I recently had the privilege of sitting on a panel sponsored by the Association of Corporate Counsel in Atlanta. The theme of our discussion was, “Lawst in Transition”. The purpose of the event was to provide lawyers who are in between jobs with some guidance as to how to effectively secure their next position. Unbeknownst to me, there was a reporter from the daily legal periodical, the Fulton County Daily Report, covering the event.  As fate would have it, the event became front page news.  Beneath my picture, the caption read, ” Panelist Chuck Trense: “You have a greater chance of finding a job on your own than with a recruiter.” Industry peers and close family members assumed that this must have been my last hoorah before exiting the legal recruiting business.  Perhaps the down job market had exacted its toll on my psyche.  Rather than plead insanity, I feel compelled to, in the words of Paul Harvey, tell the rest of the story.

The rest of the story is this…Recruiters who are willing to place your need to secure employment ahead of their need to make money can prove to be invaluable to you in this market.   Please don’t get me wrong. The Trense Group is a “for profit” entity.  However, those recruiters who are in business for the right reasons — first and foremost to serve the needs of their clients and candidates — should always embrace the role of “facilitator” ahead of the role of “obstacle”.  Recruiters have a choice.  We can be of help or hindrance; a deal maker or a deal breaker.

Perhaps a real life story will help crystallize the point that I am trying to make.  When I was in the early stages of building my legal placement business, I submitted a young litigation associate to a top tier law firm for that firm’s consideration. I was convinced that my candidate was ideally suited for the need that law firm had. The law firm agreed, but apparently did not have the money in the budget to approve the payment of a placement fee.   As a consequence, the law firm rejected my candidate.  I suspected that the fee was the real issue so I proactively offered to waive the fee. The law firm took me up on my offer and hired my candidate.  That candidate is now a partner with that firm.  That candidate became the source of countless profitable referrals to me.  That client remains one of my top paying law firm clients to this day.  In fact, when their corporate clients ask them for the name of a legal recruiter, my search firm is the name that they are given.  Whenever the opportunity to “pay it forward” has arisen, the short term cost of doing so has always been outweighed in the long run by the multiplier effect of the enduring rewards associated with having done so.  There is still a place for recruiters in this market.  Those with the right priorities can and will add value to you in your job search.