Insights from Early Adopters on Streamlining Summer Associate Programs and Embracing User-Friendly Solutions
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP (Fried Frank), a distinguished global law firm renowned for its commitment to excellence in legal services, stands as a beacon of innovation in the legal industry. In this case study, we delve into Fried Frank's strategic journey, where they harnessed Flo Recruit Work Allocation to optimize its summer associate program management while tackling a busy fall recruitment season. Explore how Fried Frank achieved tangible efficiency gains, enhanced participant satisfaction, and unlocked unparalleled productivity by strategically utilizing Flo Recruit's innovative solution.
TL;DR — Benefits and Strategic Success of Fried Frank's Use of Flo Recruit's Work Allocation:
To gain deeper insights into Fried Frank's experience and the impact of Flo Recruit's solution, we spoke with four of Fried Frank’s recruitment team, who were closely involved in the implementation process and leveraging Work Allocation with their 2023 summer associate class.
Q - Flo Recruit: What factors influenced Fried Frank's decision to adopt Flo Recruit Work Allocation?
A - Christine Sabbio, Senior Attorney Recruitment and Development Coordinator: Our firm was transitioning to a new applicant tracking system, but unfortunately, it didn't include a work allocation feature. During this process, we were phasing out our legacy legal recruitment tool, and needed a user-friendly solution to replace the work allocation functionality.
We needed a way to assign work, have attorneys submit work, and have a platform that gave us the ability to house things in a database. We were excited to get in as an early access partner when we learned Flo Recruit had a Work Allocation product.
Q - Flo Recruit: Why was implementing a robust work allocation system crucial for Fried Frank’s summer program?
A - Megan Lesser, Manager of Lateral Recruitment: Well, it served two primary purposes. First, for our attorneys, it needed to be user-friendly to minimize the time and effort required to submit work requests.
Second, from our end, we needed it for smooth tracking to efficiently assign and monitor workloads, who needs work or certain kinds of work, etc. We could also see which of our summer associates had worked with which of our attorneys and how many times to ensure we can collect evaluations. All of this ultimately feeds into our recruitment committee's processes.
A - Justina Gonzalez Fabrizio, Director of Lateral Recruitment: Work Allocation was not just integral to giving our attorneys a way to submit requests for work, but also keeping them in the loop and creating a culture of communication by letting them know their requests had been received, assigned, and who they’d be working with from our summer associates.
A - Christina: Work Allocation not only gave us a central place where all work is tracked but also made reporting easy. We’d get requests to understand how many summer associates were working on tax cases or litigation matters, and we were able to use Work Allocation to pull that information quickly. If those associates receive an offer to join Fried Frank as first-year associates, we're often asked about who they worked with during their summer program to list on their bar application. So, besides aiding in the smooth operation of our summer program, Work Allocation's tracking feature also assists our graduates as they enter the legal profession.
Q - Flo Recruit: How did summer associates respond to the implementation of Flo Recruit's work allocation system?
A - Christina: They found it to be an efficient tool for tracking their work and managing assignments. They could see which attorneys they were working with, the nature of their tasks, and other relevant details, all in one place. It streamlined their workflow and eliminated the need for manual tracking methods. This not only improved their experience but also provided us with valuable tools to monitor their progress without resorting to cumbersome Word documents or spreadsheets.
Q - Flo Recruit: How was the new work allocation system introduced and explained to attorneys, and how did they respond?
A - Christina: We introduced and educated attorneys about the new work allocation system with relative ease. Given our existing system, there wasn't a significant buy-in process required. Attorneys were already familiar with our previous system, which shared similarities with Flo Recruit's solution. The transition was relatively seamless, with minor adjustments required initially. Once those were addressed, our attorneys had no trouble adapting to the new system.
Q - Flo Recruit: How did Flo Recruit support the management of your summer program while handling other recruitment tasks simultaneously? Particularly the planning for fall recruitment.
A - Nancy Parker, Director of Attorney Recruitment: Flo Recruit's flexibility and responsiveness were instrumental during our busy summer program. Knowing the summer associate program assignments were handled in one spot and under control using Flo Recruit allowed us to focus our efforts on fall recruitment.
A - Megan: The system gave us a great tool to stay organized, but one that wasn’t a ton of work or overhead for us to manage. We could pretty seamlessly manage assignments, ensuring everything was consolidated in one place. Once we made some tweaks to our process to account for the change in software, we quickly gained momentum.
A - Justina: Megan and I are typically on the lateral recruitment team, but we jump in as needed to handle the summer program. Work Allocation was incredibly user-friendly. I was a little nervous about needing to learn a new system, but it was very easy to use and I could get up and running doing what I needed to pretty quickly to be effective in helping the teams.
Q - Flo Recruit: What factors influenced your decision to trust Flo Recruit in managing such a substantial summer associate class as early adopters of Work Allocation?
A - Nancy: Flo Recruit is so open to providing the best possible product to the client and is very receptive to the needs of the client. That approach and philosophy made us willing to take the leap as an early adopter.
A - Christina: Flo Recruit's system proved invaluable, especially during a critical time for our firm. We really needed a work allocation tool that was going to work seamlessly for our large summer associate class. Flo Recruit knew what we needed, and while there were some minor challenges initially, the support and functionality provided by Flo Recruit ensured a smooth transition. Its user-friendly nature made it easy for both seasoned employees and newcomers to adapt, contributing to the overall success of our summer program and recruitment efforts. As someone who was in it every single day, it worked, and that’s what we needed.
Learn More: Discover the Benefits of Work Allocation
Curious about how Work Allocation can impact your recruitment processes? Dive deeper into its advantages and transformative potential in our latest blog post. Click here to learn more or book some time to speak with us about getting Work Allocation for your team.