Jennifer White

Thank you.

Yes, I joined three years ago in the legal space. I have been in sales and marketing for, I would say, my entire career in one aspect or the other. And I love recruiting for law firms and for attorneys. It's a great group of people to get to know and to chat with. Most attorneys are networkers at heart because they have their own kind of sense of book of business that they're trying to build.

So in ways we kind of line up in that, in that sense. So I've really, really enjoyed it. We have a wonderful team and my coworkers on my team. I just love, so I feel very blessed to be here.

So a lot of times the way that things work when you are in the legal recruiting field is there's different types of ways that you can partner with law firms. The law firms are considered the client and the attorneys are considered the candidate. And if you can kind of liken it a little bit to real estate where the clients are the sellers and then the candidates are the buyers.

So what you're trying to do is get to know your clients, your firms as much as possible and and be able to have the respect that they would be calling you. So what I thought would be a good idea is to kind of go through the steps of how to get to be at the desk in the C-suite with these firms. So there's different types of searches that you have.

You can start out with a contingent search, which basically means they have a need and they're sending it out to all the recruiters out there and candidates alike. Sometimes it will be posted on their on their firm websites. It's a little bit like acting like you're a sports agent. So you have the talent and you're kind of shopping them around to each of these firms.

So that's the contingent basis. Everyone has the same shot at the person that you are working with, the candidate. So the good thing about that is that you have a lot of shots on goal. You can have this candidate go out to different types of firms. However, there's no guarantee that you're going to get paid.

So sometimes what you do is you'll try to have that firm, a firm in particular, be a client that you want to have a retained search with. And what that means is that you're identifying a firm that you feel like has great opportunities because I think that's one thing is identifying which firms you want to work with is just as key as them identifying which recruiters.

Because if you have a search that no one wants and it's a dog search, then you're really kind of shitting yourself in the foot because even though you may get money up front, you are probably not going to get the rest of that money because it's a really difficult find. So when you identify the firm and you realize that it's a great firm that you want to work with, that's number one.

But you have to make sure that the firm's good. You're going to have a successful search. It's actually something that people are going to want to join. That's kind of what I think it's important for people to realize. You don't just want to work with anyone.

And then the approach of how you want to work with these firms can be either you identified them and you've never worked with them and never placed with them, but you've always known about them. And you're going to pitch that routine search right off the bat. Then there's the way that you have worked with them in the contingent side.

That's kind of how I like to do it because you kind of want to work and you kind of want to place somebody at these firms. You want to know the entire process from start to finish because when you're going to retain search, you're really promising them that they will find the talent. They're paying you and it's only you searching for them.

So knowing the ins and out of that firm, I think is really important. So the approach would be, in my opinion, to Work with them on a contingent basis. Then if you want to go in and then have the retained basis, you kind of understand some bumps up front and you're not kind of setting yourself up for disappointment. But that being said, it's definitely fine to go ahead and

Pitch for the retained if it's a firm that you feel like you want to work with and you feel like it's a great shot. So I don't want to sway it anyone that way. But my approach, I like to kind of go with the contingent and then retained. And then once you do have that ability to partner with a firm. It's really great to make sure that you know who the key players are.

A lot of times in these firms, especially with legal, they always use recruiter. So there'll be an in-house recruiter that you might have the initial conversations with. which is great. They're usually really good at what they do. They're going to be able to lead you down the path and have your pitch kick off.

But what I would recommend too is having the discussion with them that if things are getting a little sticky, a little hairy, you're bringing in some candidates that you feel like they should be hiring. and it's not going well, make sure you have the ability to reach out to the managing partners one-on-one. Because sometimes things just get lost in the shuffle.

Sometimes playing operator, what you think you're hearing and what they're saying might not be exactly coming across. So you just want to make sure that you have a clear line to the decision makers Definitely talk to the people that you're supposed to talk to. You don't want to go around anyone's back.

But make sure that if things are not going as well as planned, that you do have the ability to go right to the horse's mouth and the decision maker. And then the other thing, too, that's important to focus on when you are partnering with a firm. is maintaining those objectives and maintaining the satisfaction level that you were promising them.

If you feel like there's something that's happening that is not going well, either whether or not the candidate is, you're not being able to find the candidates because that's one thing too that can be a little bit nerve wracking. You can get these pitches. You can be at the table with them. You can tell them, hey, I'm going to be able to find this candidate. Don't worry.

And you go out there and it's just the toughest search that you could ever work on. Be honest and let them know you're going to be showing your work. You're going to be showing your efforts. You're going to be having your biweekly meetings with them telling, hey, I've made 100 calls this week. I've had this reaction to this search.