Guest article by Jimmy Kyriacou (twitter here)

During the last 18 months, I have been fortunate enough to have met with over 60% of the UK’s leading law firms and to have had in depth detailed discussions covering all aspects of their social media strategy, specifically how they will harness the web to attract, engage and nurture quality talent.

As stated in a press release last year law firms have been quick to embrace ‘Social Recruiting’ with early adopters such as Allen & Overy, Eversheds, Pinsent Masons and Addleshaw Goddard who have been using the social networking site BraveNewTalent to build Talent Communities and to ultimately begin building a future Talent Pipeline.

One year later, many other law firms have also been embracing this new technology, so exactly why is the legal sector now taking social seriously?

Nishe Patel, from the law firm Baker & Mckenzie says, “Social media is a fantastic tool that enables us to engage with a wider talent pool than has previously been possible, allowing us to directly communicate with individuals that we might not otherwise reach.For so long , everyone seems to have been ‘fishing from the same pond’, and it has been very difficult to efficiently discover talent that may not exist in traditional circles and social has certainly changed that.”  This is a common statement that I hear time and time again.

Anna King, Head of Graduate Recruitment at Simmons & Simmons states, “We believe that social media should be utilised to help the applicant experience, but does not replay the need for face-to-face discussions.  Our aim is to be increasingly active through channels that Simmons & Simmons are already using as well as exploring social media for additional ways to connect to students and develop relationships.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

A firm that I have had a close relationship with since early last year is Eversheds. According to Lorraine Petheram, “We are a 21st Century Law firm. We are always trying to stay ahead of the curve, looking at new ways to attract the best talent.” One example of the firm’s innovation in talent recruitment is @LegalTrainee, an integrated social media campaign which is run by the firm’s trainees. Law students and graduates can actively engage with trainees using social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and BraveNewTalent. The trainees run competitions to win experiential prizes such as a coffee with a partner or a week’s work experience in Hong Kong, as well as answer questions about their experiences securing and completing a training contract at Eversheds. With almost 1000 followers, @LegalTrainee has been hugely successful since its launch in June 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social media can also be hugely beneficial in allowing some of the law firms based outside London to get their message across to the right audience more effectively. BondPearce a firm based in Bristol has very recently begun to explore Social Media as another effective channel to reach out and engage with potential future employees. I met with Samantha Lee, Head of Recruitment at Bond Pearce earlier this year, just as they started to look at how web 2.0 could be used within Talent Attraction. Sam states, “Social Media is an excellent recruitment tool, but more than that, it allows us to engage with our future talent in a much less formal way than we have previously. The branding element is also important to us, and we hope that it enhances our image as a forward thinking law firm while giving us the opportunity to raise our profile to a wider audience than our traditional methods allow.

So as exploratory conversations with many firms in early 2010 now shift to a serious social media talent attraction strategy, BraveNewTalent is proud to be embracing the legal sector as an essential partner in this new world of work!

 

Jimmy Kyriacou has extensive experience in helping law firms attract and engage with top talent using social media. If you are a law firm and would like more information, please get in touch with him.  His e-mail address is Jimmy@BraveNewTalent.com.