From time to time as recruiters, we get vacancies in that have us “biting at the bit” and almost hanging up on the telephone so that we can start work identifying the perfect candidate for our client. These tend to be positions where we know immediately that we have someone ideally suited. We took a call this week from a firm that went as follows:
Caller “We are looking for a locum lawyer to cover holiday leave.”
Ten-Percent “OK – what are the dates?”
Caller “We dont know – we will let the locum know the day before we need them.”
Ten-Percent “Hmm – thats going to be difficult”.
Caller “It will be for 3 weeks, but we want them to come in for a morning beforehand to see how we work free of charge”.
Ten-Percent “Hmm – not sure we will get anyone for you to do that..”
Caller “We want a conveyancing solicitor with 3 years minimum experience, who is able to also do family law, immigration law and a bit of civil litigation.”
Ten-Percent “Not really sure we can assist”.
Caller “We want someone under 50 but over 35 years old.”
Caller “And they have to be a woman”.
Caller “We only want them for 3 days a week.”
Caller “But they will need to be available to take calls the other 2 days.”
Caller “We can offer £15 per hour and want to negotiate your fee.”
Caller “Can you let us know in the next 2 hours at the latest who you have available and we can draw up a shortlist to interview.”
Needless to say, we politely declined to assist, recommended that the firm contact one of our rivals, but made a note of the above conversation to post in our next newsletter!
For further details of the various Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment services including locum and permanent positions for solicitors and lawyers, please visit www.ten-percent.co.uk