December is here! And with it comes hopes of a break and time to relax.
It’s a great time to look forward and also reflect on the past year, so I wanted to take the opportunity to recap on 2022 and look forward to 2023 and what it might hold for the legal jobs market.
This month: How has the recruitment process changed in 2022?
Overall as you would expect since lockdown, online interviews have become an entrenched part of the interview process. Firms use them in many ways:
1. A quick first interview that’s easy to arrange
2. A full panel interview where it’s easier to get everyone together virtually than in person
3. A final ‘check over’ of a hire by a senior person within the firm/ organisation
4. All three!
There really are advantages in this for both the firm and the interviewee as the time that is needed to interview is reduced and it’s easier to fit an online interview in to a working week. A bit like home working though, a balance is probably most common with most firms (and individuals) choosing to have at least one in person meeting to ensure that the real life experience lives up to the online presentation of a firm/ person.
To aid this whole process we have commissioned our own online video platform that we can use to interview people ourselves and send a recording to the hiring firm/ organisation. We have found that an increasing number of firms/organisations are choosing to use this routinely as part of their process. Also, where individuals are looking around for roles, if we can present a person to a firm on a speculative basis with a full package of CV and a video then we are seeing a positive response from firms who value the way it brings a CV to life.
Rest assured this whole video process is very secure and only people with email addresses that we have entered into the platform can see these recordings so there is no less confidentiality in the process.
You may also have seen the video messages we send out about roles, we hope you like them! Any feedback is always gratefully received. We certainly think that video is here to stay so don’t be surprised as this will continue to form a part of the hiring process moving into 2023 and beyond.
Looking at 2023
We are hearing that firms are looking to hire primarily to replace people that are missing from their teams (be that early retirement, people moving to part time or people moving on/ out of law). With the levels of vacancies we already have in the market we predict that we will still be able to offer multiple options to anyone in law who is looking for their next step, as many firms have had positions open for some time due to lack of suitable legal professionals in the market.
So, if you are already thinking that 2023 is your year to make your career work for you then drop us a line. You can book a time to talk directly in my diary.
To kick of the festivities on 8th December 2022 we have our online conversation with @thatcorporatelawyer who you might know from Instagram and TikTok fame. We will be talking about social media, mental health and making your way as a junior solicitor in the world of law in this day and age. Book now for free.
This year, like very year, we have made a charity donation instead of sending Christmas cards. This year we split it between LawCare – mental health and wellbeing for the legal profession and Helping Hands Suffolk – a local charity who help people who find themselves without a home.
