I'm hiring
The inside story of how my agency has grown and what this hire reflects
My legal recruiting agency Freshwater Counsel is growing. I'm sharing the job description with you, my intrepid subscriber, because you may know someone talented early in their career. I feel confident that I'll provide a professional but informal environment that selects for coachability and rewards efficacy.
But I thought I'd also share a peek behind the curtain for how my recruiting practice has changed and how I'm thinking about the hire.
This hire shows my recruiting practice has changed
I launched my recruiting agency 15 months ago. A year ago, I was barely in operation, with a tiny number of candidates and law firm clients. Not so anymore. I've developed a technique for presenting a candidate to firms that has a very high success rate with getting them interviews and offers. My candidates typically interview at 4-5 firms, often 6-7. And my candidates typically have at least 2 offers.
So at one point this summer, I had 5 candidates interviewing at 24 law firms. These days firms typically have a screening interview, followed by a panel interview, and typically a second panel interview. Not infrequently, there are additional interviews. And my candidates were interviewing in California, Illinois, Texas, New York, and DC which meant lots of time zones to track. So you can imagine how much of my day was spent on calendaring.
Apart from calendaring, I need to track where candidates are in their interview stage. As many have observed, most of professional success in the service economy is just repeatedly following up on tasks. So there's a lot of follow-up, at every stage of a candidate's interview journey.
But not only has my workload increased, the nature of my work has changed. Early in my work, I was very candidate-focused. I primarily interacted with firms to advise on my candidates' positions and needs.
Over time, I've become much more balanced becoming a counselor to firms as well. I advise them on what it would take to win my candidate and their key considerations. I think I'm doing an exceptional job at counseling firms while negotiating for my candidates skillfully because it comes from a long-term view of my relationships with both stakeholders.
But my new counseling approach is very time-consuming - it means spending a lot of time on the phone with my law firm recruiting counterparts, and now I'm hitting the road over the next month to NYC, LA, and DC to grow these relationships. As a result of becoming a trusted advisor to firms, firms are increasingly consulting me on their hiring needs, including handing me unposted searches. That in turn requires more of my focus.
So I realized that in order to focus on the highest value activities for my agency, I have to delegate certain firm administrative and client management activities.
How I'm thinking about this hire
I have a strong bias to action. The last year and a half has been relatively slow for legal recruiting, and not many people would launch their own recruiting agency after just six months as a legal recruiter.
So with this hire, I could spring into action, post a job on Indeed or find an overseas assistant. But I'm balancing that bias to action with a measured approach of measure twice and cut once. Hiring the right person has a major beneficial impact. Hiring the wrong person is a drain of energy and attention.
I spent two and a half hours preparing the job description (I inadvertantly drank some matcha late at night thinking it was powdered greens and was up again a few hours later). Writing forces you to think carefully about what you're trying to accomplish. Done right, a job description is an advertisement for the quality of your company. I think I accomplished that here.
This hire will handle operations, client management, and business development. It's possible I really need to hire someone for operations and someone for client management and business development, to the extent that it's hard to find someone interested and skilled at both.
But a different division of labor may simply be asynchronous from synchronous. Some tasks, like following up with firms and being available to troubleshoot interview snafus require activity during business hours. Other tasks like preparing outreach can be prepared asynchronously. I'll find out which is a better way to organize work at the agency as I go along.
Thanks for following along. Here's the job description:
Operations Specialist at Freshwater Counsel
I'm hiring an Operations Specialist. Here's what you can expect as the first hire at this growing legal recruiting agency:
You can expect to move quickly in this role. You are the frontlines of communication with some of the largest law firms and elite boutiques. Our ability to move efficiently helps firms prioritize our candidates.
The initial core tasks are:
calendaring interviews based on firm and candidate availability
assisting with candidate submissions
updating firms on candidate activity
overseeing interviews to ensure they run smoothly, and
organizing my outreach to candidates for roles at key law firm clients
There are three qualities that will make this role a fit for you:
Responsiveness. This is the most important trait, because it reflects your motivation to meet our clients' needs, and it reflects an ability to course-correct with new information. It also requires strong oral and written communication skills.
Curiosity. Your primary role is figuring out what your role should be. The more you can learn about what makes this business successful, the more challenging problems you'll be able to solve.
Flexibility. You'll need to switch between tasks efficiently, because you'll have several types of work every day, and your schedule depends on the work to be done and the candidate interview schedule.
I use software for key operations and you'll use AI to get better at your role, so you must be comfortable with using technology.
The work involves grinding and drudgery, but you'll learn valuable operations, business development, and client management skills. You'll learn how to make better career decisions by observing it every day. And if you're interested in becoming a lawyer, you'll learn what lawyers at big law firms actually do.
The limitations of joining a small founder-led business are also the opportunities for you to take advantage of.
You'll work 30-40 hours a week fully remotely, with an hourly rate and performance-based bonus.
If you're interested in this role, complete this short form.