Practical 4-step guide for recruiting top legal talent by Andre Thomas, Thomas Telman.
To recruit the top legal talent you must have an attractive employee value proposition (EVP), what is an EVP? More on that later. While some leaders might say, “we have been in business for a long time and everyone knows us” pretty much relying on their brand and experience in the market, studies have shown that by taking a strategic view of talent supply and demand, you can attract top talent and be confident that they will stay in turn reducing your attrition rate and increasing your business output positively.
From our experience, working with mid-market law firms on recruitment we have found that growing firms with 50 – 100 employees struggle to have a strong EVP. They fail to give it the due care and attention that it requires. When these organisations are faced with the reality of being unable to attract the right calibre of candidates that is when they realise something has to change.
What is an employee value proposition?
An EVP is the unique set of benefits that an employee receives in return for the skills, capabilities, and experience they bring to a company, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) define it as, “what an organisation stands for, requires and offers as an employer.”
Having an attractive EVP requires a holistic approach that is suitable for each employee and creating the right environment where they can thrive. This means you don’t compete on salary alone but instead includes focus on creating the right culture that benefits both employees and the business.
Long term approach to your recruitment strategy
Taking a long term approach to your recruitment strategy ensures you have the right people in the right positions, giving you insights into future skills that are required to keep your business competitive and growing. Develop a 3 – 5 year plan mapping out the skills required to meet your company’s strategic objectives and outlining any new skills and roles that don’t exist today but may do in a few years’ time.
Mapping out your recruitment strategy includes knowing how well you are performing on employee satisfaction scores, making it an annual review for the business. You can also incorporate a quick pulse survey to capture feedback providing reliable data on how your employees are feeling about the company and their role. Employee surveys can identify interesting pros and cons, you can find out if your employees are aware of your company vision and why they are part of the team.
Make your offers magnetic
Many HR managers that are tasked with analysing and improving their benefits and reward package tend to look at what their competitors are offering and follow suit. Although this approach on the face of it makes sense, you are missing out on a significant opportunity to attract many more candidates by not having an EVP in place that you can articulate to candidates you wish to hire. How great would it be if you explained to potential new hires that they can choose from 10 different perks that suit their lifestyle, family, and circumstances because of the value you place on employees. Working from home has long been a reluctance. Although managing clients and handling cases has always been a results business many managers still like the idea of employees always being present in the office. With Covid-19 causing governments to announce that employees should work from home where ever possible we may see more firms realise that this is a new and trustworthy way to support employees with flexible working arrangements.
Identify your key performers and involve them further
A winning EVP shows that you can say with certainty that your employees are aligned to your company values and its vision because there is synergy with their personal values and future expectations. This level of EVP will help retain top talent, if part of your EVP is accelerated career progression for high performers consider involving them in the acceleration programme review to get their input, this shows you value their input, you can also clearly outline the career progression and rewards for any such programme. However, your KPI’s and treatment of all employees must be fair. With several review platforms available to employees, such as Glassdoor, management must be transparent and honest.
Attracting and retaining talent is an important factor for a growing company. The cost of making mistakes can impact your company negatively, with high attrition rates, loss of earnings through poor brand reputation and more. On the flip side, building a strong EVP can help you ensure you attract and retain the right candidates. With an increase of quality CV’s and client satisfaction, happy employees lead to happier clients.
Come to the next HLN meeting and have a chance to meet Mr Thomas in person to discuss this topic.
If you would like to discuss anything raised in this article or
if you are curious to know how your people strategy compares with the legal industry, please schedule a call with the experts of Thomas Telman and take their people strategy assessment.
You may wish to contact Andre Thomas directly on LinkedIn.
Comments