Tips For Working With A Legal Headhunter

If you are trying to find a new job as an attorney, one approach is to work with a headhunter, or a recruiter. These professionals work with various employers and help them find employees with the right skill set to fill positions. A headhunter will help you find a job, but this is a collaborative process; you need to put in some effort as well. The following tips will help you more effectively work with the headhunter and land a position that's right for you.

Meet with the recruiter in person, if possible.

Some headhunters will talk with you over the phone and communicate via email and then help match you with a job based on that communication. However, if the headhunter is willing to meet with you in person instead, this is the better approach to take. When you meet in person, the headhunter will be better able to get to know you based on your body language and interpersonal skills. This will give them a better idea of what positions may be best for you and which firms may be a good fit.

Let the recruiter reach out to firms for you.

If you've been looking for positions on your own thus far, you may be used to contacting legal firms directly and inquiring about interviews and employment. But the second you hire a headhunter, you need to stop this. The headhunter needs to be the one contacting firms and inquiring about interviews on your behalf. If you sidestep them and start contacting firms yourself, it can look like you're trying to cut out the headhunter, which does not reflect well on you as a legal professional.

Be clear about your specializations and the specializations you're willing to move into.

It's common for attorneys to hire a headhunter when they want to move from one legal specialization into another. For example, if you are currently working in personal injury law and want to move into business law, you can hire a headhunter to help set you up with positions. You need to be clear, though, which specializations you're willing to move into. Otherwise, your recruiter may contact you about a lot of jobs that are not in your chosen field, which is a waste of everyone's time. If you are absolutely not willing to work in a certain specialty, make that known, rather than hoping your recruiter catches on after you turn down a job in that field.

Legal headhunters can really help attorneys find jobs. With the tips above, you're more likely to have a good experience. 


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