✨ I was chatting with a Firm Administrator yesterday who is struggling to find the ~perfect~ unicorn Paralegal. In the conversation, the Firm Administrator asked me "Well, the last Paralegal you placed with us *Jane Doe*... how did you find her?? We want another Jane!"
I couldn't immediately remember exactly how I found Jane, but what a good question! After a bit of digging through notes/records, here is the tale of how Jane was found:
▶ 5 years ago, a local firm announced it was closing and most of the Attorneys were merging into a larger firm. I spent the next few days identifying the staff I didn't already know, reaching out to each, introducing myself, seeing if they were following the Attorneys or if they had a new role lined up? After MANY calls, messages, and conversations with all levels of staff at the closing firm, someone (let's call him John) was VERY happy to have gotten a call from me, a recruiter! John didn't have another role lined up, had been in the same firm/position for 10 years, and had no idea how to start the job search.
I probably thought, "PHEW, easy! Let's find this very qualified person a job!" Well, within a just a few days, I was following up with John and learned he had just received a job offer for a role that his prior attorney referred him to. Wooo! A job is a job, glad to hear John found employment, but shucks, I was unsuccessful in helping him! Oh well, on to the next.
⏩ Two years go by and I had stayed in touch with John, LinkedIn, emails, calls here and there etc. We were catching up and turns out, that his 'new role' wasn't the best fit, it was time to confidentially look for something else. This time there was less of an urgency on John's side and it really was going to have to be the perfect fit/firm. It took a few tries, but ultimately we helped John land the *dream job* he wanted! Happy candidate, happy client! 😊 But *Jane*? We still haven't gotten to!
⏭ About 6 months ago, I get an email from John!! Turns out, a prior co-worker at his last role was unhappy, overworked, and commuting an hour each way. John said "Jane is great, can you reach out to her? I doubt she'd apply to anything at this point, but she's great, and really needs something new."
Well of course! Jane and I chat, flash forward through many conversations, resume writing and edits, discussions about different firms, benefits needed, location, we get Jane a few interviews! One of which is with the firm who I was speaking with yesterday! Jane has been happily employed their for about 4 months now and the firm think of her as their "first of many" unicorn hires!!
❓ So why does this matter? Well, sometimes it takes you 5 years to find a unicorn -- or it takes working with a recruiter who has talked with hundreds of Paralegals and Legal Assistants for 5+ years, for that recruiter to drop a perfect candidate in your lap!
Prime Legal Staff Corporation
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