Here’s Why and How You Need to Vet Your Legal Recruiter

I recently heard from a lawyer going through what is, from a legal recruiting perspective, a true nightmare. Having worked with a recruiter in Washington, D.C. several years earlier, he came to learn that, unknown to him, the recruiter was now submitting his profile to firms in a different city. And not just to a few firms, either—when he asked, the recruiting shop admitted that it had sent his profile to over 1,300 lawyers!

This incident illustrates why it’s essential to thoroughly vet your legal recruiter before launching a job search. Your reputation and candidacy depend on it.

What to Avoid

Once a recruiter submits a lawyer as a candidate to a law firm, that recruiter “owns” the candidacy at that firm—and no other recruiter can try to place the lawyer with the same firm. So when a lawyer has been submitted to tons of firms without their permission, that makes it exceedingly difficult to work with another (more competent) legal recruiter later on. There’s very little the second recruiter can do to clean up the first recruiter’s mess.

Unfortunately, I’ve heard too many stories like this one since making the switch from law firm partner to legal recruiter. A lawyer starts working with a recruiter who has reached out about a putative opportunity, and ends up in a complicated mess that not only brought the lawyer no closer to landing their dream job, but, if anything, has made such a move even harder.

Hence the questions that I often hear from potential clients: Why does this happen, and how can you avoid making a similar mistake?

The first problem is that too many lawyers hold the same dim impression of all recruiters—that they’re fungible bottom-feeders in an unregulated industry who will tell you anything to make a quick buck when you switch jobs.

How to Prepare

The reality, however, couldn’t be further from the truth. A truly skilled recruiter can make all the difference in your job search—someone who can and should act as a trusted agent and confidant.

Finding and vetting the right recruiter for you takes some effort, especially because attorneys who are in demand receive a barrage of unsolicited recruiter emails—and it’s hard to separate out who is legitimately good from who is just … well, not. So how can you identify a truly skilled recruiter? Here are a few tips.

Referrals, Referrals, Referrals. Have a friend who recently left a firm or know someone from law school who recently made a switch? Moving to a new city where you only know a handful of lawyers? In a niche practice in which only a few recruiters specialize? Ask other lawyers for recommendations. Most lawyers have either used a recruiter themselves or know someone who has done so successfully. At the very least, they can help ask around for you.

References. If you do receive a cold outreach from a recruiter who you don’t already know, ask them on an initial call for references of lawyers they recently placed in your market. Every market is different, and a recruiter in New York isn’t likely to be of much help in Fargo—unless they have experience placing there.

Read the Fine Print. Be wary of recruiters who say things like, “We have an exclusive search” at a law firm (outside of some partnership recruiting, that’s seldom—if ever—true) or who say that they want to blind-submit you to tons of firms. A blind submission is when a recruiter floats your resume at a firm without revealing who you are. For skilled recruiters, this can be a very valuable tool. But some recruiters use it as a way to blast you all over the country without any real plan for targeted success.

Ask About the Plan. Ask for an initial list of firms to which the recruiter wants to submit you to—and ask why the recruiter chose those firms. Be wary of any recruiter who proposes more than a dozen firms without a compelling reason for doing so. Outside of a few narrow situations, a “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” approach to recruiting tends to be counterproductive. Not only is it unlikely to yield positive results, but it also crowds out a better recruiter from coming in later if your resume has been blasted all over town.

Guard Your Resume. Last but not least, guard your resume carefully. There are recruiters in this business who will submit you to a firm once they have your resume, whether or not they have your specific permission to do so. Don’t send your resume to anyone until you’ve engaged in at least most of the steps above.

Building a relationship with a skilled recruiter can be a huge boon to your career. But trusting your search to someone who isn’t scrupulous or committed to what’s in your best interests can really set you back. If you’re thinking about a move and want to talk to a recruiter, or if a recruiter reaches out to you over the transom, do your homework. To quote the old Russian proverb, “Trust, but verify.”

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

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Karen Vladeck is a former law firm partner and litigator turned legal recruiter at Whistler Partners.