Best Practices to Avoid Hiring Mistakes

Best Practices to Avoid

Hiring

Mistakes D o you dread the hiring process because it is so difficult to find the right people? Perhaps new hires have repeatedly disappointed you. They turn out not to have the skills or experience you expected or that they claimed to have. Perhaps co-worker drama seems to ferment around your new hire or communication breakdowns negatively affect work product and deadlines. Most law firms can tell tales of hiring mistakes that cost the firm time, money, and office harmony. This article provides tips on how law firms and law departments can make better hiring decisions.

1. Define in detail the skills and behaviors required for the role. Do not let yourself off easy with a broad description like “litigation associate with 5 to 7 years of experience.” Invest time in identifying your expectations of what the new hire will be able to handle competently on Day 1 and what other talents and skills will be crucial to the new hire’s success at the firm. Also, do not shy away from posting the aspects of the job that you would personally find boring or tedious if it is an essential aspect of the job. By way of example, which of these capabilities will the candidate need?

• Manage all aspects of a case from start to finish • Conduct the same routine depositions and motions in case after case without losing focus and engagement • Envision the timeline of a case and plot deadlines and critical phases • Recognize early on when clients might be misrepresenting or “forgetting” significant facts • Sufficient expertise to discredit the testimony of an expert witness or the procedural acumen to disqualify the expert • Grasp how to pierce the corporate veil to reach the deep pockets of a parent company or wealthy sole shareholder • Sufficient confidence, patience, and empathy to calm worried and stressed out clients • Equanimity in a hearing to swiftly counter unexpected or bullying arguments by opposing counsel • Requisite attention to detail to present pristine documents to a general counsel with high quality standards • Acumen to negotiate settlements strategically, differentiating between what is essential to the client and what can be traded away • Collaborate effectively in a team environment • Comfortable working hour after hour in isolation

These roles call for different experience and talents, some of which may tend to be mutually exclusive. Until you break the job down into its parts, you will not be able to discern the most important traits of your ideal candidate.

2. Draw on your network to find qualified candidates. Once you articulate the qualities of the candidate you want to hire, how do you find the candidate who possesses them? Some lawyers jump to posting on job boards, because it does not take much time. However, time invested up front in

methods that pre-qualify candidates can save the later frustration of dealing with unqualified candidates, or worse, making a bad hire. Here are several methods to find qualified candidates without recruiters. a. Word of mouth referrals. This is the preferred method because the candidate gets prequalified by a person who vouches for them. Let your network know what you are looking for and share your job description. Ask people you respect in similar roles whether they know someone who possesses the qualities and standards you are seeking. Most will not want to tarnish their own reputation by recommending people who do shoddy work. Ask opposing counsel, former colleagues, law school professors, former classmates, bar association committee chairs, and even in-house counsel clients.

When seeking support professionals, talk to your own employees. Ask friends to make inquiries among their paralegals, assistants, and administrators. Support professionals often have a broad network that lawyers rarely encounter. Active participants in relevant associations, committees, and certifying organizations will be familiar with who works hard, knows their stuff and is reliable.

b. Social media. Facebook has a very active group for Texas Lawyers in which members frequently seek the “wisdom of the hive,” including when they need to hire additional help. Search LinkedIn profiles for the skills you need or make inquiries in LinkedIn groups. If you find people with the right qualifications, see whether you have any connections in common that might help open doors or provide feedback.

c. Job postings. If your network fails, the State Bar of Texas and the HBA Career Centers accept paid job postings for both attorneys and paralegals. Various premium packages get higher positioning in listings, plus monthly job flash emails to Bar members. Other sites for job postings include LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, CareerBuilder, Craigslist, as well as law school job boards, job fairs, and on campus interviews. Many paralegal schools also have online job boards. Broad-based listing services garner more inappropriate applications to filter out.

3. Identify mechanisms to assess the qualifications of your candidates. Once you have determined the necessary qualifications, how will you verify whether your candidates actually possess them? Certification by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization provides a lot of comfort, but only about 7% of Texas lawyers are board certified, so that bar is usually too high. The Texas Board of Legal Specialization also offers certification exams for paralegals in certain specialty areas of law. Additionally, a number of paralegal organizations provide paralegal certification exams. The best recognized organizations are The Paralegal Association (NALA) and the Association for Legal Professionals (NALS). You can also look at The National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA), as well as post baccalaureate college paralegal degrees and paralegal technical school certificates as evidence of training, at least.

To judge the written communication skills of the candidate, ask for sample work product (redacted to protect confidentiality) such as memoranda, briefs, contracts, letters, articles, or blog posts that the candidate drafted. Some firms design a test project to judge the applicant’s skills. Others pay job finalists as a contractor to perform a small client project to see how well they handle real firm work. Note whether the candidate asks clarifying questions to verify that they understand what is needed. Note how long it takes and discuss their analysis with them afterwards.

Almost all law firm employees need

proficiency with Microsoft Office tools. An internet search will reveal various types of Microsoft Office skills tests. Look for tests that include simulated actions in Microsoft Office. Two such products are TOSA (www.Isograd.com) and Skills Arena (www.skillsarena.com). Procertas Legal Technology Assessment (www.procertas.com) is the gold standard for lawyers, however. It was designed by an in-house counsel who required his outside counsel to pass the test because having the right skills dramatically reduced document prep time, and thus legal fees.

Joe Lawson, Deputy Director of the Harris County Law Library (HCLL), says lawyers and staff can use Procertas onsite at HCLL for free to evaluate and improve their own skills. You will not get certified results at HCLL, so that probably will not work as a screening tool. Lawson also points out other resources available at HCLL that provide some guidance on hiring. Two examples are How to Manage Your Law Office published by LexisNexis and Texas Legal Practice Forms published by Thomson Reuters Westlaw.

If your office uses G Suite, Google offers a G Suite certification exam covering Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and Hangouts Meet. The two-hour remote proctored exam has multiple choice and performance-based questions. You can see how remote proctoring works at https://vimeo.com/129576577.

For shorter onboarding time, look for candidates familiar with other technology platforms used in your office. In addition to Microsoft Office vs. G Suite, think about Apple vs. Windows and iPhone vs. Android. For seamless coordination and communication with clients, strive for technologically diverse or technologically “multilingual” personnel in your office.

Also quiz applicants about other technology your firm uses, such as document management software like NetDocuments, Worldox or NextChapter, and practice management software like MyCase, Clio, Rocket Matter, Practice Panther, Zola Suite, Smokeball, etc. Familiarity with programs other than the ones you use still merits bonus points. Because they have core features in common, any familiarity will make training and onboarding easier.

4. Check for personality fit with the role and the firm culture. If an employee’s personality and strengths do not match the employee’s role well, he or she may procrastinate or avoid uncomfortable tasks. The employee may become disengaged and negatively affect office morale. A myriad of personality and talent assessments can provide insights to inform your qualifying questions. Two of the better-known personality assessments are DISC and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Request sample reports from any assessments you consider to see what kind of information you will receive and how you can use it. My law firm clients find the DISC reports easy enough for them to understand and implement without always needing a consultant by their side to interpret the results.

The CliftonStrengths assessment developed through decades of research by the Gallup organization identifies 34 natural strengths. Gallup research found that people who are able to use their primary strengths at work every day are more engaged and productive in their role. You can purchase the inexpensive assessment on the Gallup website, or you can purchase the book StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath, which explains the research and includes a single-use code to take the CliftonStrengths assessment online.

When hiring high level candidates who may take an active role in firm or practice group leadership, consider using a leadership skills assessment such as the CPI 260, the Campbell Leadership Descriptor or the Caliper Profile. These assessments will usually require debriefing by a consultant. You also may want to consider emotional intelligence tests. They can reveal which candidates have greater personal awareness, emotional regulation, and relationship management skills. Two examples are the EQ-i 2.0 and the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT).

Culture fit can be a tricky issue. On one hand, organizations need a diversity of experiences and ideas to develop creative solutions, recognize and capitalize on new opportunities, and otherwise support valuable innovation. On the other hand, people who do not share the firm’s vision and values can undermine them, negatively affect morale, and sow resentment and discord among employees. Make sure you have clarified within the firm who you are as a firm and what values are most important. Speak to those values frequently and make it safe for all employees to speak up when those values are dishonored. Catch people doing things right and provide recognition for their alignment with firm values. Ask job candidates behavioral interview questions that will surface their values on the topics important to the firm. Ask each person who interacts with the candidate what the person observed that might indicate whether the candidate shares the firm’s values.

5. Conduct effective interviews. Despite your solid groundwork in preparation for hiring, the fatal flaw in the hiring process may emerge during interviews. Here are common mistakes that interviewers make, together with better options. a. They telegraph to the candidate the response they want to hear. The interviewer says, “We work hard to meet our clients’ needs. Are you willing to work hard?” Instead, use behavioral interviewing techniques. Pose an open-ended question asking the candidate to tell you how the candidate has handled certain situations in the past. Past behavior provides a reasonable predictor of future behavior. You might say, “Tell me about a time when your to-do list got longer than the hours in your workday. What did

you do?” The response may tell you how willing they are to work late to get the project done or provide insight into their prioritization skills and ability to focus and avoid distractions. You can find many articles on the internet with examples of behavioral interview questions.

b. They gravitate toward candidates just like themselves. We have natural affinity toward someone who sees the world the way we do. However, when you hire a “mini-me,” you may compound the weaknesses of your firm or department. Your team needs complementary strengths, not duplications. A big-picture thinker needs a refiner who pays attention to details. The hard-driving results-oriented lawyer needs a teammate who has the patience to engage in “handholding” with clients. Refer frequently to your previously identified skills and traits that the role calls for in order to keep yourself on track in the evaluation process.

c. They succumb to unconscious bias. We all have biases. They allow us to progress without evaluating and analyzing every step afresh. In the workplace, we may be unaware of biases that degrade our decision processes. Many kinds of unconscious bias impact employment. The American Psychological Association reports, for example, that tall people make more money and enjoy more success than short people, even when height is irrelevant to the job duties. In a study with identical resumes except for a male name or a female name, based on the resume alone, the female was judged as less competent and a 13% lower starting salary was suggested for her than for the male.

One mechanism to reduce unconscious bias involves standardization of interview questions. Have multiple people interview each candidate together, with standardized questions. Immediately after the interview without discussion among the interviewers, have each interviewer turn in a written score sheet regarding the candidate’s responses. This mechanism subjects each candidate to the same criteria, and it also combats the tendency to have perceptions influenced by conformity bias when others have expressed their opinions.

6. Do your homework and check references. Call the references provided by the candidate. Sometimes the reference had no idea they had been listed and may be candid in their response. Call acquaintances in their prior workplaces to get their perceptions of the candidate. Unlike the Human Resources Department, your friends may give you detailed information. Consider Googling the names of the candidates who have survived the inperson interview process and search for them on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) to review their posts for any questionable activity. Beware of the risks of unconscious bias or illegal discrimination that may arise with such searches, however. The Pros and Cons of Social Media Background Checks 1 contains a good discussion of those risks.

Law office employees have access to confidential client information and data used in identity theft. An online search in the ABA Journal reveals report after report of e mb e z zle me nt from law firms or their clients. Consider background screening for criminal records and a credit report. Make certain that you understand and comply with the requirements of employment laws and the Fair Credit Reporting Act in the screening process, as well as liability issues for negligent hiring if you do not do background checks.

This article offers many suggestions, and such thorough hiring processes may sound overwhelming and exhausting. Not every job opening merits all of these steps. Extra effort pays off, however. Hiring mistakes not only waste the time and money invested in the process, they distract management from strategic responsibilities. They also can dampen morale, decrease teamwork, and increase turnover of good employees, all of which impact the bottom line.

Debra L. Bruce is president of LawyerCoach LLC. With 18 years in law practice and 20 years coaching, she guides legal professionals on leadership and management, team effectiveness, and productivity. She was the first lawyer in Texas to be credentialed by the International Coach Federation, and she has held leadership roles in law practice management committees of the Houston, Texas, and American bar associations. Visit: www.lawyer-coach.com

Endnotes 1. Chad Brooks, The Pros and Cons of Social Media Background Checks, Business News Daily (Aug. 2, 2016), https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9289-socialmedia-background-checks.html.