Recruitment assistant

The firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is one of the world’s leading international law firms. The Firm was established in 1884 and has more than 2,000 lawyers. Headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Palo Alto, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., the Firm provides coordinated legal advice and transactional capability to clients around the globe.

Description/Job Summary

An opportunity to build your career in recruitment at an elite global law firm. We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly organised Recruitment Assistant to join our London Recruitment team. This is an excellent opportunity for someone at the beginning of their career, or someone with some initial recruitment or professional-services experience who is ready to take the next step. You will join a busy, collaborative team and gain hands-on exposure to recruitment within a global law firm, supporting the hiring of both lawyers and business services professionals. This is far more than a purely administrative position. Strong organisation and attention to detail are essential, but we are equally interested in someone who is curious, proactive and keen to learn. We want someone who will get the fundamentals right, while developing the confidence to contribute ideas, improve the way we work and take on greater responsibility as their experience grows.

The role offers exposure to the full recruitment lifecycle, including candidate attraction, interview coordination, recruitment agency relationships, offers and onboarding. You will work with a broad range of people, from candidates and external recruiters to Partners, Associates, hiring managers and colleagues across the firm's wider HR team. For the right person, this is an opportunity to develop a strong foundation for a career in recruitment and HR within the legal sector.

Responsibilities/Duties

Working with the Associate Director, you will help deliver the day-to-day legal and business services recruitment activity for our London office. From the outset, you will have the opportunity to see how recruitment works from beginning to end, rather than focusing on just one part of the process. Your responsibilities will include:

• Recruitment and candidate experience
• Coordinating interviews and liaising with Partners, Associates, hiring managers and other key internal stakeholders.
• Acting as a professional and welcoming point of contact for candidates throughout the recruitment process.
• Liaising with recruitment agencies and other external recruitment partners.
• Supporting the recruitment lifecycle from initial application and first-stage interview through to selection, offer and onboarding.
• Responding to candidate enquiries promptly and professionally.
• Supporting the advertising of vacancies and helping ensure opportunities are presented effectively to the market.
• Arranging references, pre-employment screening and background checks.
• Supporting relocation, travel and accommodation arrangements for relevant London new joiners and Summer Associates.
• Working closely with the wider HR team to help provide a seamless onboarding experience for new London hires.
• Providing regular recruitment updates to hiring managers.

Recruitment coordination and administration. Excellent administration is at the heart of a successful recruitment function, so you will also play an important role in ensuring our processes are accurate, organised and efficient. This will include:

• Maintaining accurate candidate information in our recruitment database and applicant tracking system.
• Ensuring recruitment records and trackers are complete, accurate and kept up to date.
• Arranging interviews, meetings and meeting rooms.
• Processing and tracking invoices, including recruitment agency fees and other recruitment-related expenditure.
• Supporting the team with recruitment reporting and general administration.
• Assisting with ad-hoc recruitment projects and initiatives.

Required Skills

What we're looking for: You don't need to know everything on day one. We're looking for someone with the foundations to succeed and the enthusiasm to develop. You are likely to be:

• Highly organised, with excellent administrative skills and the ability to keep track of multiple priorities.
• Exceptionally attentive to detail, particularly when working with candidate information, interview arrangements and recruitment records.
• A confident and professional communicator who is comfortable dealing with people at different levels of an organisation.
• Personable and able to build positive relationships with candidates, recruitment agencies, Partners and colleagues.
• Proactive and willing to take ownership rather than always waiting to be given the next task.
• Curious and keen to learn, with an interest in developing a career in recruitment, HR or professional services.
• Someone who enjoys contributing ideas and looking for ways to make processes or the candidate experience better.
• Calm and adaptable when priorities change or deadlines are tight.
• Comfortable working independently while also enjoying being part of a supportive team.
• Confident using Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.

Experience

Some previous experience in recruitment, HR, administration or a professional-services environment would be helpful, but attitude, potential and willingness to learn are just as important. Previous exposure to legal recruitment, a recruitment agency or an applicant tracking system would be an advantage, but we would also welcome applications from candidates looking to build their career in this area. The current specification lists six months' legal recruitment experience in a top-tier professional-services firm or reputable recruitment agency, together with applicant-tracking-system knowledge, as preferred rather than core requirements.

Details

Salary and Benefits: Competitive Hybrid: Monday-Thursday in office, ability to WFH on Fridays. Hours: 9:30am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday. The role may occasionally require additional hours according to business needs.

Equal Opportunities

Simpson Thacher is committed to ensuring that everyone can reach their full potential, irrespective of background, identity, or circumstance. We know that we are at our best when we bring together diverse experiences and perspectives. This is why we are focused on fostering a collegial environment which maximises collaboration, empowering every individual to thrive and succeed.