When lawyers and law firms would look to make hires, they traditionally post a job advertisement. They would then review the resumes submitted and hire the best candidate. In the legal industry, posting job advertisements is still important. It is still important to post job advertisements in various places from your local bars, SmartRecruiters, ZipRecruiter, and other job boards that are out there. There are endless job boards these days where law firms and lawyers can post jobs. But, more effort should be focused on law firm recruiting efforts.

But one important turn most lawyers and law firms need to make is to shift toward recruiting versus simply posting job advertisements. The way jobs are being filled today in the legal industry and beyond is changing.

It used to be that there were a few popular job boards where lawyers and law firms could post jobs. The resumes would then roll into the law firm. But with shrinking law school classes, that is not necessarily the case any longer because fewer new attorneys are entering into the workforce.

There are also many more job boards today than just a short time ago. In fact, there are so many job boards out there that it can be overwhelming in terms of trying to figure out what jobs boards are worth the money and which ones are not.

The cost of posting a law firm’s jobs is also quite expensive. Most job advertisements can cost several hundred dollars at a minimum and, oftentimes, much more. If you spend hundreds of dollars or more on a job advertisement for your law firm and do not get quality resumes, it can be quite frustrating. If you are a growing firm with lots of job openings, you could end up spending thousands a month on job advertisements.

There are headhunters out there who claim to help lawyers and law firms find candidates as well. But most of these headhunters charge pretty high commissions based on the salary the employee would be making (ordinarily in the realm of 20% to 25% of the yearly salary). Do you really want to pay this much to hire somebody? What if they do not work out? And there is no guarantee that they actually have access to highly qualified candidates beyond what you could find through your own efforts.

This is why most managers should focus on law firm recruiting efforts. Most law firms should think about putting somebody in charge of recruiting within their law firm. That could either be accomplished as a human resource function or by hiring somebody just to take charge of recruiting. This individual can then reach out to individuals on social media sites like LinkedIn, through various recruiting software like ZipRecruiter and Smartrecruiters, and other appropriate means.

The reality is that many of the best candidates should be recruited. Many of these candidates might need your law firm to reach out to them. They might need a nudge to explore a new opportunity.

There is certainly a lot of truth to the fact that a lot of the best candidates might not even be actively looking for a job. However, if you reach out to them, they might be interested in at least exploring the possibility of a new opportunity. Certainly, your current employees might be able to assist your recruiter by giving them the names of qualified individuals who might be interested.

So, instead of simply posting job advertisements and waiting for candidates, think about shifting toward recruiting candidates to your law firm.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them below.