Recruiter Series: Zach Blunck

You were previously with Netflix supporting their legal hiring as a Recruiter Researcher. How did your experience with in-house recruiting prepare you for law firm recruiting?

Working in-house gave me the skills I needed to communicate and partner with different hiring stakeholders across the business. As an agency recruiter, you work with a number of different firms, each of which have their own business needs and timelines. My previous roles also had an emphasis on candidate experience. Now that I am on this side of the house, I get to apply those learnings in a different way because I work directly with candidates and their job search.

In your experience - what are the biggest differences you’ve seen between in-house legal hiring vs law firm? 

I touched on this previously, but the biggest difference is partnering with a number of different firms, each with their own unique culture, needs, and hiring process.  When you work in-house, you are supporting the growth of multiple teams within one company.

What question(s) are most frequently asked by your candidates? What are the main drivers for candidates starting their searches?

When I first speak to a candidate, one of the most frequent questions I get are regarding their options - what does the market look like for them right now?  While there are always unique circumstances, candidate’s generally move for one (or a combination) of four reasons: compensation, hours, type of work, or culture.

What do you enjoy most about being a recruiter, and about working for Swan Legal Search?

The people!  Swan Legal Search has always been focused on genuine, long-term relationships; both with candidates and firms. As a recruiter, there is nothing like being able to help one of our partnering firms fill a role they’ve had open for months with the right candidate; whether it’s through me or another team member.

Outside of SLS, what do you like to do in your free time?

One of the things I love most about SF is the food!  I’m always scoping out the next place to try. My ideal weekend would be going surfing at Ocean Beach, spending a day at the park with friends, and finding a new place to try for dinner.

Read Zach’s full bio and get in touch with him here.