Thursday, September 27, 2007

Law firms recruit through YouTube

Following on from the theme of my previous post on law firms and Facebook, here is the requisite nod to the other big internet phenomenon. In this tightly competitive market for legal employment, firms are turning to the video-sharing site YouTube as part of their recruitment strategy. From an article in the Herald Tribune, we learn that:

Several firms are trying to parlay that discovery into a hiring tool, creating recruiting videos and Web sites with the look and feel of YouTube. They hope to persuade students that their lawyers and, by extension, the firms, are young-thinking and hip.

(What is it about using the word 'hip' that automatically proves that you are, in fact, not...)

Brian Dalton, from Vault.com, is quoted saying that "A lot of them come off seeming like hostage videos,", which is actually pretty accurate from the videos I've seen. The exception being the Choate Hall & Stewart videos, which take of the Mac v PC ads by taking a swipe at the ominous "Megafirm".

Sure, it's not likely that "Megafirm" will come up with a snappy response to these adds, but that's also the point illustrated here. They don't need to turn to these marketing exercises because, for now, they don't have to 'recruit' anybody...

See. 'Old-line law firms join the YouTube generation to recruit students' [IHT]