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Uncertainty is the watchword of the day. When we look back at the first years of the new decade, we’ll reflect on how little we knew and were prepared for. For law firm business professionals there continues to be a whole lot of uncertainty. There have been furloughs, pay cuts, and job losses in our industry. Business professionals who previously felt insulated from redundancies, including those in Big Law, now find themselves in uncharted waters.
In speaking with our candidates and clients, everyone is reevaluating priorities and doing a little soul searching. Perceptions are shifting. Some see their layoff as a blessing — more time to spend at home with the family, reassess values, weigh next steps. For a select few, new job opportunities have presented, and the conversation has turned to assessing whether to switch jobs during an precedented time of market turbulence.
“Will I be the last one in, and the first one out?” is the common refrain among our candidates as they attempt to critically evaluate whether to accept an offer and, in so doing, leave behind the stability of their current role / firm without ever having shaken hands with their future colleagues or the lawyers they’ll be supporting.
For those business professionals contemplating a job switch, here are a few considerations:
Remote onboarding & working: Consider the practical implications of being unable to simply walk into a partner’s office to ask a question, or being unable to sit down face-to-face in your manager’s office to strategize. Are you comfortable forging relationships with your colleagues via a screen and attending back-to-back Zoom meetings as you learn the ropes? By now, most of us are used to telecommuting, but be sure you feel confident that you’ll be able to navigate a remote onboarding and soon after start doing your job—while simultaneously building your brand and goodwill—during those first critical months. Inquire with your recruiter whether your intended firm has in place a robust remote onboarding, as well as to connect you with other new joiners who’ve recently completed the process. It’s also worth asking what the firm’s leadership has been doing to boost morale and ensure everyone feels connected from afar.
Safe working: When you consider that commercial office space has sat idle for months now, law firm leaders are having to make critical decisions—operating on limited information—about when to reintroduce their workforce back into the office, how to do this safely and what a longer term remote work strategy looks like. Will your intended firm reintroduce its business professionals in phases, with skeleton crews at first followed by fuller sections of the firm population returning incrementally? What was your intended firm’s policy towards telecommuting for its business professionals pre-lockdown? For previously resistant firms, have entrenched attitudes shifted as leadership and partners have witnessed how successful this model can be the last few months? Only time will tell how firms meet this challenge, but any insights you can obtain into what your intended firm is planning in terms of pandemic reentry is likely to be a critical piece in the decision-making process.
Cost-cutting & fiscal prudence: While our key clients continued to hire for critical roles in Q2, it’s no surprise that hiring is down considerably since the start of the pandemic. Be sure to assess your intended firm’s approach to cost cutting measures. Did the firm furlough or cut business professionals, trim salaries and freeze partner draws? Did it take out a PPP loan? If the pain continues into 2021, those firms that preferred to have their equity partners assume most of the financial burden in the early days, may be more favorably disposed to their non fee earning population and less inclined to axe business professionals, especially those recently hired. Our sense is that those firms that continue to forge ahead with business professional hires in critical areas such as business development, lateral recruitment and integration, are more likely to be gearing up to make lateral partner acquisitions, launch new practices and offices, and thus be in need of business professional support. Additionally, most law firms are notoriously cash poor with little reserves on their balance sheets. Look into your intended firm’s cash reserves. Does it retain some of its earnings or distribute all of its profits to equity partners at year-end? Those firms that are well capitalized and hold “firm-specific capital” will be in a better position to weather economically constrained times and, if needs be, renegotiate credit lines with lenders.
Countercyclical practices: For business development practice, industry and market roles, assess how robust your intended firm’s legal service offerings are, especially those you’ll be supporting. Does the firm have robust countercyclical practices, such as bankruptcy and restructuring, litigation, cybersecurity/privacy and employment? Most full service firms will tout their strength in these areas, but it’s important to dig a little deeper. Has your intended firm hired lateral partners or lost them to competitors during this first wave? From April onwards, any firm that’s made a successful push to hire rainmakers to bolster existing practices is better-positioned to win business than a firm that’s lost talent. Those firms that rely heavily on transactional practices, such as M&A that do well in boom times, but didn’t make significant investments in their countercyclical practices, likely won’t have done enough to recession-proof themselves for any coming second or third wave. Has your intended firm revised its strategic plans to factor in the mid- to long term effects of the pandemic on business development and revenue generation?
Pay, benefits & work-life integration: It seems obvious, but be sure to compare overall compensation packages and determine whether you’re gaining or losing out in a move. If you’re growing your family, what’s your intended firm’s approach to parental leave? Compare 401K plans. Does your intended firm offer profit sharing? While you may receive a higher base salary in your new role, what’s the firm’s approach to annual pay increases and year-end bonuses for business professionals? In the last few months in response to the pandemic, many firms have frozen and / or cut business professional pay and bonuses above certain earning thresholds. And with more belt tightening likely ahead, many senior-level folks are likely to see their gross pay remain flat or reduce. Consider work-life integration. While you may earn a pay bump in a move, are the extra responsibility and hours worth the trade off at home? Consider your life values and what’s most important for your overall work-life satisfaction.
Recruiters: During economically constrained times the inclination might be to take a scattergun approach to getting hired and blast out your resume to multiple firms and several recruiters in the hope that something good will shake out. This approach dilutes your brand, aggravates hiring teams, and rarely results in a job. Find a recruiter who’ll advocate for you, deliver advice with honesty and integrity and build a relationship for the long term. Believe it or not, there are search firms out there who aren’t in it just to make their fee on your placement. There are a select few who take pride in serving as your brand ambassador and derive enjoyment from getting to know you over the long term. Because, after all, today’s candidate is tomorrow’s client.
