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I’m a first year at a big law firm in a niche practice area. A recruiter reached out to me about an international opportunity (think London or Hong Kong) with a big law firm. The position lists the role as 1-3 years experience. I was very interested in the opportunity as I’m kind of over the city I’m in and would love the chance to live abroad. I don’t dislike my firm, but don’t really like it either as I feel like training has been lacking. My experience lines up well with the new role as it is a very specific area and they want a US admitted attorney with big law experience.

Anyways the recruiter was pretty unresponsive. I spoke with him over the phone once and sent him my resume, which he supposedly forwarded, but otherwise he just sends one sentence emails and I have needed to be the one reaching out to him for updates. After I finally reached out for a second time, he said that the firm has decided they are actually looking for someone with 2-3 years experience, so it’s a no for now, but may change because they want someone with big firm experience and it is difficult to find someone willing to move. I was honestly very surprised to not even get a phone interview. Just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me because my experience lines up really well considering there’s only a few big firms that do work in this type of practice area. With the way the recruiter acted, I honestly feel like he didn’t do much on my behalf.

After I sent the recruiter my resume, I saw that an alum from my school actually works in the office in the same practice group I was looking at. Is it bad to kind of go behind the recruiter and reach out to the alum? If I do reach out, should I inquire about the position and say a recruiter reached out to me, but said you were looking for someone with 2-3 years experience, so keep me in mind in the future type thing or should I just phrase it as reaching out for networking?

Also, if I did end up seeking out this opportunity, how mad would my current firm be about me leaving so soon? Likely would move around December because of logistics if I got the job, so would have only been at my current firm for a little over a year. Will I have burned that bridge with no chance of coming back if I decided to move back after a few years?

Getbywithalittehelp wrote:
After I sent the recruiter my resume, I saw that an alum from my school actually works in the office in the same practice group I was looking at. Is it bad to kind of go behind the recruiter and reach out to the alum? If I do reach out, should I inquire about the position and say a recruiter reached out to me, but said you were looking for someone with 2-3 years experience, so keep me in mind in the future type thing or should I just phrase it as reaching out for networking?

Also, if I did end up seeking out this opportunity, how mad would my current firm be about me leaving so soon? Likely would move around December because of logistics if I got the job, so would have only been at my current firm for a little over a year. Will I have burned that bridge with no chance of coming back if I decided to move back after a few years?

To your first point quoted above - same thing happened to me when I was trying to lateral. First, it's not "bad" to go behind the back of the recruiter - f*** recruiters. Second, is your plan to reach out to the alum and say "hey i'm trying to lateral and a recruiter submitted my resume to your firm, would love to chat about the position, your practice, the firm, etc." and hope he passes on a good word to recruiting? Or is you plan to pretend the recruiter didn't submit you and hope that the alum will submit your resume for you? If the latter, I can tell you it won't work. The recruiting dept already has your resume and it's tied to that recruiter for at least 6 months. They have to pay him the commission regardless of how they hire you.

To your second point - I dont think so, as long as you have a good reputation. I lateraled after 1.5 years. All the partners told me I'd be welcome to come back and I genuinely believed them. If you were a good associate, it's always easier for the firm to replace you with you a few months down the road if you decide to come back than to find a lateral candidate.

I’ve been in a similar position. Recruiter and I spoke twice for 30 minutes each. I sent him my resume and stuff. Then he responded once then never responded again. I emailed again and he just seems to ignore my emails. It’s so dumb because I have the grades for these jobs and I just was too lazy to write a cover letter and relied on a useless recruiter. I don’t even k ow if he mass applied without my permission (aka screwing me over).

Anyway, I think recruiters at a minimum have 3 months, so you’d have to mention that to your contact.

Honestly I’ve yet to see a recruiter that actually worth a dime. They usually ask for your resume and often time you never hear back from them again. I’ve had recruiters that supposedly sent my resume to this and that firm and that was the end of it. Often time these recruiters don’t have the “unlisted” positions they claim they do.

There are good recruiters out there. There are bad ones. I used the same recruiter twice a few years apart. The first time they were great, super attentive, pushing me and going after things I wanted. The second time they were inattentive and only seemed interested in referring me to firms or geographic areas I'd explicitly said I wasn't interested in. If that kind of variance can happen in the same person's performance, the difference between individuals can be huge. It's important to do your dilegence where you can.

A good recruiter is a very valuable asset. But a bad one will be a neutral at best and might actually harm your chances, both now and in the future, by spamming your resume, making you appear uninterested in jobs, etc. If you feel uncomfortable with one, I'd talk with them and see what's up, but don't be afraid to cut ties if you're not getting what you want.