Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[nummo]

Hi
I responded to a posting from a legal recruiter.  i spoke to her telling her my needs. she said she called up a firm that wants my resume to look at.  i have told her to hold off sending my resume until i send her an updated one. 

the question is - is it better to go thru her (for fish richardson) or send it myself.

i knew they had an opening but didnt send them my resume directly since  i knew it wouldnt be worth it until i knew some partner in there who might be interested.  Do you think i shd give her permission to send my resume or should i pursue it on my own. i am a 3rd yr associate.

[AnotherCog]

I was under the impression that most firms have put a moratorium on going through headhunters.  Recruiters usually get paid directly by the firm, above and beyond your salary.  Firms can save money by cutting out the middle man, since there's a glut of qualified people in the legal field right now.  That's the theory, anyways...

You may also want to look at your agreement with the recruiter.  Some have provisions that ensure that they don't get bypassed in the process.

[bleedingpen]

The general rule of thumb is that the recruiter gets 1/3 of the first year salary for placing a new attorney.  That is crazy!

[nummo]

there really has been no agreement.  just the fact that she told me a client that is interested in looking at my resume and she wants my permission to pass it along, which i have not granted as of yet and don't intend on doing so.

[DogDayPM 9er9er9er]

there really has been no agreement.  just the fact that she told me a client that is interested in looking at my resume and she wants my permission to pass it along, which i have not granted as of yet and don't intend on doing so.

Yet you earlier said you didn't want to send the resume in to FR because you didn't know of someone there who would be interested in reviewing it.  In other words, you didn't have "an in".

Now, unless the recruiter is stretching FR's response from, "Well, send it if you must" to "We're interested in looking at his resume", it seems like the recruiter has gotten you the inside interest you asked for.

[nummo]

do u think the recruiter is being honest when she says she has an IN? compared to il'll just put his resume in there before he applies there directly?
is there any way of finding out.

[Isaac]

do u think the recruiter is being honest when she says she has an IN? compared to il'll just put his resume in there before he applies there directly?
is there any way of finding out.

If the firm becomes aware of a dispute over whether the recruiter is due a fee, you are probably not going to get the job.

[DogDayPM 9er9er9er]

do u think the recruiter is being honest ... ...is there any way of finding out.

I don't know of any way to find out.  I've worked with recruiters who were scrupulously honest, and with others who were little more than fast-talking BS artists.

The ethics of the situation aside, Isaac's more pragmatic point is well taken, too.

[smgsmc]

Isaac raises a real good point.  But also:

(1)  There's only one potential disadvantage to going through a recruiter that I can think of:  You and Candidate B are dead even.  You are represented by a recruiter; Candidate B is not.  The firm hires Candidate B just to save on the recruiter's fee.  Not sure that scenario's likely.

(2)  It's smart to maintain good relations with recruiters ... you never know when you might need one.


(3)  Some managers develop long-term relationships with recruiters.  The recruiters do initial vetting.  A manager would pay more serious attention to a candidate presented by a trusted recruiter.

In response to another poster who thought there's a moratorium on using recruiters:  My firm is using recruiters.  And I've had three recruiters call me concerning specific positions within the last month.

[nummo]

smgsmc: which firm do you work for if u dont mind me asking.

[Itoen]

I don't think using a recruiter will hurt you and it may actually help if the recruiter has a positive relationship with the firm.

I think in your situation you made a mistake sitting on your application in hopes of getting to know a partner at the firm.  If you wait too long, the position could be filled by the time you get your application in.  Besides, how are you planning to get to know a partner at the firm?

[virus_guy]

I think everyone made some really good points. I can share my experience on recruiters. Mind you, I'm a patent agent, but I imagine that the dynamic is similar for attorney recruiters.

I've worked with a few different recruiters and, as everyone pointed out, it really depends on the recruiter. One recruiter I worked with had a close relationship with the HR people at the firms she routinely placed people. So she was able to get in touch with the right people, get updates on my application status, and also proactively nudge the HR people to move along with my application. One recruiter I worked with did nothing but submit my resume and another was just a "fast-talking BS artist", as DogDayPM put it, who was telling me that everything is going great while telling the person sitting next me in my office that he was the preferred candidate for the job.

So, I really think it depends on the recruiter. As to how you can gauge whether your recruiter is good or bad, I don't know of any good way to find out without working with the recruiter.

[bleedingpen]

True story:

Corporation has exactly two in-house patent guys.  Recruiter calls up guy #1 who works for guy #2, chats him up and hangs up the phone.  Recruiter then immediately calls up guy #2, chats him up and says "yes I just spoke with another attorney at your Corporation and they would be ecstatic to take this job."

[virus_guy]

True story:
Corporation has exactly two in-house patent guys.  Recruiter calls up guy #1 who works for guy #2, chats him up and hangs up the phone.  Recruiter then immediately calls up guy #2, chats him up and says "yes I just spoke with another attorney at your Corporation and they would be ecstatic to take this job."

Geez, hope you weren't guy #1

Ya, that recruiter I mentioned was calling up all the patent agents in my firm, and we all sat near one another in the office. Of course, all of us were pushing to get out of here, so one of the other people eventually got the job.