I suspect if you are reading this article, you are wondering if working as a recruitment consultant in the legal sector might be for you?

The answer is it could be.

Yes, there are some specific traits to have that will be incredibly useful; and a huge plus point about this role is there are so many transferable skills you have that will help you be the high performer you want to be.

I’ll share more on that later.

Let’s clarify the opportunity here; a career as a successful legal recruitment consultant, is possible for anyone with a positive approach and attitude and an aptitude to work hard and apply themselves.

Your rewards, on all levels, can be exceptional.

Imagine being in control of your financial security? That might be finally moving out of mum and dads and renting or buying your place, possibly getting married without worrying about the cost! The opportunities are endless when you are earning more than all your friends.

Money is one thing and helping others is another.

There is nothing like the experience and buzz of helping someone find their dream job and making that phone call to say the legal firm they want to join said, “yes!”

This is one part of the role.

Then there is the exciting feeling of working with law firms across the U.K., some of which are household names, being the respected recruiting partner supporting them to build their teams.

Sound interesting?

Then let me share more about what legal recruitment is about, what is involved in becoming a success and then, if you are ready to start your recruitment career, why Clayton Legal is the best company to join.

What is Legal Recruitment About?

In a business context, legal recruitment companies provide services to law firms to help them find suitable candidates for their job vacancies and help them plan their ongoing talent growth.

As the U.K. economy improves and demand for legal talent increases, many firms need specialist help to identify and attract skilled candidates.

In return, the firms pay the recruitment company a fee, usually based on a percentage of the role’s salary.

As firms consistently comment that their most valuable commodity is their people, this is your chance to make a real impact on their economy and business growth.

When it comes to legal candidates, the service of the recruitment company to find them a role is free. Though not all legal recruitment companies work in the same detailed and consultative way Clayton do, here is how we help candidates.

We will advertise roles for our clients which candidates apply for. Our duty of care means that we identify what our clients AND candidates want to create the ideal match for both parties.

For legal candidates we work with, we carry out a career consultation. This includes identifying what they want based on their current and future goals. As we work with different law firms across the U.K., we can often find a better fit for their career plan.

Exciting and involved, isn’t it; being a successful recruitment consultant is a real career.

What Makes A Successful Recruitment Consultant?

You won’t read this on many other legal recruitment company websites, and one of the most critical criteria for succeeding in this role is a love and fascination with people.

If talking to different law firms and legal candidates daily and being curious about their professional life, goals, and aspirations fills you with dread, this isn’t the role for you.

Recruitment is a relationship business.

Knowing you are a people person, we can move on to what else will support your success in this role.

Let’s talk about the S-word; selling. The ability to master selling is a superpower in recruiting.

Let me reveal more.

The fact is we have all sold and influenced people at some point in our lives.

Negotiating that first sleepover at a friend’s, borrowing the car keys, to saying: “will you go out with me?”; these are all forms of selling.

Selling and influence make the world go round, and the upside is there is no such thing as a born salesperson.

Selling and the ability to influence are processes anyone can learn, which goes back to earlier in this post when I talked about attitude, application, and aptitude.

By the way, at Clayton Legal, our consultants have access to selling skills training that takes you from being a novice to learning advanced techniques that, when you use them, mean you could be earning over six figures a year.

Liking people and knowing how to sell is foundational, and in addition to this, you have to learn the art of being a good communicator; you’ll be doing a lot of it.

Our recruitment consultants spend a lot of time speaking on the phone and meeting with people either on Zoom or MSTeams and now, post-Covid, face-to-face meetings.

Emails and text messages are all additional parts of the process; you will be representing the Clayton Legal brand in everything you say and do.

Sector knowledge in any profession is useful, though not necessary. What is vital is a thirst for knowledge and the ability to immerse yourself in learning.

Finally, you need to have the drive and tenacity to be a goal achiever.

Being a successful legal recruiter isn’t about turning up at one minute to 9 and going through the motions, and then leaving at 4.59 pm.

It is about creating your economy and making the days count.

A standout legal recruitment consultant will always have in mind professional growth. This is not limited to their career development but also their company’s growth.

Truly successful recruitment consultants love smashing targets; they manage their minds and always look for even better opportunities.

Why Joining Clayton Legal is a Logical Choice

Clayton Legal consultants describe themselves as strong and passionate experts driven and inspired by success, motivated by achieving goals, and never giving up. They believe that together there is no limit. They encourage others and share successes – and they make the days count.

We admit Clayton Legal standards are high – but so is the support and the rewards.

We have our performance and development manager, and we invest heavily in the training and development of all our people, including CPD and study leave options.

We offer a competitive salary and bonus scheme and individual commission and have an unrivalled range of benefits.

At Clayton, after comprehensive training, you will run your own recruitment vertical market in a niche area and have full ownership whilst being part of a successful and driven team where the rewards you receive are spectacular.

Not only do we offer above average basic salaries, but we also deliver financial rewards on so many other levels, including:

• Above market-rate salaries and an uncapped bonus structure
• 23 days holiday plus bank holidays; with your Birthday off
• Employee awards and recognition
• Access to training and development with our own in-house L&D team; including CPD and study leave options
• Career progression opportunities
• A modern office space with nap pods
• A friendly and supportive team
• Early finish and dress down day on a Friday
• Company mobile (role-specific)

This is a successful, honest, hardworking, and supportive organisation – could you be our next new starter?

What Next?

Though many workplace sectors experienced poor growth last year, the legal sector wasn’t one of them.

Here at Clayton Legal, we have multiple clients looking for skilled and ambitious candidates, and we are growing fast.

We are looking for enthusiastic and driven new recruitment consultants like you. For a confidential conversation about becoming a legal recruitment consultant, please watch our video and fill out our contact form here.

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country
since 1999 and has built up an enviable reputation for trust and
reliability during that time. We have made over 5,000 placements from
Partners to Legal Executives, Solicitors to Paralegals and Legal I.T.
personnel to Practice Managers.

If you are building your legal team or looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121 or email us here.

We usually use this blog as a platform to offer advice, tips and updates on the legal landscape. However, we’re expanding rapidly and are on the lookout for individuals to join our team. Do you have what it takes to make it as a recruiter? Here are the top five skills you’ll need to succeed.

Confidence

You’ll need to be able to hold your own with people who are experts at what they do, and don’t appreciate their time being wasted and that means you have to be confident. Nobody wants to be consulted on a potentially life changing job move by someone who they suspect might know not their specialist field as well as they say they do. You need to be confident enough to take on new areas of expertise, but also be able to portray that confidence to clients and candidates. In addition, you’ll have to be comfortable picking up the phone and engaging with people who don’t know what your credentials are and likely to be at least mildly sceptical about what you’re doing. Many jobs require people to be confident, but not many where it’s as important as it is in recruitment.

Communication

Along similar lines, you’ll need to be an effective and concise communicator and able to get your point across quickly. You’ll probably be speaking to people who are busy in their current roles and don’t want to waste hours of their lives chatting to a recruiter. You’ll also need to be able to master your email communications and online marketing on platforms like LinkedIn. After all, you’re not going to have much success if your job advert iz ritten lyk dis.

Resilience

It’s not just applicants who face rejection, recruiters do too and you need to be able to take the bumps on the road and still be able to perform to the best of your ability. You’ll have good days and bad – that’s a given – but the secret is being able to prevent the bad days from affecting your output.

Target driven and motivated

At the vast majority of firms, you’ll have certain KPIs to work to. That’s an approach that’s not suited to everyone and not all organisations have the same model, people who are motivated by the idea of working to specific goals will do well here.

Multi-tasking and speed

As a job applicant it’s unlikely you’ll have used just one recruiter to help your job search and organisations are the same and will look to multiple sources for their own talent. This means that if you can move quickly and efficiently, then you’ll be able to beat your competitors. However, you’ll also have a lot to do at once and will likely be dealing with a lot of vacancies and therefore multiple companies and even more candidates. Consequently, you must be able to juggle multiple projects and various tasks simultaneously. You’ll have to keep in mind the details, experience and motivators of a large number of people and this requires a lot of organisational competency. If you can master the idea of ‘less haste, more speed’ then you’ll do well.

Do you have what it takes?

If you’re looking for a career in a challenging and fast-moving, but also highly rewarding, industry and want to join a successful, supportive and rapidly growing organisation, then get in touch with one of our expert consultants for a chat.  And for more insights from the team take a look at our other blogs.

©Depositphotos.com/Olivier26

Unfortunately, the outside perception of recruitment isn’t always an overwhelmingly positive one. All too often the media paints the picture of unscrupulous recruitment firms and materialistic recruiters – both of which are incredibly misleading. In reality it’s only a very small number of firms which give the profession a bad reputation. Recruitment can be an incredibly rewarding career and many professionals are motivated by the satisfaction of placing candidates in their dream role rather than the cash remuneration on offer, as many critics might have you believe.

Recruitment firms are not all alike

No two recruitment firms, let alone recruiters, are the same and unfortunately even a small minority unethical individuals can drag the reputation of the entire profession downwards. Often when people think of recruitment companies, even those who have had positive experiences with recruiters, they remember being bombarded with useless content, or called about jobs they aren’t interested in or suited for. In reality many people’s career paths are shaped by recruiters, and often they can offer a substantial amount of valuable advice and guidance.

Many recruiters are experts in their field and will work to understand what it is that you’re looking for in a new role, and the kind of company culture you’d be best suited to. That’s because the majority of recruiters are truly passionate about their role, and are supported by an employer who fosters their personal growth and provides them with valuable training.

Work hard, play hard

While it’s true that at many firms an individual’s earning capacity is limited only to their own tenacity, most recruiters are driven by the fulfilment of finding a hardworking candidate their ideal role and satisfying their clients. And the suggestion that all recruiters drive luxury cars and take four holidays a year simply isn’t realistic, the role can, at times, be incredibly demanding and recruiters need a strong sense of resilience. The idea that all recruitment firms heavily scrutinise their staff simply isn’t true either, most recruitment firms work hard to support their staff, provide them with thorough training when needed, and regularly reward them for their hard work.

Here at Clayton we know that our people are our greatest asset and we are always looking for passionate and hardworking individuals to join our team. If you are a dedicated and committed professional looking for your next challenge don’t hesitate to contact us!