New York Lawyer
August 20, 2002

Q:
Please recommend a good agency that can assist an attorney who has been in private practice for 10 years to change careers.

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A:

Easy: none. Not a single one -- unless you have a close chum employed as a headhunter and he wants to take a flyer outside his customary role.

I'm not trying to be nasty here, merely to illustrate that many people -- lawyers and non-lawyers alike -- don't understand the structure and dynamics of executive search, recruiting and placement. As a general proposition, recruiters serve as agent for the buyer (the employer) not as advocates for the product (you). They are paid handsomely (often about 35 percent of starting salary) by a potential employer to minimize the likelihood of a bad or incompetent hire. Accordingly, all stripes of headhunter are aggressive risk-reducers:

1. They tend to put conventional people with nice, linear career paths into conventional positions. Unkind people call them "order takers."

2. Their primary tendency is to "rule out" anyone whose "product profile" is unconventional or creates any alarms whatever.

3. They don't have to be fair, but they are well-advised to be skeptical.

4. They won't touch career-shifters on a bet.

Recruiting is broken into two principal categories: 1) "retainer-based executive search consultants" (often called "retainer" or just "search;" these are the classical "headhunters"); and 2) "contingency recruiters" (often shortened to just contingency). As the name suggests, retainer firms are retained by an organization as consultants to orchestrate and manage the entire search process: they write the job spec, screen candidates, do preliminary interviews, present several selected candidates to their "client," and often assist in negotiating terms of employment; help locate housing and schools for front-running candidates, and generally honchoing the process. They are given an "exclusive" on the search: no other firm can submit a candidate or claim part of the fee. And, their fee is guaranteed: they will get paid. Typically, retainer search fees are paid out in thirds: one-third to start, another progress payment midway in the profess and then a final "square-up" payment.

Contingency recruiters, on the other hand, while often earning roughly the same fee (20-35 percent), are not paid at all unless or until a candidate they identify actually lands the job. The employer often writes the spec and handles most of the interviewing; the recruiter identifies attractive candidates they think will "win." This is important, because contingency recruiters often are not given an exclusive on a search; any firm (or individual, for that matter) is free to heave a resume or two over the transom in the hope that their candidate ends up the Chosen One. This means that contingency recruiters are at great risk, because they can burn up a lot of time, expense and effort -- and come out empty-handed.

Given this risk, you ask, why would anyone choose to go into contingency recruiting? Several reasons. First, if a search is a real dog (the company a disaster, the compensation uncompetitive, the location a turn-off), they just don't spend time on it. Nothing gained, but nothing lost, either. Retainer-based search firms have to do the search -- spend the time, spend the money -- for as long as it takes. And they also frequently must guarantee their results: if the new employee leaves within, say, a year, the firm has to perform the whole search again -- for nothing. Second, contingency search works pretty effectively in industries where the main employment criterion is possession of some technical skill: programmers, engineers -- and lawyers. You can identify large candidate pools with the requisite skill sets, and let the employer choose their first choice. In short, you can make a lot of money on volume -- or on high-fees for highly-placed positions. Or both.

Most legal recruiting firms operate on contingency. If they're lucky they may get an exclusive on a certain search or enjoy a sort of "preferred provider" status. But they must still front the expense of doing the search and hope it all pays off in the end. Almost all law firm searches are conducted on a contingency basis -- and these usually are for lateral hires (associates with desirable skill sets or partner-level people with solid books of portable business). Many in-house legal department searches are done by the firms specializing in legal placements, but some high-level searches -- General Counsel, Head of Litigation Management, Compliance Counsel -- may be given to the retainer firms the corporation uses for its other executive and management searches.

Now let's go back to the original question. I can't recommend an agency that will "assist you," because they don't assist you. They might treat people who are attractive candidates courteously, but it is the employer that they assist. Second, "agencies" don't like career-shifters. They are all worried about why you are shifting careers -- particularly if you've been in an apparently successful role: "Are you running from something or toward something? This shift: why this, why now?" Further, they don't know what to place you as. In the eyes of the marketplace, you are now an "ex-" something. It will help if you can answer the question "Change your career to what?" Focus is essential, because no recruiting firm sees it as its job to help you make sense out of your life.

Now -- there are companies out there who may appear to serve as your agent as you shift employment. They may call themselves "executive marketing services," although in the career counseling trade they are more often known as "retail career counselors." That means they are paid by -- you, not by a past employer (outplacement) or future employer (search). They may be able to offer helpful advice in self-assessment, job-search preparation or helping plan and execute your job search. But be clear: you're the one running the job search. Read the fine print, and you'll see they offer to support, guide and advise you. They do not say they will run your search, guarantee you a placement or do the heavy lifting of identifying and tracking down leads. Some of these firms claim to specialize in lawyers and legal careers. It would be unprofessional for me to name (or blame or praise) any particular one of them, but I do strongly suggest that you do a lot of due diligence -- including talking to a list of satisfied former clients -- before writing the check. That check can be substantial, by the way -- $5,000 to $10,000 is not unusual.

There are other career consultants (and often they work alone to reduce overhead expenses) who do work with self-paid clients to assess their marketable strengths and motivational maps, frame realistic employment objectives and plan their employment campaigns. These are classic fee-for-service "process consultants." If they are ethical, they don't guarantee you they'll find you a job. They'll show you how to exercise the greatest possible control over how you find a job.

Conventional wisdom has it that ads and recruiters simply do not work for career-shifters. Similarly, mass mailings never work all that well, and they work even worse for people with an unconventional career profile or without a current "product identity." What does that leave? The career counselors all will tell you that the best technique for successfully shifting gears and changing careers is interpersonal networking. Getting seen. Giving people a chance to see you as a human being, as an opportunity. Giving them a chance to color outside the lines. Career changing usually takes longer than a "conventional" job search, because both the product and the market are ill-defined. It can be done with initiative and perseverance. However, as the old saw says, "if you want something done right, often you have to do it yourself."

Sincerely,
Douglas B. Richardson
President, The Richardson Group