On today’s Inside Look by Brooks, Steve Brooks talks about employment opportunities at Brooks Law Group.
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Steve: Good afternoon, Steve Brooks here. Welcome to Friday’s Inside Look by Brooks. Today, we’re going to talk about Employment at Brooks Law Group. Currently, we have 30 staff members here – 4 different locations. Today, joining me is Laura Johnson our firm administrator and head of the HR Department. Today, we’re going to talk about the hiring process at Brooks Law Group! Laura, I’m glad you’re here!
Laura: Happy to be here!
Steve: Laura has an extensive background in HR and she’s been with us for about a year now, and she’s been a great shift in us in terms of our culture and hiring practices. Tell the audience a little bit about what you look for in the hiring process.
Laura: Well, preferably we look for somebody with a legal background. That’s advantageous for them and for us. We are looking for people with integrity, people with great character who want to come in and learn from the bottom up. We look for people who aren’t afraid to dig in deep and work hard and for those who want to further themselves in the firm. It’s pretty wide open really, again a legal background is advantageous, but not necessary – when you work in the clerical role, we’ll work with you on the law and how it applies to our firm and practice, and so it would be kind of what we’re looking for to start out with.
Steve: Well, thank you. Walk me through the process. Let’s say, I’m looking for a job in Tampa/Winter Haven. What do I do? How do I start?
Laura: Great Question! What I would have you do is start with the website. If you go to brookslawgroup.com, you can then look to our employment division for an opportunity to apply. It would then take you through the application process. You can submit a role specific application if there’s a current role available. If there’s not a current role open, you can submit a general application and provide all of your personal information to us. Based on that, if we’re interested, we’ll reach out to you.
Steve: So is it done in the office or over the phone? How does that process work?
Laura: Perfect question! We start with a phone interview, so if you’re a person of interest, we’ll contact you via phone to set up a time with you. We want to get to know a little about you, but we also want you to get to know us. We’re going to talk about our core values – we’re looking for a good fit for our culture. If we’re on the same page, we’ll offer you an on-site interview. Ideally, you would get to sit down with someone in the role you’re pursuing. We like to incorporate an employee from that role. You would then meet with myself. We then have a testing process: role specific and general high school test – math, alphabetization, reading comprehension – so we can see where you stand to take on responsibilities and tasks to completion.
Steve: Thank you! That’s good. So, right now, we’re in Winter Haven, but we do have an office that’s fully staffed in Tampa. For people applying for the Tampa office, would they still come to Winter Haven?
Laura: No, that’s a great question. If it’s necessary for you to meet with us in our Tampa office that would definitely be something we would want to do, so you can see the offices there and get to know the staff, because that’s ultimately where you’re going to be working.
Steve: Okay! So, once I come in for the interview, is there any testing that happens.
Laura: Yes, yes. That would be the initial interview, we’re going to do the initial test, but we’re going to do additional testing. In order to qualify for employment, we would send you for a drug screen. In addition to drug screening, we do criminal background screenings and we do financial screening – we want to see you for who we are. We work in a very transparent culture and we want to know everything you’re bringing forward. We want to know you well, as well as you want to know us well, so you can make the best decision as it comes to building a relationship of employment.
Steve: Any other testing?
Laura: I think just the role specific test and the high school test, it’s kind of intimidating, but it’s really not that big of a deal.
Steve: I think one of the tests we do, actually is… kind of determines their personality.
Laura: Yes, thank you very much. I guess I don’t consider that much of a test: the leading dimensions profile is a very interesting survey of an individual and their personality – that allows us to see where you are in terms of relating to different people types.
Steve: So, yeah. I’ve really found – I call it a personality test, you call it a survey – is that there’s no right or wrong answer. It just gives us an opportunity to look behind the scenes and see how you’re wired . For me I’m not a morning person – I make an effort to come in, but they know I’m not a morning person, so they give me a little leeway. That kind of thing helps for us to all have an understanding about each other. Anything else you’d like to add?
Laura: Well, I would love to invite you to check out our website. I encourage you, even if you’re not looking for a job, to click on that applicant poll and see what it invites you into. We’re always hiring! So, play with our systems – send me a message, let me respond. Let’s communicate! If you know anyone with experience, looking for a job: send them our way.
Steve: Thank you, Laura. That was very helpful! I look forward to having you here next Friday at 3:00 for Inside Look by Brooks. Thank you!
