October 7, 2008
Resume Embellishments Grow Despite Increased Validation
The following is a true story: the Recruiting Director of a large litigation firm received an excited call from a local headhunter. The recruiting firm had a candidate with a JD and an MD who was finishing a career with the Army and looking forward to entering private practice in her home town, ideally doing medical malpractice defense. Although the candidate graduated in the middle of her class for both medicine and law, she attended top schools. The individual was even more impressive in person and was even admitted to practice law in the state. A graduate of West Point, the woman got her medical degree from Johns Hopkins and her law degree from Princeton. It was only after an offer was extended that someone remembered that Princeton doesn’t have a law school.
This is nothing new for law firms active in the lateral hiring market. Most Recruiting Directors expect some degree of puffery in resumes especially in the level of experience and the candidate’s actual involvement in specific cases. But a survey by a large executive recruiting firm found that more than half of hiring managers had caught a candidate in a significant lie (uncompleted degree, inaccurate employment dates to hide gaps) during the past year. Another common embellishment involve non-law degrees (MBA’s particularly) and current compensation.
But some candidates really stretch their list of accomplishments. According to a survey by Career Directors International, the following are the most extraordinary untruths on resumes during the past year:
- Claiming to be a member of MENSA
- Claiming to be a member of the Kennedy family
- Listing the President of the United States as a reference
- Showing experience as a professional athlete
- Claiming to be Hispanic (the candidate was blond and of Nordic heritage)
Law firm recruiters tell us of some routine but outrageous lies told by lawyers seeking a job:
- Being a partner in their former firm
- Clerkships with Federal Court judges
- Working as a paid staff member on a presidential campaign
- Law review editorships
- Holding a CPA certificate
Got a great story about a candidate lie? Send it to us and we’ll pass it along.
Bailout Blues
Although Congress has not yet passed the economic support package to support the sub-prime crisis, we can anticipate and plan for its impact on law firms as employers. We spoke to a number of law firm managing partners and administrators who experienced the 1986 bailout of the savings and loan industry and the 2000 burst of the tech bubble. One of the principal lessons learned is that the response of individuals (regardless of whether they are partners, associates, managers or staff) is often based more on what is reported by the media than their actual personal situation.
Most of the people we talked to advised that reactions may be counter intuitive and quite volatile. The expected response from employees to bad economic news might be thankfulness that they have a job. Yet, in past recessions, some employees became despondent and pessimistic, as if they expected to lose their job and were taking psychological actions to prepare themselves for bad news. One of the most common issues reported to us by the experienced administrators was lack of energy and enthusiasm, minimum performance, and incidences of insubordination and discourtesy. As one administrator described the change, “It was as if our firm’s culture was suspended; all the stuff we valued was ignored.”
When such situations occur unexpectedly, there can be a tendency to react with different degrees of severity with each case. The advice in such situations is to create clear standards of acceptable performance and behavior and precedents for dealing with problems to ensure uniformity. Workers Cite Preferences for Reducing Commuting Costs
Judging by the comments we received from our last article on the response of law firms to the impact of gas prices on employee commuting costs, this is an area of concern for many law firms. A recent survey by LifeCare, Inc. (a work/life balance consulting firm) provides some insight into what employees prefer. The following are the most common responses to the question, “Other than subsidizing the cost of gas, what is the number one way you'd like your employer to help you cope with the rising cost of your commute to work?”
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Offer a 4-day work week — 45%
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More telecommuting opportunities — 34%
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Subsidize public transportation — 7%
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Organize car pools — 5%
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Offer rewards for bicycling, walking or carpooling to
work — 4%
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Offer shuttle services from train stations, bus stops,
etc. — 4%
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Other — 1%
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There’s a reason why Legal Resource Group is the largest recruiter of senior law firm administrative positions. We find the best people with incredible speed, at a reasonable price. Don’t waste time with recruiters who don’t know law firms.
Call Legal Resource Group today – 1-800-688-4147
Associate Salaries Holding Firm
While there has been a lot of speculation that some Washington firms would push associate salaries over the $200,000 mark, apparently the current economic crisis has scuttled any such thoughts as firms attempt to be more conservative in their hiring. However, some firms are expressing more interest in abandoning the associate lockstep system in favor of performance based compensation. Several firms continue to talk about different salary tracks for different billable hour levels and a number of firms are reconsidering differing salaries for new associates based on their law school and class rank. A similar concept was adopted by a number of firms in the 1980’s but quickly abandoned over fears that they were establishing a caste system within their associate ranks. Going Green with Paychecks
A survey conducted by the American Payroll Association during National Payroll Week found 62 percent of respondents who are paid by direct deposit would rather view their pay stub on line than in hard copy form. Lunch is for Wimps
Professionals and executives in the U.S. spend an average of 35 minutes a day at lunch according to a survey by Office Team. That is a decrease of seven minutes from five years ago. The trend to shorter lunches is international and a recent survey in the UK found that a majority of office workers rarely, if ever, eat lunch away from their desks. A variety of causes are cited including the influence of technology, workload due to staff reductions and the cost of eating in restaurants. Psychologists worry that failing to take breaks during the work day increases the negative effects of stress.
Thanks for the Kind Words:
“Please feel free to use me as a referral anytime. Your firm did an outstanding job finding our new COO”
Managing Partner, Southeast Legal Resource Group LLC specializes in serving the executive and administrative recruiting needs of law firms. We maintain the largest data base of law firm executive and Administrative staff in the world. This allows us to immediately identify the very best candidates. We find the best people, complete searches faster and have extremely reasonable fees. For further information, visit our website at www.LRGLLC.com , contact us by e-mail at inquiries@LRGLLC.com or by phone at 1-800-688-4147.
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