Gloomy Times for NY Lawyers and the Recruiters Who Want to Help
Legal recruiters really may be able to feel lawyers’ pain as they face their own difficulties placing job seekers at big New York law firms.
Job coach Diane Costigan and legal recruiters appearing at a panel discussion Monday said lawyers need to change their job goals, the Am Law Daily reports. “Big firms aren’t going to be an option for most people,” Costigan said. And recruiters may not be able to help, she added.
“Unless you have a book of business, search firms aren’t as useful as they used to be,” Costigan said. “And we’re not even talking that long ago, maybe six to eight months.”
Zelda Owens, managing director at legal staffing firm HireCounsel, said lawyers should consider jobs in other markets, such as the Midwest, the story says. But a Chicago recruiter, Amy McCormack of legal placement firm McCormack Schreiber, isn’t so sure, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports.
“Wow, I don’t know,” she told Law Blog when asked for comment. “I’m not sure how things are in St. Louis or Cleveland, but I wouldn’t necessarily advise people to come to Chicago.” Even in good times, McCormack said, Chicago firms tend to look for lawyers with connections to the city.
Other panelists suggested seeking jobs at smaller firms or with in-house law departments, which may be beefing up their compliance teams. Lawyers should emphasize recent experience and how they contributed to law firm revenue on their resumés, panelists said. Older lawyers considering hiding their age by deleting their year of law school graduation shouldn’t bother, they said, since employers can figure it out in an Internet search.
More than 125 lawyers attended the job search seminar sponsored by the New York City Bar Association.
Updated 1:20 p.m. to include information from the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
