Eurojuris Germany treated its members to a fascinating demonstration on how to recruit the best staff – a problem every lawyer will encounter, and which requires tailor-made solutions.
What is the most difficult thing: finding a good co-worker? Training your staff? Or seeing your employees leave after years of good service and wondering if you will ever find someone that good again?
The topic of ‘good’ staff was one of the areas scrutinised by Eurojuris Germany during their last general assembly, in the Northern German harbour town of Bremen between 20th and 22nd of September. The board invited a specialist, Mrs Marion Proft. Because she was trained as an educator and a researcher, rather than a jurist, but still worked with legal professionals for years, Marion has both an insider and outsider's point of view that makes her analysis very complete. “In addition to recruitment and topics such as employee retention, I also addresses firm culture and personnel marketing,” she explains. “I made it clear for the audience that the recruitment process is an ongoing, complex thing that goes far beyond the mere shifting of jobs”.
Marion's presentation invited lawyers in the audience to ask themselves seminal questions: why do you look for staff (to replace someone leaving or because you are expanding)? Which tools will you use (social media, agencies, others)? She underlined the importance of really knowing what you are looking for: do you open a position for the best jurist possible, or do you need someone with a more unusual profile that would fit your firm in particular?
“My presentation was specifically for small and medium-sized lawfirms”, Marion says. Her presentation was also very precisely German, emphasising the need to know your national workforce situation if you want to do good recruiting. Data such as the flow of new students into the country (“Since the reunification of Germany in 1989, the admission of lawyers has tripled and the number of trainees has halved...”) to the discrepancies within the nation (“More jobs in the West and the East, and more in urban areas than rural communities...”), all pertinent data is taken into account. An example to follow in every country...
