My guess is that recruiters represent the world’s second oldest profession; and that for as long as there have been growing organizations, institutions or communities – there has been a need for matchmakers and recruiters. All of us also, I suspect, have a lot in common with every missionary, or army recruiter that ever existed. (The military connection, incidentally, might explain why so many of the large old-line executive search firms were founded by ex-military officers.)
The broader recruiting business these days has a membership that goes by many names; “search consultants” “head hunters”, “recruiters”, “placement agencies”, and so on. Each of these names has its own specific historical basis but, ultimately, we all do the same thing – and that is introduce people (and organizations) to each other, and take a fee when a match is made.
Why is this important to this blog? At the very least, I think, because my lawyer roots demand that this blog maintain at least some degree of terminological consistency. And so – we have “Lawcruiter” – a totally made up name but one, I think, that nicely captures the broad universe of those independent companies and agents that recruit lawyers to the employ of our clients – being major law firms, banks and companies.
On the client side, this blog will generally use the term "recruitment coordinator" (or, interchangeably with "hiring manager" "lateral hiring partner") to refer to those folks who most often directly represent the client to the Lawcruiter community. This blog welcomes in particular the input of these recruitment coordinators since they often have unique persectives, based on years of experience, as to how Lawcruiters can better serve our clients while effectively creating and maintaining a free and efficient market in legal talent.
