Before we consider how best to attract top quality staff online, first we must enter the mind of the typical high-calibre recruit – both under- and post-graduate – to find out what makes certain companies more appealing career options than others.

Get back in touch with your inner student

A recent law student survey carried out by Legal Week Intelligence (LWI) found that the most important criteria for law students when assessing which firms to apply to were: brand name/prestige, post-qualification career prospects, LPC funding, direct experience gained from summer placements and work-life balance offered. Due to the similarity in work culture and practice, we can safely assume that other professional careers like accountancy, asset management/investment banking, the civil service and management consultancy would produce comparable results.

Although many students may like to portray a slightly laissez-faire, idealistic attitude, if we read between the lines we can see what really motivates them: money. Prestige, career prospects and LPC funding (or other industry-equivalent qualifications) all point to the ambitious, and often debt-ridden, young graduate considering salary and associated financial benefits as highly important. What differentiates companies from each other, and is the key to candidate choice, is the work ethos in which the potential recruit will be devoting the next few years of their life. In such a high-octane job, this work/life balance factor should not be underestimated.

So how can a website portray your company culture?

There is no substitute for experience, which is why a summer placement features so highly in the LWI list of factors determining firm choice. But for those who have not experienced the realities of life as a trainee lawyer or accountant, there are ways of giving potential recruits a taste of what they can expect. While the ‘milk-round’ and other such presentations and recruitment fairs are effective at making preliminary contact, many time-poor students found them to be ‘superficial’ and use the internet instead to research their career options. As such, special career microsites are now the norm rather than the exception. Yet the challenge for all companies is how to humanise themselves online, in the process making themselves unique and therefore more attractive to prospective candidates.

New media technology like Podcasts, blogs and video streams allow companies to showcase strengths such as training programmes, away day/team bonding exercises, variety of work undertaken, ‘buddy’ schemes, social life etc. Law firms have been very proactive at this element of the recruitment process, and as the Intendance Research ‘Fast Fifty 2007’ survey has discovered: “In more than one instance, the chief target of the website is now said to be potential recruits to the firm.”

It is no coincidence that the top two in the survey, Addleshaw Goddard and Wragge & Co, scored well on their website content; both have innovative and informative recruitment sections with new media features like Podcasts and blogs. These may be seen as rather gimmicky and superfluous to traditionalists, but their value often goes unnoticed. In today’s job market – where graduates can easily switch sectors – the professional services face competition from each other, not just from within. The LWI survey found that ‘only one-third of law students who are planning to become solicitors are not considering other careers’. High-calibre recruits want their working life to be intellectually stimulating and wide-ranging; demonstrate this online in an original way and your company will seem a more attractive place to work. For the ultra-keen student, RSS news feeds can supply up-to-date information that might actually help them with their degree or law course/banking/accountancy exams. Interact with your potential employees to get their attention: ask for their input on a case or test their knowledge of derivatives with an informal quiz or competition, and maybe a summer placement as a prize for the winner. Innovate and you will stimulate.

Don’t forget the small details, or experienced employees

Other essential website features include a clear equal opportunities statement, a speedy, user-friendly online application service, statements and/or adverts detailing performance in any Sunday Times or other such employer surveys, and up-to-date vacancy listings.

Although this applies less to law firms who traditionally focus on graduate recruitment and a high retention rate, keep the tone inclusive to attract qualified professionals looking for a new challenge in their field. This is particularly true in the asset management/investment banking sector where job migration is more pronounced. While this type of employee, with years of experience and qualifications, is more likely to be head-hunted or use a recruitment agency to find a new job, it is still worth tailoring your website to attract such talent. Again, innovate to stimulate; show how your company’s progressive outlook and motivating work ethos can give a jaded employee more responsibility and job satisfaction.

Use the internet to enhance your brand

Online recruitment may not replace more traditional avenues like newspaper and trade press adverts, direct company contact and word-of-mouth/social networking, but maximising your company website is an easy way to capitalise on your perception, or brand, among potential recruits and experienced employees looking to move.

Returning to the LWI survey, one respondent stated: “Talking to a trainee for five minutes is worth five hours looking at a firm’s website.” Now that is a bold and slightly damning statement for web managers everywhere, but by embracing the appropriate technology, your website can talk to, and attract as many potential recruits as you want.

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To find out more on how Intendance Research, Systems and Consulting can help your organisation, contact Fanni Vig on: (+44) 020 72427160