My dilemma of the day..

OK I got some really good ideas from my last blog that I will give you my dilemma of the day. I have a search going on for a very prestigious law firm. They are looking for a very specific type of IP Attorney. This candidate has to have an Advanced degree, great grades, good undergrad school as well as law school, plus work in either the pharmaceutical or biotechnology fields. Lo, and behold I found such a candidate. I presented the candidate on April 17th and was told please send in the resume. I sent the resume with the subject line reading candidate for Boston. A few days go by and nothing so I call the recruiting coordinator and she says I did not get it. I resend and she says got it. Another few days goes by and still nothing so I call again and she begins to tell that there is only 1 partner and he has been slammed with resumes so it is taking a little longer. I say OK I understand and than she asks me for the candidates name and I give it to her at which point she exclaims oh he is for boston and that is a completely different partner I will make sure that he gets it. It has now been another 4 days and still nothing. These types of candidates do not grow on trees. So you ask what is my dilemma...I would like to call the Partner directly and ask him if he has had a chance to look at the resume? Of course I would say that I know how busy the recruiting coordinator is and that I wanted to make sure that the firm did not miss out on such an outstanding candidate that I wanted to speak to him directly. He may be nice to me but will for sure call the recruiting coordinator to ask what is going on which could make her really angry. My question is do I do it or just sit around wait and possible lose the candidate as he is getting a little tired of waiting and to be honest so am I.

Theresa

Comment by Bill Schultz on May 2, 2012 at 6:52pm: Do it! Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on May 2, 2012 at 7:18pm: Call him... about something else. You're excited about working with him, would love to take him to lunch, blah blah blah oh by the way about that candidate!

PLEASE don't do anything that could be perceived as throwing the coordinator under the bus. No matter how well intentioned the possibility of it backfiring is too great. You definitely have to take action, on that I completely agree with both you and Bill. But it's tricky.

Comment by Bill Schultz on May 2, 2012 at 7:25pm: Yes, Amy's right. don't throw the incompetent loon under the bus. ;)

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on May 2, 2012 at 7:32pm: LOL Bill you know that incompentent little piece of fluff could be the partner's daughter... or something else. :) Just saying you NEVER KNOW!! :)

But definitely call him. Lead with something safely off-topic then bring it up as a "oh by the way"

Comment by Sandra McCartt on May 2, 2012 at 11:08pm: I wouldn't do it. I would take the recruiting coordinator to lunch. You might go around her this time and get it done but you will have made an enemy who could be a conduit for future business. No matter how sneaky you are that stuff rolls down hill. I would throw myself on the mercy of the small claims court , call her and tell her that your candidate is getting a bit anxious and mentioned that he knows someone who knows Mr. Sr. Partner so may ask his colleague to call Mr. Sr. Partner on his behalf and you want to make her aware so she isn't caught flat footed if Mr. Sr. Partner has lost the CV on his desk and thinks she hasn't gotten it to him so would she mention the candidate to him and be sure he has seen the CV in the event that he does get a call out of the blue. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Comment by Theresa Hunter on May 3, 2012 at 11:27am: Hi All...again some really good thoughts for my dilemma. Just so you know I am in Texas and the recruiting coordinator is in New York and the Partner in question is in Boston so, no lunch date for either of them. Sandra not sure what is mean't by throwing my self on the mercy of small claims court. I can from West Virginia and they have some interesting sayings there but nothing like that. Second I only get ONE shot at the partner. Which means that if I have a great candidate I will research the partners to see who has the background that most fits the candidate and will reach out to him/her and do a brief presentation once I do that than I am done because I will get referred to the recruiting coordinator most times. Again just as in life not always I can sometimes call the Partner when dealing with a candidate but those times are very rare and I don't call unless it is important. In regards to Amy suggestion it does not matter how sweetly I spin it i.e. so glad to be able to work with you..by the way about that candidate. If for some reason he does not have the candidate resume yet the recruiting coord. is going to get called. Lets say he has the resume we discuss and he says great candidate yes I would love to see him please schedule it with......than I am going to have to call the recruiting coord. to set up the interview. It seems like no matter how I do it that would include the Partner the recruiting coord is going to get called either by him or by me. So, basically I have two options call the RC and get her involved by asking for her help or do nothing and possible watch a candidate and income disappear.

Thanks again everyone some really great ideas for thought.

Comment by Theresa Hunter on May 3, 2012 at 11:28am: Opps that should be I come from West Virginia...thinking to fast and not typing fast enough.. : )

Comment by Theresa Hunter on May 3, 2012 at 4:36pm: OK here is the latest update in the Boston saga. I did finally reach the recruiting coordinator (RC) and she said that there has been some transition going on in the Boston office and they a new RC for that office..YEA! I ask her what is the process exactly on resumes and here is what she told me. They would go to her first and than to a Sr Attorney in Boston and than to the main Partner in DC and than would go back to her for either scheduling or thank you but no. Now it will be RC Boston Sr Attorney and than Partner DC and than back to Boston which could still take up to 3.5 weeks just to get an answer as to whether or not they even want to see someone. I am not sure if this the firm that I really want to work with they maybe a better source than client. We will see. I spoke to the candidate and he seems OK with things so hopefully soon we will have an answer on his resume.

Thanks everybody for your comments.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on May 3, 2012 at 7:52pm: I meant that the RC is like the small claims court. may not be a big deal but can make it or break it. So work with her. It has been my experience that most legal eagles understand the protocol of a big law firm if you just explain to them the process as you have been told. This one has a structured chain of command so it is what it is. Now you know and you can tell your candidates up front what the protocol is so they know what to expect and that it has nothing to do with interest or not.

Did you ever see an attorney move fast when they were spending money? I haven't. :) The reason lawsuits take so long is not because they have to it's everybody's schedule not to mention mediation going faster when all parties are worn out from the attorney taking forever and of course billable hours. If they did anything too fast everybody would think it was too easy, sort of like recruiting.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on May 3, 2012 at 8:04pm: I sent a top notch paralegal to a litigator once upon a time. He called me after the interview throwing a fit because she dared to try and negotiate salary with him so wasn't about to hire her. I started laughing.

He screamed, "What's so damn funny?

I said, "What do you do for a living."

Long pause, then he said quietly, "Oh F---, offer her what she wants and see if she can come to work next or if she needs to negotiate that too."

He ended up sending her to law school, she is now a partner in the firm and he tells everybody that she has been negotiating since the day she walked in the door so he decided he better make a lawyer out of her so he didn't have to negotiate with her anymore.