Are Your Legal Job Descriptions a Fail? 6 Steps to Make Them Better

Summary: You won’t find the right attorneys or legal hires if your job description is poorly written. Conveying an accurate picture of the qualifications needed to fulfill the responsibilities of the job will ensure you get applicants who are a good fit for your openings. Follow these six easy steps to send the right message and attract better candidates.

• Bad hires come at a price and the cost is much greater than you realize. A better way to find the candidates is to ask better questions in your job description.
• Attracting bad hires isn’t the only problem. With a poorly written job posting, you increase your likelihood of attracting unqualified candidates. If they don’t understand what they’re getting into or may be a poor fit for your firm’s culture, there’s a good they won’t stay and that will cost you.
• By following certain steps and including certain information, your firm will improve its chances of finding and retaining better hires.
• Writing a great job ad description will ensure great hires and help you build the kind of firm you aspire to.

Bad Job Descriptions = Bad Hires

Think of a poorly written job description like a bad Tinder profile: it’s your first impression and your best chance to connect. If you don’t get it right out of the gate, there’ll be a lot of swipe lefts. Or worse: You’ll be wasting your time—and money—with bad matches. Expect few second dates. Showing a more accurate profile picture is far better than just posting a pretty face.

How you describe your job and your law firm can be the magic words for connecting with the right candidates. You want them to be truly excited about your firm and your position. You want them to find the description engaging, inclusive and relevant, and you want it to be promising enough to make them want to apply—but again: only if they’re the right candidates.

But to understand how to write a job description right is to know that it’s about more than conveying the terms of the position and work. It’s also a crucial tool for searches and recruiters. This is why a bad description can be limits your prospects in a number of ways.

How to write a better-than-good job description:

1) Say what you mean

If the description of your position is unclear, imprecise, or poorly written, you’ll not only attract the wrong candidates, you’ll also discourage the qualified ones. “Clever,” non-traditional job titles—like “court room assassin” or “corporate dragon slayer”—are not going to get you the candidate you are looking for. And moreover, you may find yourself edging into the discriminatory.

Let your applicants know exactly what you need. If you want experience, be direct and forthright about it: “Business litigation law firm is seeking to hire a sharp and experienced litigation attorney with 5 to 15 years of experience in real estate and business litigation with trial experience.”

A detailed description that includes details about the job, necessary qualifications, experience and skills will excite those who should apply and deter those who shouldn’t because you’ve eliminated uncertainty about your preferred requirements.

Also remember that under current trends, the numbers of legal jobs are shrinking while the numbers of newly-minted lawyers continue to rise; there are a lot of attorneys looking for work. Chances are good any job you post will be met with an enthusiastic number of responses. Don’t turn that into a veritable flood of résumés and cover letters by being less than precise.

2) Want to discourage recruiters? Write a sloppy description

You want the best applicants for the job. A recruiter can help with that process.

Recruiters can streamline the hiring process from beginning to end in addition to having large pools of focused potential candidates to draw from. Plus, they have sophisticated recruiting software—Applicant Tracking Systems—that can speed up and optimize the process.

However, for recruiters to be effective they’ll need you to provide them with quality job descriptions. Better details will help them find appropriate candidates. If they only have a poor profile picture to work from—back to the Tinder analogy—they won’t be able to do for you what they do best.

An insufficient description will inspire the recruiter to rewrite your ad. They’ll want to improve your responses—they have a fee at stake in getting this right—but of course they may not understand the position like you do. You may not approve of the edits they make and this could mean some back and forth between you and more reworking. This only slows down the process.

To ensure this doesn’t happen, include the essential information needed for the job description before handing it off to a recruiter. The faster this process goes, the faster you’ll be getting relevant results you can use.

3) Don’t say what you mean and you’ll get the wrong candidates

Describe the job’s tasks. Let candidates imagine a typical day on the job. Break the responsibilities down into short, clear duties. Make sure everyone on your team is clear and in agreement about the requirements of the position you are trying to fill. This will avoid confusion with candidates later in the hiring process.

Poorly written job descriptions will harm your productivity and hurt your bottom line. Therefore, be as specific as possible:

• How much experience is preferred?
• What practice area do they need experience in?
• Can they learn more about your firm, your values, and work process by visiting your website?
• Should they be familiar with certain federal and state regulations or procedures?
• Will they need proficiency with certain software or apps?
• Education requirements?
• Will they need to be an active member of your state bar?
• Is your job description realistic or are you asking for too much?

Also, keep the language positive. Do this by avoiding phrases like “associates with fewer than five years of experience won’t be considered” and instead use phrases like “candidates must have at least five years of experience.” A negative tone gives applicants an unfriendly introduction to your firm and will affect how your culture and brand are viewed—your employer brand and your firm’s brand.

Also: Make your ad speak directly to your intended candidates. An effective ad is one that’s both professional and relatable. Don’t be afraid to speak conversationally. Candidates tend to only skim job descriptions so jargon and unclear phrasing will have them skimming right past you. Make sure to double-check your description for clarity and accuracy before publishing.

4) Make sure your ad has searchable keywords

It’s been estimated that there are over 124 million job-related searches conducted on Google each month. This doesn’t include the other major search engines. The searchable keywords in your job listing could have an enormous effect on your reach.

To optimize your posting for search engines, make sure you have these points covered:

• Are you including phrases that are relevant to your job description?
• What terms might a job seeker search to find a job like yours?
• Did you include location specific terms?
• Did you include practice area specifics?

The job title should be clear, simple, and concise and written in a way that will appeal to the way attorneys might search. Don’t stuff keywords into the title. Try to use a creative hook or title, or use a question in the title. Bullet points can make the description easy to read, especially for users of mobile devices. Use three to five related terms throughout the copy to increase the relevance and your searchability, but don’t overuse any keyword phrase. If it sounds awkward when you read it aloud, reduce the number of instances of the phrase.

5) When you like them but they’re not that into you

Writing a job description should work both ways: You know about them and they know about you. You don’t want your new hires to be unpleasantly surprised about you.

A survey of new hires found that one-third of them left their jobs after six months. It’s within the first six months that 86% of hires decide if they’re going to stay for the long haul. If a new hire isn’t feeling the position is meeting their expectations, you will have to go through all of the time and expense of hiring again. This is why you need to be upfront about the details of your position, including your firm’s culture and work environment and the specifics of the associate’s day-to-day responsibilities.

Don’t be mysterious. The description should make it clear to job seekers what your expectations of the candidate will be including non-negotiable requirements like necessary experience, background, education, or trial experience. This will help you avoid candidates who may lose interest.

6) Sell the firm

If your candidate is going to make a lateral move, a good attorney job description will be one that lets them know that where you’re asking them to go is better than where they came from. If your firm has value-added perks or offerings, even if it’s location or office space, describe them in your job description. Explain how the perks contribute to a better environment, culture, well-being, lifestyle, etc. Make sure your ad uses no discriminatory language or unconscious biases.

About Harrison Barnes

Harrison Barnes is the founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in job searches and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company, LawCrossing, has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.

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