As most legal recruiters know, finding quality candidates can often be elusive. The definition of  quality candidate often changes depending on the legal job opportunity, the culture of the firm and the special characteristics required for the job candidate to effectively carry out his/her job once hired.  This is why legal recruiters must utilize the best tools available to objectively screen and assess the quality of candidates applying for legal jobs before they spend resources on interviewing candidates who may not be appropriate.

The first step to properly screening and assessing quality candidates is to identify the typical profile of a top performer.  What skills and competencies do most top performers possess?  Once this "top performer" profile has been created it should be compared to the skills, competencies, education and experiences of candidates applying for legal jobs. To make this process as objective as possible, legal recruiters should use assessment software available that will allow candidates to answer questions online that will help identify what qualities they have and how well they match up to the "top performers" profile and/or the requirements of the legal job opportunity.

Legal recruiters should carefully evaluate assessment software and find out what other recruiters are using most effectively before they invest in costly systems. Read a book about candidate selection/assessment and/or take a workshop about the "best practices" in assessing quality candidates.