“How can we help your law department?” has been the tag line in the signature section of my emails for many years.
A little refresher on how I tick: I love conferences, business lunches, in-person order taking, celebrations and charity galas. If you are a client or a candidate we have placed, I can see you smiling with understanding. So, as you might imagine, sheltering in place has been killing me. In fact, I couldn’t do it. I am working three shifts a week now as a volunteer at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. I have no medical training, so frankly this is the only proactive thing I can do without incurring the wrath of social guilt.
So back to the tag line. I have been fortunate to enjoy a quirky, rewarding and at times lucrative career as a recruiter. I don’t expect Evers Legal will be flooded with new orders anytime soon. That will come back, in forms old and new, in due time. Right now, the moment calls for helping in whatever forms that can take.
And while my skill set out in the real world may be limited to repacking boxes of macaroni and cheese, there is something I can offer to any of our law department clients if needed. Some of our clients will face reduction-in-force choices that become unavoidable. For any current or past client company, I offer my help pro bono as a subject matter expert outplacement counselor.
Outplacement is an activity I have avoided, partly because I view it as a conflict of interest with our core business. If paid to counsel an individual attorney, then I would feel ethically obligated to favor that person above other candidates when recruiting to fill an open order. Moreover, doing it right is time consuming. In these unique times, however, and especially in a pro bono context, this is the way I can help where needed.
There is a qualifier: I offer this help to any company that has ever been a client of Evers Legal. I don’t have the bandwith to do quality outplacement work without that qualifier. For non-clients, I can gladly offer referrals to an excellent outplacement firm. Usually the cost of an outplacement firm at this level is $10,000 or more. Doing it right entails much more than just glancing at a resume and changing a bullet point. Normally, it includes in-person counseling. I realize that normal is a moving target, and therefore we adapt and do what we need to do … virtually.
Please email [email protected] to follow-up on behalf of your company if you would like more information. Be well.