I have been sending out a bunch of letters in hopes of finding a job after graduation, with no success. I have been thinking about trying a different strategy and using a headhunter. How effective are legal placement agencies in finding jobs for recent law school grads? And if they are effective, can you recommend any around Philadelphia?
AAFj PmmyUnutuv
Things are a lot brighter than they seem right now, MF, even though LawCrossing has got to start you out with a bit o' bad news: don't waste your time even contacting headhunters, not for at least a year. LawCrossing will elaborate a bit on exactly why this is so, but it basically boils down to this: as a new law school graduate, you don't yet have a head worth being hunted.
Let's take a moment, shall we, MF, and discuss the world of headhunters in the legal market. Our guide will be a career services director-and herself a headhunter for seven years in a prior incarnation. She explains that "The way headhunters get paid is that when an employer hires you through them, they get a commission of 25 to 30% of your first year's salary." (LawCrossing hastens to point out that this payment system accounts for that-ahem- not particularly shy and retiring personality headhunters are known to have.) So if you're talking about a job that pays, say, $100,000 to start, the employer is going to have to cough up 25 grand if they hire someone through a head-hunter. And what does that, in turn, tell you?
That "Headhunters are the employer's sources of employees of last resort," as a headhunter say says. In other words, an employer is really going to need an expert on Iranian free-dom of religion issues right now before they're going to go to a headhunter to find said person. LawCrossing acknowledges that that is a rather obvious exaggeration, but you get the point, MF. In order to entice a headhunter, you've "Got to bring expertise to the table," as the Director points out. Most law firms are deluged with resumes of new law school graduates, a flood to which you yourself have contributed, MF. They don't have to cough up a five- figure financial hairball to find you. And they don't.
What does this mean to you, MF? It means that barring the unusual-for instance, you neglected to mention your U.S. Supreme Court Clerkship, or that your initials aren't really MF but instead JFK, Jr.-most headhunters won't talk to you for your first foray into the legal job market.
But all is most definitely not lost, largely because you can be your own headhunter, and you'll be far more effective than anybody could be on your behalf. After all, what a headhunter does is to bring you to the attention of employers, and entice them to hire you. You're far better qualified, and motivated, to entice them yourself. What you have to do is to get yourself in front of potential employers, in the way that you find most comfortable. If it's Philadelphia you want, you can, for example, find out who runs the local bar association section on the specialty you want to enter. Call that person, and in your most enthusiastic tone, volunteer to help out any way you can-be it organizing events, researching issues, whatever-and explain that you're doing this to break into the field, in Philadelphia. Or visit law firms, in person, and drop off your resume, instead of sending it. LawCrossing has never known anyone who required more than a week to find a job when they took this "personal visit" route, because legal employers are so impressed when law school graduates do anything to break out of the "mass mailer" mode. There are a bunch of other things you can do. Don't waste time contacting headhunters who aren't motivated to help you find that first job. Contact them a couple of years from now, when you've taken LawCrossing's advice, found thatfirst job yourself, developed an expertise-and then watch those headhunters jump through hoops for you. You'll deserve it!
See best attorney headhunter on LawCrossing.
