I like innovative ideas. I like ideas that approach practical problems in a different way and, I have to admit, I like Just Go Direct. I received an email from Catherine Naylor, the brains behind Just Go Direct yesterday, asking if she could advertise on my online magazine to promote her new business. I telephoned Catherine and had a fairly long chat.
The legal newspapers and periodicals advertise jobs regularly. More often than not the jobs are advertised not by the law firms or organisations themselves but by recruitment agencies. I did not use recruitment agencies when I recruited for lecturers and administrators at BPP Law School when I was the CEO back in the 90s. There were two reasons. First, it was an expensive way of going about things and, secondly, I wanted to have control of ‘the process’, as Lord Sugar now calls it on The Apprentice. I did not want a recruitment consultant filtering or shaping my recruitment strategy. In today’s internet age, there really is no need to go through an agency – so long as there is an online medium to go through with good traffic. Just Go Direct, which opens in early 2011, has the potential to provide just such a vehicle; allowing law firms to advertise their vacancies and candidates to apply direct.
Just Go Direct is different. They advertise the jobs available, clearly identifying the employer and candidates apply direct. Firms may tailor their package with Just Go Direct (Download the brochure here for details).
Catherine Naylor explained the rationale to me…
“The light bulb moment came randomly one day whilst interviewing a lawyer for a potential opportunity. I asked as all recruiters do whether she had put herself forward to any firms via other agencies. She replied that she hadn’t but had gone direct to a number of firms. That’s when I realised there was an opportunity. To post jobs directly from the employer online in one place, giving candidates transparency and choice. I knew most legal job boards were filled with agency jobs and that it was frustrating for job seekers when looking at these jobs because you couldn’t see who the employer was, you had to go through the agency. I spent the next few months researching the concept, spoke to lawyers finding out whether they would use such a site……”
Due to launch early in 2011, the website is taking email details from those who wish to receive information when it opens. I have no doubt at all that this concept will work. It seems to me that law firms will find the process easier and it must be a benefit, surely, for candidates to be able to contact a law firm direct without having to go through some ‘target billables hungry’ recruitment consultant?
As Catherine Naylor says… “This is an online tool for candidates who are actively looking for a new role and those that want to take control of their own career moves Just Go Direct is certainly for them. For a start law firms want you to apply direct, many say it makes for a better relationships and a truer fit between employer and candidate. It’s a smoother ride for all involved…Power to the Candidate, I say.”
PS: I am, obviously, delighted that Catherine Naylor is sponsoring my FREE online materials for law students
An excellent idea deserving of success.
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OK, I’m a headhunter and so I clearly have a highly subjective view. There are a few of these sites now and that’s because they make good sense in many ways: ostensibly they can save firms money by cutting out the middle man (me!). I get it. I could make a few points, but I’ll limit myself to two;
1. In many (not all) cases, applicants prefer to deal with a third party recruiter. That’s because we can protect their confidentiality, can cover much of the market for them with minimal effort on their part and we can offer counsel and help broker the offer. As such, sites like these will only attract a portion of the talent pool.
2. Some companies/firms/organisations are really, really bad at recruitment! An industry figure recently conducted an experiment whereby they acted as a candidate and sent “their CV” directly to 100 companies. Only three deigned to reply. Some companies just can’t cope with direct applicants.
These sites make sense, have a place and definitely have a future, but clients should use them as part of a blended approach to recruitment; and candidates will learn that these sites are not truly representative of all the opportunities out there, particularly as there are still instances (and there will be increasingly more as the market continues to improve) where roles are created for strong people without there necessarily being a vacancy.