If your law firm is struggling with recruiting at the moment, we can assure you, you aren’t the only one! We’re having conversations with many clients about the difficulties of finding the right talent currently. Whether it’s down to a shortage of qualified people, individual and firm values not aligning or competitors poaching your staff, your website can help you draw in the right people for your firm and get them applying for your jobs.
We discuss nine ways to use your law firm’s website as a recruitment tool in this blog post.
1. Have a detailed careers page
A detailed career page is essential for your law firm. This should never just be a page with a list of job vacancies and links to the job descriptions. That is never going to attract attention from potential candidates. If your law firm careers page looks like this, but a competitor includes much more, you can be sure a candidate is likely to apply to their role over yours, no matter how established and brilliant your firm is.
So, what should you be including on your careers page?
We’d recommend images, videos, infographics, accreditations, and statistics showcasing what makes your firm so great. What is the retention rate of staff in terms of the number of years they stay with you? How many longstanding employees does your firm have? What extra-curricular activities can staff get involved in? What is life at your firm going to be like? These are all great ways of showing potential employees that you care about your staff and the culture of the firm, as well as helping candidates identify whether this firm will be right for them too.
Ultimately, your careers page and website should sell your firm to candidates, rather than writing a list of demands as to what you want from a candidate.
2. Have an About Us page
An ‘About Us’ page can be used to clearly articulate your firm's values on your website to narrow the applicant funnel. By clearly stating your values, candidates can determine if they align with them before applying, saving time for both the firm and the candidates if they aren’t the right fit and won’t stay at the firm.
You can also use the ‘About Us’ page to convey the firm's purpose, proposition, and personality, which differentiates it from competitors and gives potential candidates a reason to choose your firm. Make sure your 'About Us' page is eye-catching and engaging using images, video, or infographics (more on this later), and links to your current vacancies.
3. Include all your staff on your website
Having all your staff on your website is key to making employees feel valued. This is something we are sure a potential candidate wants to feel, they don’t just want to be another cog in the wheel.
As well as this, having all staff on your website can ease a candidate’s mind when it comes to interviewing. They can visit your website and find information about the person who is going to be interviewing them. This acts as a conversation starter, some common ground and makes the interviewer more human. Candidates are bound to perform better if they feel comfortable with the person who is interviewing them!
Read more about why it’s important to include all your staff on your law firm’s website, and best practices for great staff profiles here.
4. Use videos and images
Videos and images of the people on your team are essential for giving potential candidates a well-rounded view of your firm and what they can expect if they come to work for you. You can use images and videos throughout your website, but we’d especially recommend placing them on your About Us page, Careers page and on staff profiles too.
Video ideas could include a day in the life of a solicitor/trainee/support team member at your firm, testimonials from current or previous employees discussing what they like about working at the firm, or more informal videos of staff events like socials or team building exercises.
5. Include statistics and infographics
We mentioned including infographics and statistics on your ‘About Us and Career’ pages. This is because they are great ways to get across important information to candidates and keep them interested and engaged.
What factors do you think are important for potential candidates to know? With diversity at the forefront of people’s minds, showcasing this information in infographics and images is sure to catch the eye of potential browsers and will help them to determine whether the firm is likely to be a fit for them.
6. Use blog posts
Blog posts aren’t just for answering valuable questions that searchers are looking for, but for showcasing your firm too. You could discuss topics such as your corporate social responsibility – how do you get involved in the local community? Are you supporting any charities? How do you develop your staff? Not only does this prove that your firm isn’t just talking to the talk when it comes to being a great place to work, but it also gives candidates another insight in to your firm so they can make the decision as to whether they are a good fit.
It's also something for candidates to research before interviewing so they can then impress you with their interest in a community event, activity, or charity in the job interview.
7. Branding changes
Branding changes are a simple yet effective tool when it comes to signposting your vacancies to potential candidates. Have a look at some simple brand changes below:
8. Make it as easy as possible to apply
We know you want the best candidates for your firm, but it shouldn’t take hours and hours and hurdle after hurdle to complete a job application and apply for roles at your firm. Make the process as simple as you can.
Make sure your careers page is easy to find, use branding changes to signpost where your vacancies can be found and add a form on your website where people can apply rather than sending them to an email address or a third-party job site.
9. Think about a referral scheme
Finally, your firm could think about a referral scheme and include this on its ‘about us’ and ‘careers’ pages. At Conscious, there is a £400 referral fee if someone you recommend is successful in the role and passes their probation!
So, what’s next?
Once you’ve optimised your website for recruitment purposes, think about the other ways you can recruit new team members. Social media, especially LinkedIn, is a powerful tool, along with job boards, community events and university fairs. Ensure your law firm is utilising all these methods.
And once you’ve worked hard to recruit great staff, retention is key. You must ensure that the values and culture your firm depicts on its website is true to real life.
If you are a client of Conscious, have a look at our https://www.jobs-in-law.co.uk/ recruitment website where you can post your law firm jobs for free.
If you’d like to discuss optimising your website for recruitment purposes, whether that be building a new careers page that really showcases your firm or creating eye-catching graphics, testimonials and videos, get in touch with the team on sales@conscious.co.uk or 0117 325 0200.