In-House Legal Job Market Update Video – August 2024
Transcript:
Hello, this is Andrew Murdoch from Dovetail Legal Solutions. With a August 2024 in-house legal job market update. There are three main takeaways.
The first takeaway is that although the job market has been softening over the past 12 months and there are now 15% fewer job ads than what there were 12 months ago. This has to be taken into a broader context, and that it’s coming off a very large high post-COVID, the job ad rate and indeed the unemployment rate are still better than what they were pre-COVID. Additionally, we’ve historically seen the months between September and December as the busiest time of the year for us. We typically almost place twice as many people in that period as what we do during the beginning of the year.
The second takeaway is that there are almost twice the number of in-house lawyers with more than 6 years experience looking to leave their job now than what there were 12 months ago. That rate has risen from around 15% to 30% in the last 12 months. Some of that can be put down to people looking to move jobs for a higher salary, to compensate for increased, living cost expenses.
The third takeaway is that while there’s been an increase in lawyers with more than 6 years experience looking to change jobs, there has been a decrease in active candidates. Active candidates are those candidates that look on job sites like LinkedIn and Seek and are applying for jobs and really actively pushing out there through the market. Passive candidates are ones that would like to change jobs, but are really waiting to be contacted about those roles. They’re the passive candidates. I liken this to, a donut. Would I like a donut? Yes. Am I prepared to leave the office, go down to find a café, buy a donut, and come back to the office and eat it? Perhaps not. But if that doughnut was put to me, on a plate in front of me, would I eat that? Gladly.
If you have any queries or would like to know more about the job market or about resourcing a lawyer for your team, please give us a call at Dovetail Legal Solutions. Thank you.
