Using Social Media for Lateral Recruiting: Ten Tips for Law Firms

I was asked to speak last week at the annual NALP conference in Hollywood, Florida. I was a little afraid that the beautiful weather and the lure of the beach and pool would greatly diminish the attendance at my session. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the great turnout at the session on a topic that many attendees had a high degree of interest in.

The competition for legal talent is fiercer than ever. Law firms are actively looking at ways to attract top legal talent to their firms in order to get a step up on their competitors. Lateral recruiting is especially competitive, so attendees were very interested in learning what role social media could play in helping to recruit lateral attorneys to their firm. Below you will find a list of the top tips for how legal recruiters can use social media to build relationships with top legal talent. I hope you find it useful

1. Create short videos from partners and associates of the practice group you are recruiting for. This will enable potential candidates to get a sense of who they will interview with and who they would work with. Promote these on social media

2. Use hashtags when posting jobs on Twitter and also when trying to build relationships. Hashtags enable you to categorize your content and also to look for people who are actively writing about different practice areas.

3. Build your network on LinkedIn. Engage with active and passive candidates. Join LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions.

4. Create original content that is of value to potential candidates. Don’t just post jobs. Provide information on the firm’s interview process and what candidates that interview should expect.

5. Create blog posts or short videos from attorneys at your firm who came into the firm as laterals. They should describe the culture at the firm and how they liked the integration process as a lateral.

6. Create Twitter lists to monitor potential candidates. Create practice specific or industry Twitter lists. Seek out influencers and engage with them on Twitter.

7. Post posts and videos to Facebook that highlight the culture at the firm as well as the firm’s involvement in charities and non-for-profit causes as well as community involvement.

8. Use social media to identify similarities and connections between candidates and current firm attorneys. Look for things like volunteer work, interests, hobbies and non-professional networks, which might be a match.

9. Use social media to do research on candidates you are considering, get a sense of who they are, what they care about and use social media to conduct your due diligence on a candidate.

10. Be creative and think outside the box. “Think like a lateral” when trying to pitch your firm to potential hires. Try to figure out internally what message you want to send to potential recruits and make sure that everyone involved in the process, from partners to associates to recruiting personnel, emphasizes that message when communicating with lateral candidates.

If you are a recruiter at a law firm or an outside legal recruiter, you must remember that social media is all about relationships. In order to attract and acquire the top legal talent, recruiters and firms must be willing to invest time and effort in order to build relationships through social media in order to accomplish their goal.