Slow Down, Recruiting Is All About Trust

If you are a leader in an in-house legal department or law firm, talent acquisition is one of the critical components of your success, and you may feel the pressure to go faster than the competition. However, faster isn’t always better. The where, when, and how of work is changing. Sometimes you have to go slower to go faster. The success of any recruiting effort is directly proportional to the amount of time spent building trusted relationships. Being able to compete successfully means having relationships with the right candidates at the right time. Your talent acquisition team should continue to measure “time to hire” but add in metrics, like “quality conversations” or “new relationships” rather than focusing only on speed metrics. Your recruiters are ambassadors for the company and need to be focused on building new relationships to keep the talent pipeline flowing. Their role shouldn’t get buried in administrative tasks. There are technology solutions and team structures for that. Although going slower may seem counterintuitive, if you adopt this approach, speed will increase, the quality of hires will go up, attrition will go down, and your firm or department’s candidate experiences will be amazing.