Ex-solicitor sets up recruitment consultancy
Please note that Claire Stead no longer runs Horizon Legal (September 2009)
Claire Stead qualified as a solicitor before making the move across to legal recruitment. Four years later she has set up Horizon Legal, an agency which specialises in placing candidates in London and in off-shore and international destinations including Jersey, Gibraltar and the Caribbean. She talked to us about the world of recruitment.
mtl: Hi Claire, so why did you leave law?
Claire: I stopped practising law because I didn’t really enjoy it and didn’t feel that it was where my natural abilities lay. Attention to detail is not my strength and I am far more of a people person than a career in law allowed me to be.
Although I had the academic ability, I had always had doubts about actually practising law. When I graduated, I took a media sales job and I enjoyed building new business there. However, I soon felt a pull back to the conveyor belt by doing law. So, after a stint of translating for the Spanish equivalent of Open University and teaching in Spain, I did the LPC and a training contract.
I am glad I qualified as it obviously helps me understand my candidates’ cvs and my clients’ needs better and they probably take me more seriously as a result. It is also reassuring for me to know that I don’t want to practise, or I may always have wondered “what if?”
I chose to go into legal recruitment because I thought that it was more akin to my skill-set and it was also more lucrative than the other options I was considering, such as nutrition, fashion and PR. I chose the agency that I went to because it seemed less stiff and less stringent in its structure than some of the others that I had interviewed with. I didn’t want to work in a very competitive environment and the one I opted for seemed relaxed, fun and un-hierarchical.
mtl: What skills do you need to be a good recruiter?
Claire: You cannot be afraid of the phone. You have to be happy to speak to anyone, be very diplomatic and able to massage egos from time to time! You have to be efficient, ethical, discrete, hard-working and able to multi-task. Recruitment comes down to being a numbers game in terms of creating as many quality opportunities for candidates and clients as possible; work will not fall into your lap, so you have to talk to people and go out and see people to bring the business in. This does not mean sending out a 100 cvs a day to clients whether the skills match or not but it does mean thinking laterally for candidates and clients alike and setting yourself personal targets.
There will inevitably be ups and downs. You can have bad luck but you have to dust yourself down and get on with it. For example, you may spend months with a candidate, organize 10s of interviews for them, and then another agency might just pip you to the post by a few minutes on one vacancy they get offered. I have also had one person verbally accepting an offer and then not signing and even someone who didn’t turn up for the job on the day. When this is ongoing it is disheartening, so you have to be resilient. However, as long as you are getting interviews for your candidates, you are doing things right and you can’t really account for what happens after the interview stage.
I really think there is a job out there for everyone. There are lots of firms who will look outside the box and your job as a recruiter is to think laterally and try and find as many options for a particular candidate as possible. Sometimes you have to manage their expectations. You always have to be open and honest and occasionally suggest other ways forward for their career development if necessary.
mtl: What do you enjoy most about it?
Claire: Obviously making placements is great as it is satisfying knowing that I have helped someone with their career and that is what pays the bills at the end of the day. I get a kick out of exploring new business opportunities and I enjoy the long-term relationships that I have with clients. Recruitment is all about relationship building and helping people move on in their careers. I see it as a very “nice” job and there are lots of agencies that would be pleasant places to work. In my opinion it is a good alternative to law. |
Career timeline
2002 qualified with a regional firm and moved to a leading recruitment agency | September 2006 Set up Horizon Legal
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mtl: What about dreaded cold-calling and head-hunting?
Claire: I haven’t done much head-hunting as I have always worked on a contingency basis, which means that a firm pays me a fee for actually placing someone, rather than as a retainer to find someone. Cold-calling is an inevitable part of business development in both contingency recruitment and head-hunting and you can’t be afraid to look for leads by phone. When you have a great candidate, you have to pick up the phone and see who is interested. Likewise, if you see a role advertised that you aren’t covering, you will need to pitch for it if you have candidates who would suit it.
"Don’t think of recruitment as an easy option. Just as law is suited to a certain type of person, so is recruitment. If you like being on the phone and talking to people, then it could be for you."
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I have never worked in an environment where you had to make a certain numbers of calls per hour or day. Some agencies do have KPIs and targets and set numbers of calls - it depends on the set up. Each agency is different. I have never worked to targets as we were trusted to just get on with what needed to be done. However, some people might prefer a more structured environment where it is clear what is expected of them - it depends if you need the whip cracked or not. So, differenct agencies will suit different people. |
mtl: If a lawyer is thinking about switching to recruitment, what should they ask an agency and what things should they be aware of about the job?
Claire: Go and talk to a couple of agencies and see if it is for you first. Ask if you can come in to meet a director – I don’t know many that would turn you down for a chat. Find out about the culture and performance of the place and ask for details of how salaries are broken down there. Don’t think of recruitment as an easy option. Just as law is suited to a certain type of person, so is recruitment. If you like being on the phone and talking to people then it could be for you. However, just because you don’t really like law won’t mean that you will like recruitment or make a good recruiter, particularly if you are introspective. You need personal drive and motivation to make it happen every day, as you are certainly not spoon-fed in this environment.
Check at an interview whether the agency has targets, what training you will receive, what the culture is like and how performance is monitored. Also ask what most starters take home in the first year. You will need to ask about the commission structure as this varies from place to place. Some agencies have group commission orteam commission and some pay you a percentage of everything you bring in yourself, i.e. individual commission.
I personally think that it is unhealthy to have total group commission, as although on the surface there may be less rivalry, it can breed hidden resentment and jealousy. If you reap what you kill then there is no time for office politics. Maybe team commission could be a good compromise though. Some agencies might pay a basic salary plus a sliding scale of percentages over the year, and this can mean that it gets split down hugely, so be aware of that. I would imagine that a guaranteed basic for a new joiner would be in the region of £20k - £35k at the moment.
The hours vary from agency to agency but will essentially be 8.30/9.30am – 5.30/6.30pm. Evening functions and candidate interviews after work are a regular feature. At an interview, try to get a feel about the agency and how regimented it is. Recruitment gets bad press and people who could turn to it, may well be put off by the idea of the hard-sell. However, if you are a people person, rather than a detail-oriented person, it is definitely worth thinking about. I would recommend interviewing at a number of places to find one that fits your personality type.
mtl: What made you decide to set up your own agency?
Claire: After being with my previous employer for 3 ½ years, it was time to move on. My strength was business development, so I decided to do it for myself instead. I was very fortunate to be given the opportunity to start the legal side of an existing recruitment company. I was given financial backing (and some very flash offices) but also given full licence to run it myself. I therefore have the best of both worlds in that I have total flexibility yet without financial risk. I have been very lucky…
I am a personable and proactive recruiter and offer mock interviews, help with cvs and advice about the role e.g. if it means moving abroad I will provide detailed information about living in that jurisdiction. I spend a lot of time talking to my candidates and finding out about their long-term aspirations, without interrogating them.
When I first started out by myself there was no marker against which to measure my own performance so I had to set myself goals and be very self-disciplined. I have much more responsibility now and always have to find new ways of marketing while keeping costs low. It is however much easier getting up in the morning working for myself!
If you know any other ex-lawyers who have gone and done something interesting or unusual with their lives then please get in touch.
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