Are you planning to spend your summer kicking back?  Taking a break from recruiting because the market is not as hot as you’d like? Or will you be spending your time planning, building and working to be the one on top when the market turns around?

There are a few recruiters who have decided to ‘take the summer off’ and intend to return to work when the market is bullish and jobs are more plentiful. It makes for pleasant musing, like dreaming of how you’d like to spend your lottery winnings, but I think that their plan may have a fatal flaw.
 
The likelihood of the legal job market returning to the dizzying heights of the last few years is dim for the near future.  Law firms have discovered they can make do with less and they will continue to do so.  (Not to say that there won’t be a moderate hiring boom, there will!) There will most certainly be a correction and law firms will definitely need to fill their now decimated ranks with attorneys, but it will not be within the framework of old nor will the volume be the same. First, salaries have declined and they will NOT return to their pre-recession levels within the next few years.  Placements will be made, and commissions paid, but the amount paid for each placement will be lower.  Firms will hire, but they will not be filling all the slots they recently shed.  The number of attorneys working in law firms will not match the numbers of ‘07 and ‘08. Associate deferments will bring their own wave of ‘hiring’ into the firm, but will also create a gap of experience within the ’09 and ’11 year range. 
 
Recruiters who see an opportunity in this climate will choose to continue to work, making new contacts and forging new relationships. They would be contacting recruiting coordinators that they know, and don’t know, working to expand their network. They would also contact those newly hired associates who have not only managed to be hired, but have also managed to keep their positions while their contemporaries did not. Those folks (low in number) are going to be in very high demand in just a few short years. They will have the working experience that will make them very valuable laterals in the near future. They are the lucky few and creating a relationship with them now, could mean enormous dividends in the future.

Time is a great asset if you use it wisely.  Investing your time now could put you in an excellent position when the market correction occurs.  Who are they going to call when they need help with a placement? Someone who has virtually disappeared over the last few months, or someone who has developed a relationship and proven his or her worth?  That should be easy to answer! Common wisdom is to ‘invest in a downturn’. Sage advice, smart recruiters will heed it.