Photo: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.comCompanies have been finding some creative ways to meet with corporate counsel candidates during the COVID-19 outbreak. One had a private jet waiting to whisk off its chief lawyer finalist to corporate headquarters. Another wanted to connect with a potential hire at the local airport, which might not have been the best idea. Others held meetings in the parking lot outside corporate headquarters, standing at least six feet apart, of course.
“It’s not an easy time to close executive searches. It’s not impossible, but generally people want to meet in person, and you can’t really do that right now,” said Sonya Som, a partner at Chicago-based executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles.
Som, who was working to finalize a general counsel search in early April, noted that jobs requiring relocation are a much harder sell during coronavirus times. Candidates who were OK with moving across the country a few months ago are having second thoughts because they want to stick closer to home and their families.
“Everybody’s trying to make sense of this new reality,” she said. “The market depends on people feeling secure enough to make changes. The whole recruiting world depends on companies saying, ‘This is a good time for us to make a hire,’ and candidates saying, ‘This is a good time for me to make a change.’”
Based on talks with in-house recruiters, it seems that social distancing and financial distress amid the coronavirus outbreak has, as would be expected, complicated and slowed hiring. But that’s not to say the job market for in-house counsel is entirely bleak. Depending on the industry, companies are still hiring in-house for a range of lower, mid-level and top positions.
Businesses that aren’t doing much hiring right now are in industries that have been hit hard by stay-at-home orders—retail, hospitality and restaurant businesses, for instance—and also have had major layoffs of hourly employees. But those companies might still have to fill critical roles, such as chief legal officer positions.
“Even in tough times, companies need board members, CEOs and general counsels,” Som said. “These are essential roles. Then the question becomes timing.”
Some corporate counsel who were set to begin new jobs have had their start dates postponed. John Gilmore, co-founder and managing partner of recruitment firm BarkerGilmore in New York, placed an in-house leader who was slated to start a new job recently but the hiring company pushed the start date to June.
“The business didn’t need it that badly because they had someone in place in an interim role,” he said. “The person told me that their current company—they’d already given their notice—was happy as heck to have them stick around through the crisis.”
Indeed, heading for the exit and leaving a company without an in-house leader during a pandemic might not be the best move, depending on the circumstances, noted Som.
“Frankly, I would look askance and my clients would be giving side-eye to any general counsel that said, ‘Yes, I am the GC for this company that’s on the front lines of the COVID-19 response, but let’s set all that aside and talk about my new job,’” she said.
While it’s probably not the best time to launch an aggressive job hunt, COVID-19 presents in-house counsel with an opportunity to connect with recruiters and build relationships that might serve them well in the future.
“I’m enjoying this time being sheltered in my home,” Gilmore said. “I have more time to have conversations with people who say, ‘I’m not active, but I definitely want to be on your radar in case an opportunity presents itself.’ I’m having four or five calls with sitting GCs a day.”
Welcome aboard, here’s your pay cut
Questions about pay also are likely to arise, especially for top lawyers joining companies that have implemented austerity measures.
“Even if a company is adding head count, that doesn’t necessarily address whether there will be pay cuts implemented for senior-level officers at those companies,” said Lee Udelsman, managing partner of Major, Lindsey & Africa’s New Jersey office and leader of the firm’s in-house counsel recruiting.
Many companies across various industries have announced sweeping pay cuts for executives, including top lawyers. The Walt Disney Co., Ford Motor Co., MGM Resorts, McDonald’s Corp., FedEx Corp., United Airlines Inc. and General Electric Co. are just a few among a long and growing list of major companies that have cut or suspended executive pay.
“I think the expectation is that you might have been hired at one salary but for the next couple of quarters you’re going to be paid at a reduced rate in conjunction with the other members of the leadership team,” Udelsman said.
He added, “While these pay cuts are probably not necessarily impactful on the bottom line, especially for multimillion-dollar companies, it’s intended to be a symbolic gesture that the pain associated with COVID-19 should be felt equally among the workforce.”
Take your laptop and go home
In late March, Gilmore helped place two mid-level in-house lawyers, one went to a large manufacturing company, and the other joined a big-box home improvement store. Both began their new jobs remotely. The lawyer for the big-box store showed up at corporate headquarters and was given a laptop and sent back to her apartment, where she went to work.
“The mid-level people are still taking these jobs, and they’re in great positions to start remotely,” Gilmore said.
Onboarding top lawyers during a pandemic is a bit trickier as they’re more likely to be expected to meet with executives in person. Gilmore has been running general counsel searches for two companies—one, based in Florida, initially wanted to use video conferencing to speak with candidates before bringing finalists on-site.
“Then that got turned into, ‘OK, maybe we’ll meet and do social distancing at the Orlando airport.’ But who knows if we’ll be able to get anyone to the airport,” he said. “I have a client that is very actively looking for their new GC and they don’t want the coronavirus to get in the way of delaying it. But obviously the person has to come and meet people in person. You can’t do everything by video.”
At this point, though, most companies that hadn’t already embraced video-conferencing are, at the very least, warming to the technology. Udelsman reported that the majority of his clients are conducting interviews remotely.
“The reality is that this has just become part of the business convention today,” he said. “There’s very little apprehension to do these meetings virtually.”
The widespread use of video-conferencing has been a godsend for Gilmore, who reported that his working life has actually gotten easier. He doesn’t have to fly all over the country speaking with top-level in-house candidates. He’s also getting a better sense of the in-house candidates he’s speaking with by video conference, rather than by phone.
“I’m making sure that I’m connecting with people that are the right fit for my clients. We’re hitting home runs right away, versus putting somebody in who you think is going to be a grand slam and they just don’t deliver,” he said.
“It’s not easy to see those soft skills if you’re not meeting in person or over video,” he added. “I think this is going to be the wave of the future and ultimately save a lot of organizations a lot of money and a lot of time.”
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