In a recent article a senior recruiter argued that a better approach to recruitment would be as follows:
(1) give full specifics of your post prior to interview – this can sometimes be very frustrating in legal recruitment – firms give very vague requirements and are surprised when candidates get annoyed at travelling a long way to find the post to be inappropriate!,
(2) each candidate asked to supply a CV and personal statement, complete an online personality test, complete an online numeracy and verbal test, provide evidence of professional qualifications (not really relevant for solicitors) and a written response to a specific legal/business issue. This sounds like a good idea – apart from the online tests, which most lawyers would be horrified by!
(3) information assessed by external recruiter and
(4) preferred candidate chosen to go forward – meeting colleagues to be working with
(5) task set for the solicitor to undertake to prove their mettle and
(6) meeting to negotiate terms of employment.
This is a very thorough way of undertaking recruitment, and I can see the merits. I am not sure a lot of firms would want to spend so much time on it, and also if there is only one candidate for a post and lots of firms after them, I am not sure a candidate would be overjoyed at the process! However, I cannot emphasise enough that if a firm provide good information to agents, the quality of candidates supplied can be much better (although the quantity can diminish).
