The purpose of this role is to lead the recruitment and development of the firm’s early careers talent cohort (e.g., summer interns, solicitor apprentices and trainees).
The individual has responsibility for creating and rolling out the early career’s strategy. Their role encompasses leading the delivery of the firmwide strategic attraction, sourcing, development, training, and people brand of the early career’s population across the London office.
The role will work closely with business leaders, partners, global HR Business Partners, the Global Head of Recruitment & UK and external providers. This is to ensure they are leading and driving an innovative early careers strategy for Freshfields which encompasses inclusivity by attracting a diverse workforce so that Freshfields is accessible to all whilst maintaining a high performing intake.
The role manages the UK early careers team which is split across two locations (London and Manchester).

Role

• Oversee the recruitment and development of summer interns, solicitor apprentices and trainee associates at the firm and takes full ownership of overseeing the firm’s trainee and apprenticeship programmes
• Manage all early careers policies and oversee the delivery of core processes to the trainee lifecycle. This includes leveraging performance management tools, processes, and technology to facilitate a more robust feedback and development culture
• Manage and develop the firm’s new apprenticeship programme strategy, including the development of the structure of the scheme, the marketing strategy, along with ensuring a seamless recruitment and hiring process
• Implement and lead a highly reputable university and school leaver liaison programme which assists the firm in attracting, recruiting, and developing the very best talent available in the undergraduate and graduate markets
• Oversee the firm’s early careers marketing strategy, working with internal and external stakeholders to create an engaging campaign for a diverse cohort of future early talent. Raise the firm’s profile by reinforcing the employer brand and its reputation to a diverse external market.
• Ensure a seamless and measurable early careers recruitment process and experience aligned to the firm’s people and talent strategies.
• Ensure that diversity is at the forefront of the agenda and working collaboratively with internal networks and external providers to delivery a diverse cohort of early careers talent.
• Understands existing early careers talent challenges across the firm including skills requirements and how the early careers team can support to resolve these
• Lead, develop and ensure internal buy-in to the early careers strategy. This requires engaging with senior stakeholders e.g., partners and senior managers
• Act as a subject matter expert on early careers across attraction, selection and development, ensuring Freshfields is at the forefront of the early careers market
• Develop and sustain strong business relationships with partners and senior managers across all practice groups by giving professional advice and becoming a trusted advisor on all early talent matters
• Have a significant insight into industry trends, best practices, benchmarks and proven models to inform decisions and influence partners and senior managers on the early careers strategy, policies, processes and practices and is able to lead and drive stakeholder buy in
• Lead events on behalf of the firm and delivering presentations, workshops and case studies as required
• Manage the budget and analyse spend (e.g., sponsorship and advertising, cost per hire, time to hire) to ensure effective deployment of funds whilst finding cost effective methods of attracting, developing and training the early careers population. Escalates any risks from both a fiscal and headcount perspective.
• Ensure regulatory compliance (e.g., SRA regulations and overseeing SRA-required processes)
• Utilise global HR technology (Workday) to analyze people data, interpret key themes and ensure that we are meeting our diversity targets.

Team

• Accountable for day-to-day leadership and management for the early careers team that mirrors the Being Freshfields values
• Motivate and lead a high-performing team across two locations

• Lead (and design if necessary) relevant professional, technical and business training for the team
• Develops team members to deliver their full potential through regular feedback, appraisals, recognition, support and ongoing management of personal development objectives

Key Requirements

Essential

• Significant previous experience in early careers recruitment and development in the legal or professional services sectors
• Previous experience working within a business facing HR role
• Good understanding of the different routes to admission as a solicitor and of the SQE
• Good understanding of workforce related employment laws and regulations and managing employee relations cases
• Analytical and able to use data to measure success and construct improvement strategies
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to listen, clarify and share information easily
• Experience of managing and developing a high-performing team, ideally across multiple locations and remotely
• Strong people management and relationship building skills to influence key stakeholders and leadership
• Advocate for working collaboratively across the HR community to strengthen the function’s reputation and its relationship with the business
• Excellent planning and project management ability
• A diplomatic and adaptable working style, works collaboratively with colleagues and demonstrates an empathetic approach when dealing with others
• Dedicated to meeting and exceeding expectations with a commitment to the highest level of integrity
• Resilient and able to remain calm and positive under pressure and when dealing with ambiguity
• Experience of using HR technology/systems (Workday – desirable)
• Proficient English language skills

Desirable

• CIPD qualification or equivalent
• Experience of driving and participating in large scale HR and organisational transformations
• Good project management skills