With the continued rise of the gig economy, hiring project lawyers has become an increasingly popular trend over the years. Typically, with a growing trend, there’s an increase in opportunities along with it.
That’s not the case in the legal world, though. You’d think there would be many ways to hire project lawyers. Surprisingly, there isn’t. Until now, only two main options have existed: 1) direct hire, or 2) staffing companies.
Both have their perks and pitfalls, but neither option, alone, is particularly effective in hiring project lawyers. So, why not take the perks of both options (leave behind the pitfalls) and combine it into one? And voila, a solution is born!
This innovative combination of direct hiring and staffing companies removes the hassle of both options, while enhancing their benefits. Think of it as a semi-direct approach to hiring in the digital world.
There are two main reasons for deciding to hire project lawyers in the first place: 1) increased efficiency and 2) cost-effectiveness. However, for many firms, direct hiring and staffing companies don’t fully attain both of those objectives.
Direct hiring requires tremendous time and effort. Posting a position for project work is bound to result in a plethora of applications. For solo and small firms, that is particularly problematic because they have fewer personnel to manage all of those applications.That means it’s often the lawyers—yes, the busy lawyers—who have to spend their valuable time reviewing potentially hundreds of resumes for a project position.
Hiring through staffing companies can be equally as inefficient and non-cost-effective. As explained below, hiring a staffing company is a time-consuming process with many unnecessary steps involved.
The very reason for needing to hire project lawyers is to get additional help with work. However, hiring project lawyers through direct hiring and staffing companies actually results in additional work for YOU.
To achieve efficiency and cost-effectiveness, hiring project lawyers needs to be simple. That’s why combining the two is the best and most efficient way to hire project lawyers.
Here are three unique benefits to this new approach:
Having control over the hiring process usually doesn’t result in saving time. But, what if it did? Direct hiring for project work comes with too much control over the process.
Being responsible for 100% of the hiring process from start to finish is very time-consuming. You start by posting the position, then reviewing hundreds of resumes, scheduling interviews, conducting interviews, and then finally selecting the candidates to hire. Talk about too much work! You’ve already got a job. Don’t give yourself another one.
On the flipside, staffing companies don’t give you enough control over the hiring process, especially for small firms where collegiality is essential. The candidates they choose are your candidates.
By combining the two, you can have control over the hiring process and save time! That type of platform gives you the benefits of both direct hiring (control over the hiring process) and staffing companies (save time), but without the disadvantages.
Regardless of the experience level you’re seeking in lawyer candidates, it lets you review candidates yourself, not someone at a staffing company who thinks they know the candidates you’re seeking.
It also presents the candidates to you in an organized, manageable manner, instead of being inundated with resumes – all made possible by technology. That’s the incredible value of having time-saving control over the hiring process.
The beginning phases of the hiring process have traditionally been impersonal. Not much has changed in terms of the actual hiring process itself – until now. Leveraging technological capabilities to provide a personalized e-hiring platform will revolutionize the way project lawyers can be hired.
Here’s how:
A personalized hiring process needs a personalized forum. Creating professional profiles is an ideal way to implement that necessary personalization. Professional profile pages allow hiring lawyers to learn about the project lawyer candidates and visa-versa.
This provides the ability to actually learn about people beyond just their application documents at the beginning of the hiring process, which the traditional hiring model lacks.
Firms benefit from this by getting the chance to evaluate how project lawyers present themselves to prospective employers beyond a mere cover letter. Project lawyers benefit from this by getting the chance to differentiate themselves from other candidates.
Additionally, a personalized communication forum is also necessary so that the hiring lawyers and project lawyers can easily and directly communicate with each other. Busy lawyers need a simplified, organized communication forum like this, so that both the hiring process and the work can be completed in a cost-effective, efficient manner.
When a project arises at 5 p.m. on a Friday and you need it done by Monday, but you don’t have time to do it over the weekend (or don’t want to do it over the weekend), what do you do? A staffing company won’t help – they closed at 5 p.m. And there’s no time for direct hiring on your own. What if an e-hiring platform was built to handle that exact type of scenario?
The need to get work done is continuous. So, there needs to be a way to hire at any time. Direct hiring is not designed to accomplish this. And the vast majority of staffing companies aren’t structured to help you hire at the drop of a hat.
Working with a staffing company is usually time-consuming. First, you contact the staffing company. Then, you’ll wait to have a conversation with the right person at that company and talk in detail about your project.
After that, the staffing company needs to post the position, find candidates, and send you the list of candidates they selected for you, which you will then need to interview. And hopefully after all that, you’ll want to hire one of the candidates they sent your way. If not, rinse and repeat. Talk about inefficient!
Technology will continue to grow. It’s up to you to keep up so that you can grow with it. The legal world has been a little behind on taking advantage of all that technology has to offer. That needed to change so that law firms can be more efficient and new lawyers can have the opportunities to gain the experience they need.
An e-hiring platform that combines both traditional approaches to hiring allows law firms to hire support any time they need it, while giving emerging lawyers an opportunity to get their foot in the door and grow their career.
You won’t need to wait around to discuss details about your project with someone. Instead, the e-hiring platform brings the candidates to you, anytime. Just think how helpful it would be to know that you can hire lawyers anytime that you need to, without waiting around for some company to learn about all your hiring needs and hoping they get it right.
By utilizing this innovative hiring method, you’ll get all of the advantages of both direct hiring and a staffing company – efficiency and cost-effectiveness – without the disadvantages. It’s a win-win.
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