Due to the global outbreak of COVID-19, organizations have been forced to conduct business from their homes and adjust their normal processes to a virtual world. Many of our clients were in the midst of hiring immediate needs for their legal teams when stay-at-home orders were put in place and did not want to stop the momentum of their searches. However, without the ability to meet their top candidates face to face, clients would have to rely on virtual interviewing options and potentially make a hire without meeting their top choices in person.
Working closely with their Major, Lindsey & Africa In-House Counsel Recruiting search consultants, a number of our clients are continuing their interview processes 100 percent over the phone or via video conference. Each one has felt a sense of urgency in filling their open role—either to combat the current surging workload or prepare for the future business. Though one client thus far has had experience with running an entirely virtual process due to the mostly remote nature of the legal team, the majority of other clients have never hired a candidate without meeting them in-person first. However, their trust in Major, Lindsey & Africa and our abilities to identify talent with the desired professional and cultural fit has given them the confidence to keep moving forward and trust the process.
Our clients also took comfort in knowing the caliber of candidates we present and the thoroughness of our process. They were confident in our understanding of their organizations’ cultures and knew we would be able to share insights into each candidate with a lens toward each client’s specific needs.
Throughout the hiring process, our search consultants provide guidance to our clients in order to facilitate smooth video conferences for all rounds of interviews, walking through technology options and best practices. They will suggest extra interview steps that can be taken to help solidify an opinion, such as:
The top candidates who have been extended offers in the middle of this crisis have been the one who were able to impress our clients and truly showcase their personalities and knowledge over video. These candidates stood out for a variety of reasons, including:
Our clients appreciate our diligence in providing behavioral interview assessments and write-ups on our experiences with
the candidates as well as reference checks. Due to our search consultants’ thoroughness, our clients have been comfortable extending offers virtually without ever meeting these candidates in person, especially to those candidates who were actively interviewing and fielding multiple offers. The candidates’ flexibility and agreeability has also made the offer processes smooth and added to the clients’ confidence in their decisions to move forward.