legal education credits) means those with the designation regularly broaden the perspective they bring to work. It can help in unexpected ways, including how you handle challenges at work.
“Try not to say no,” says Nielsen. “Before thinking something cannot be done, think it through. Tap into other resources within the firm because you may likely find a way to make it work.”
Additionally, ask questions and gather facts. Rivkin says that she often relies on business partners for solutions. “It takes a team. I cannot possibly know everything and that’s where our trusted business partners come in. They might suggest an alternative to consider (sometimes even recommend not to move forward) or a product not yet released that would be even better allowing you to alter or delay your project.”
Considering all options and presenting the results in a well-communicated document is a critical step, because for C-Suite professionals, it isn’t just about execution, it is the strategy, analysis and reasons supporting the project or plan. The CLM course materials and the required continuing education provide educational opportunities to develop these skills and “it proves you have mastered a range of management skills and are competent to take on a more strategic role in the business of law,” says Rivkin.
Law firms often roll out elaborate mentoring programs for their associates, citing the benefits to both mentors and mentees, and the importance of mentors in professional development, client service and succession planning. Likewise, mentoring within the administrative ranks can produce equally positive results and could help retain high performers, ensuring greater operational stability and continuity.
Since formal, internal mentoring programs for administrators are scarce, identifying and working with a trusted mentor or group of sponsors needs to be a priority for legal managers aiming for the C-Suite. Such career advisers serve as advocates, act as a sounding board and provide feedback about professional development. Often, these mentors may be professionals working outside of the firm.
“To be successful in a C-Suite position, you need to assess situations at a very high level and operate strategically — weighing options, assessing risks and making calculated decisions based on all the information.”
Sullivan credits his father-in-law who, in a mentor role, helped him think differently. After finishing law school and being trained to “think like a lawyer, he took me under his wing to [teach me] how to think analytically and strategically like a businessperson,” says Sullivan. “As you may have guessed, he did not work in the legal industry.”
Tap into your ALA network, too. If you decide the CLM is where you’d like to start your C-Suite journey, you may also find like-minded cohorts and possibly access to mentors.
“The CLM exam is difficult and studying for it can be daunting,” says Nielsen. “I would highly recommend joining a study group. A study group provides a structure specific to the different knowledge areas. You’ll also have study buddies who can share study tips, encourage you and help you stay motivated. My study group included a CLM mentor who guided us to success. He helped find subject matter expert speakers to teach us.”
The industry will continue to shift, presenting new career opportunities for legal administrators. Now more than ever, states are examining (and making) changes to legal ownership, so there will be opportunities for professionals within legal who don’t practice law, particularly within C-Suites.
“My advice to those wanting to step up to a C-Suite title: The CLM is a great start,” says Rivkin.
Once in the C-Suite, all that you’ve learned along the way will help shape the direction at your firm.
“How do you want to inspire?” says Sullivan. “Your words and actions will carry much more meaning. Be mindful of your personal brand when you reach this career stage. Give people the opportunity to speak and really be heard. And have enough self-awareness to know when something is not working and make a timely change.”
Make 2023 the year you make time for yourself and your professional development. ALA’s Certified Legal Manager (CLM)® program provides the opportunity to demonstrate you have mastered the knowledge, skills and abilities to operate at a high level of expertise in the field of legal management. For more information on how to start your CLM journey, visit alanet.org/clm.
Plus, don't miss the CLM episode of Legal Management Talk, where Rita Nielsen, CLM, PHR, SHRM-CP, discusses the program, the benefits it offers and what the process is to achieve it. Visit alanet.org/podcast to tune in!
