Are you recruiting for an industry or specialty that’s experiencing a slump?  If so, you may want to consider changing desk specialties. But how can a recruiter switch desk specialties and make sure that they continue to bring in income while making the transition potentially more lucrative?  Below are a few tips:

1. Study the legal industry. Which specialties are likely to remain hot for the next three to five years?  These are the practice areas that deserve your focus. You don’t want to jump into a specialty today only to face the same slump a few years down the road. Choose something that is likely to remain lucrative in the long-term.
2. Next, identify which practice areas where you have the most experience and/or contacts.  If you want to avoid starting from ground zero, it’s best to focus on those practice areas where you have some foundation.
3. Come up with a plan to attract clients. If you don’t have a lot of recruiting experience in certain practice areas, how will you attract employers and convince them to hire instead of other more seasoned recruiters? Think about how you can make taking a chance on you beneficial to their company.
4. Focus your efforts on one or two closely related practice areas so that your efforts don’t become scattered. Focusing on a tight niche will make it easier (and possibly faster) to find clients and job candidates.