The Role
Lead recruitment and early careers programs across the firm, managing sourcing, stakeholder relationships, applicant tracking, recruitment partners, trainee lifecycle activities, legal recruitment events, university relationships, and apprenticeship processes. The role supports talent attraction strategy, recruitment reporting, onboarding, and the full legal trainee journey through qualification and admission.
Summary Generated by Built In
We are seeking an experienced and proactive Recruitment & Early Careers Manager to join our HR team on a 12-month fixed-term contract to cover maternity leave.
This is an exciting opportunity to lead our recruitment and early careers programmes, ensuring we continue to attract, recruit and develop exceptional talent across the firm. You'll work closely with partners, hiring managers and the wider HR team to deliver an outstanding candidate experience while supporting our long-term talent strategy.
The role offers the flexibility to work remotely, with monthly attendance at one of our regional offices for various recruitment and early careers meetings and events and key stakeholder engagement.
Key Responsibilities
Recruitment
- Deliver a quality and consistent recruitment experience to all the firms functions throughout all aspects of the hiring process from sourcing to onboarding.
- Build & maintain relationships with internal stakeholders at all levels, providing advice and support during the recruitment process.
- Contribute to the development of the firm’s talent attraction strategy.
- Develop and maintain the firm’s applicant tracking system.
- Carry out direct sourcing through various avenues (e.g., LinkedIn, market mapping, utilisation of talent pipeline, networking, adverts etc.).
- Manage the recruitment PSL, and nurture relationships with external recruitment partners.
Early Careers
- Responsible for the full trainee lifecycle, from attraction, recruitment and assessment, through to onboarding, seat rotation, qualification and admission.
- Oversee arrangements for law fairs, open days, and other external recruitment events.
- Develop relationships with university/college/school careers services.
- Support the Head of HR with the design and implementation of the recruitment process for legal and non-legal apprentices.
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
This role would best suit someone with exposure to legal recruitment and ideally an early careers background, with demonstrable knowledge of the routes to legal qualification (LPC/SQE/CILEX) and various apprenticeship routes and requirements. You will also have:
- Familiarity with recruitment applicant tracking systems, preferably Pinpoint.
- The ability to track and analyse recruitment data for reporting purposes.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
- Strong stakeholder management skills.
- A flexible and proactive approach.
- Excellent organisational skills with the ability to prioritise your workload.
- A keen eye for detail and accuracy.
Benefits
In addition to a competitive salary, you will also get:
- Flexible Working
- 25 days holiday, plus Bank Holidays
- Extra Day of Holiday for your Birthday
- Private Healthcare
- Pension Scheme(s)
- Life Assurance
- Eye Tests
- Flu Jabs
- Corporate Gym Membership Discounts
- Legal Support
- Opportunities to get involved with charity fundraising, sports teams and office socials
About
Porter Dodson is an award-winning Top 200 UK Law Firm, providing commercial and private legal services to individuals and businesses across Somerset, Devon and Dorset.We're proud of a regional presence that gives clients the local connections and friendly in-person service they love. Being embedded in our local communities and market sectors gives our clients a superb service grounded in the real world.What makes Porter Dodson a great place to work is our people and our culture. Our team are the lifeblood of the firm, and we are fully committed to ensuring our team are motivated, well cared for, and fulfilling their potential at work. Our people are our priority, which is why we have such excellent staff retention rates and how we have sustained a gold accreditation from Investors in People since 2016.
Skills Required
- Experience or exposure to legal recruitment
- Experience or background in early careers recruitment
- Knowledge of routes to legal qualification, including LPC, SQE, and CILEX
- Knowledge of apprenticeship routes and requirements
- Familiarity with recruitment applicant tracking systems, preferably Pinpoint
- Ability to track and analyse recruitment data for reporting
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Strong stakeholder management skills
- Flexible and proactive approach
- Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills
- Strong attention to detail and accuracy
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The Company
What We Do
Porter Dodson is a full-service law firm providing expert legal advice and support across personal, business, and specialist sectors, helping clients navigate everything from family matters to corporate transactions.
