Don't you know who we are?

Don't you know who we are?

It's a legitimate question that you could expect to be asked by a traditional big firm; although in reality it would never REALLY happen lest they risk being labelled arrogant, big headed or similar

But these firms have spent decades - even longer in cases - cultivating that reputation to get them that ranking on indices such as the Legal 500 and such, and their reputation and ranking is an important part of their brand.

However, research published by Flagship Consulting this month presented an alternative ranking - the Hot 100 based on online influence.

And the results may surprise you.

The traditional Hot 100 firms don't rank so highly when it comes to online influence and some lesser known firms have done well. There has been a levelling of the playing field, with online platforms so ubiquitous that a good online marketing strategy can bring the smaller firm up to the level of the traditional big hitters very quickly in the online world. And once online influence is built up, it's there to stay thanks to the speed with which information is spread online.

So what does this mean for the war for talent and recruitment in general for these firms?

In the online world we live in, where both firms and candidates are starting to develop their online presence more actively, the online firm can steal a march by reaching out and engaging with talent at an earlier stage of the recruitment process, and by engaging more often.

Not only that, but the online firm can also market themselves more effectively using the communications channels that their prospective candidates are starting to use more actively to search for jobs.

For the traditional big firms, it means it's no longer enough for them to rely on their reputation to attract the best talent. All that effort over all those years spent developing that offline reputation needs to be repeated for the online world we're now living in. Failure to do so could result in them losing the war for the best talent to firms who they may never have seen as their competitors in the past.

It makes for an interesting battleground. As recruiters we will always advise our candidates on all the opportunities open to them. But as candidates increasingly start to use online resources to do their research, if a firm aren't marketing themselves using the same channels as their prospective candidates are using, they will lose that war.

And no amount of skill from your recruiter will be able to bridge that gap.