Speaking to Protégé, Victorian human resources manager Olivia Holmes said its hiring process remained relatively similar: they still narrowed the applicants down from a pool of 600, there were still assessment centre activities and interviews were conducted with senior lawyers. The only major change was switching it all onto a digital platform. 

“I was amazed. We were incredibly nervous about doing it virtually, but graduates were all very accepting of the virtual online assessment because I don’t think they know any different. Their technology skills are first-class so they were able to find the way around our system and I don’t think they were at a disadvantage,” Ms Holmes said. 

The firm was able to apply the same criteria to this new way of screening its applicants and while it will switch back to the face-to-face processes as soon as COVID-19 finally passes, this new change for Macpherson Kelley means that Ms Holmes will no longer turn down a graduate applying from an overseas program if they are available virtually. 

“I really didn’t feel like I lost anything, which was what I was most worried about, that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to build rapport and get to know each of the candidates on a really individual basis but the activity through the assessment centre and its online interview really allowed us to get a read on who we wanted,” Ms Holmes said. 

Ms Holmes said it was “never not an option” because Macpherson Kelley’s investment in graduates is one of its biggest. From a business and a client perspective, hiring new and fresh-out-of-university lawyers is important to the firm’s overall success. For 2020, the added bonus was that the hiring pool became that much bigger and better as other firms across the country opted out of its annual graduate hiring process due to COVID. 

When it comes down to hiring the successful candidates, Ms Holmes said that she will only put 20 per cent of the consideration on the academic transcript and the rest comes from the graduates’ “X factor”: real-world experience, holding down a part-time job and high grades during university and committing to hobbies outside of work. 

“How do I know that they will stay with the firm? The ones that are able to demonstrate a genuine desire to roll up their sleeves and want to be on the client floor one day and not in the back room doing discovery,” Ms Holmes said of narrowing applicants down. “They go on to great things and our retention of graduates remains incredibly high.”

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Once the graduate has their foot in the door, they are given “on-the-ground”, practical learnings. From day one, they are attending client meetings and by month one – if they have proven they are up for it – they can do appearances. The firm aims to give them real-world legal experiences through facilitated training and support from seniors. 

The firm also places a lot of emphasis on wellbeing and stresses that as long as clients come first, they trust their lawyers to get the work done even if it means working away from the traditional nine-to-five. Macpherson Kelley also encourages hobbies outside of the office and offers their own programs within the firm to support wellbeing. 

“We prefer a work/life integration rather than a work/life balance because it’s how you integrate your life together to make it work for you and make sure the client gets what they want but ensures your health and wellbeing is never sacrificed,” Ms Holmes said. 

“We’re really proud of it. We do think it’s a point of difference, and it’s why we continue to do what we do and invest so much in it and take it so seriously,” Ms Holmes added on the firm’s commitment to graduates. “Our success rate continues to be at 100 per cent acceptance of graduate offers because they really get a feel for the firm.”

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