February 13, 2006
Law Firm Recruiting: Test Before You Hire
I love it when someone puts their finger on the overlooked obvious.
In commenting on Sullivan & Cromwell’s recent action increasing base salary of first-year associates to $145,000, Larry Bodine’s Professional Marketing Blog advises law firms to “Know what you're getting…”
Bodine writes “Here's my radical suggestion: Why not hire associates based on their potential to bring in new business? Give them a personality test to see if they have what it takes to become a rainmaker. Have the marketing director or marketing partner interview them to probe their inclination to develop business relationships and open new files.”
Most first-year associates going after the big bucks aren’t planning to stay put. They have plans other than sticking around to make partner. The majority of those with initial partner intentions wash out within five years. "Keepers" in mid-sized law firms must be able to bring business into the firm. They have to make rain to make partner. So why not first test to find out if they have a rainmaker’s personality? Tests are not foolproof, but they improve your odds.
Larry Bodine writes more extensively about the personality required to be a rainmaker in the Law Maketing Portal’s post Personality:Why 25% of Lawyers Can’t Sell.
Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com. © 2006 Juris, Inc.
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Filed under HR by Tom Collins