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Your 2023 plan for recruiting paralegals
We are in an extraordinary hiring time with the pandemic: can’t write, but because they want a job quickly and they don’t want the additional hassle of preparing the writing sample. While recent graduates are likely to have a writing sample ready, experienced candidates most likely will not.
■ BY CAMILLE STELL
• 3 million women left the workplace in 2020, leaving the U.S. with 10 million available jobs and 9 million available candidates
• One in 3 labor force participants in the U.S. is a millennial
• 65% of employees claim their stress levels have skyrocketed over ve years
• Happy employees are ve times more likely to stay
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is about hiring paralegals. While there is no one way to recruit and hire, here are my best practices for hiring paralegals.
Hiring Trends
Law rms are known for being notoriously slow in hiring. One of my favorite jobs took me ve months to get a er making the initial contact. I was employed at the time, but ve months is a long time to wait. Job candidates tell me they can go weeks or even months without hearing a status update from a potential employer. While I was willing to wait ve months, this scenario is unlikely to work in your favor in today’s employment climate.
Candidates are hard to come by and they move fast. If you have a long hiring process, the candidate is likely going to take another o er that comes in faster. If your requirements are more stringent than another rm, they’ll likely take the other o er. As an example, if all other things are equal and you are the only rm to require a writing sample, the candidate will choose the other rm. Not always because they
Many law rms hire slow and re slow. In today’s market, if you don’t hire fast, at least try to hire faster. And by 90-days, you should have a good sense of whether a candidate will work. If not, don’t put o the inevitable, release them a er a 90-day trial period before you’ve invested too much time and resources down the wrong path.
Online Recruiting
Post your jobs on LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter or other online job options. Your post can be as formal or as informal as works for you. Some rm members post on their personal LinkedIn account, “My rm is hiring, this is a great place to work, send me your resume if you’d like to join the team!” If you are trying to decide the appropriate message for your rm, view how other companies and rms are posting jobs on the various platforms.
Also, post your position on job banks or career centers o ered by paralegal schools, paralegal associations, and bar associations, such as the NCBA Career Center.
Recruiters
Recruiters are o en a last resort for some law rms because of the fees. However, when your time is money, working with recruiters is an investment in your rm. You don’t need a recruiter to hire an entry level candidate but working with a recruiting rm to hire an experienced or specialized paralegal can provide you with access to candidates you otherwise might not have had.
A recruiting rm has access to a database of candidates, as well as having recruiters search for candidates directly or through their network of contacts. Recruiters can provide background searches, personality tests or skills testing, as well as the rst round of interviews. If you work regularly with recruiting rms, they will begin to know you, your rm, and the type of candidates who would be good ts. Many recruiting rms also o er to refund fees if the candidate does not last a minimum amount of time in the job.
Paralegal Programs
Some rms don’t want to invest in recent graduates. However, the inside of the classroom today looks different than 30 years ago. It’s always been true that many paralegal students are second career students. While they may not have written a motion or searched a title, paralegal school is a di erent learning experience from law school. Law school tends to be more theoretical while paralegal school is practical. You learn to dra the document, how much the ling fee will be, and how to get to the courthouse. Yes, hiring a recent graduate may require more time investment from you, but take the long view that this is an investment in your rm.
Invest the time to develop a plan for training and a training manual outlining the rm’s process and procedures. Your rm doesn’t have those? en train the paralegal and ask them to develop the training plan for the next new hire.
Internships
Working with paralegal programs to hire interns is a great way to introduce your rm to the school and to start meeting students who you might end up hiring. Sometimes, students can get classroom credit for internships, other times, you may need to pay a salary, but either way, this can be a great way to get additional help for the o ce, meet potential job candidates, and contribute to the education of another legal professional.
e ABA has a directory of ABA Approved n NCBA Paralegal Division and Family Law Section
Schedules advice clinic in Guilford County e N.C. Bar Association e clinic is set for February 11, 2023 from 9 a.m. to noon at Elon Law School. e Paralegal Division is recruiting paralegal volunteers for virtual intakes. e Family Law Section will be recruiting volunteer attorneys and Elon Law School students for the day of the clinic. is clinic is modeled on an April 2021 clinic in Wake County. is pilot clinic was held at the Blanchard Community Law Clinic and successfully served eleven clients by answering their family law questions and dra ing pro se custody packets for several of them.
Paralegal Division and the Family Law Section is partnering for a Pro Se Custody and Family Law Advice Clinic in Guilford County.
On the day of the clinic, paralegal and law student volunteers will be paired with attorney volunteers to assist eligible clients to complete forms speci c to their legal need or to provide advice only regarding their legal situation.
Visit the Bar Blog for more information and sign-up forms https://bit.ly/3PKxEZ3 n Horton & Mendez expands office and hires new staff
Horton & Mendez a Wilmington-based law practice focusing on personal injury andwrongful death, has moved to larger o ces to accommodate its expanding
