Hiring Tips from the Real World.

I’m an Office Administrator at a small law firm and we have struggled with attorney turnover. We have reviewed our hiring process and found areas where we need to improve. So far we have implemented or are working on implementing the following:

1. 90 day on-boarding process: employee, hiring manager and mentor meet every 30 days during the first 90 days of employment to communicate and ensure milestones and expectations are being met.

2. Assign a mentor to each new candidate.

3. We are doing a better job of interviewing candidates by conducting phone screenings, in person interview with hiring manager and managing partner, second in person interview with remaining partners (and sometimes a dinner meeting that includes spouses/significant others) and finally when an offer is provided and accepted the candidate is brought in to meet the support staff, tour office and go over benefits/employee handbook prior to first day of employment.

4. We are a small office so it’s important for all employees to get along. So we started using personality profile assessments and created a culture of inclusion by hosting various firm events from simple pot luck luncheons to out of office social events (which include spouses/significant others).

5. We have not had much luck using recruiters for our hiring process, so we have begun listing our positions on career websites, legal publications, our website and Linkedin. We have hired one attorney candidate using these methods and have one in the pipeline at this time again using these methods.

Submitted by:

Jess Beyer
Office Administrator
The Schroeder Group, S.C.