Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc.

Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc.

Position Announcement: Recruitment Hiring and Onboarding Administrator

June 2022

Choice of Office Location

Organization Information and Mission Statement

Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc. (LawNY®) is a not-for-profit law firm providing civil legal services to low-income clients in a fourteen county area of western New York. 

Staff work out of seven local offices and across numerous regional projects based in Bath, Elmira Geneva, Ithaca, Jamestown, Olean and Rochester. Our advocates vigorously represent low income clients 

LawNY® has been providing high quality legal representation for 53 years. While our services are always expanding, our core priorities remain focused. Our 2020 cases were closed in the following practice areas: Housing (26.8%); Income Maintenance (26%); Family Law (22.4%); Health Law (13%); Miscellaneous Benefits (including wills, advanced care documents and filing waivers) (4.8%); Consumer Law (3.4%); Employment (2.6%); Individual Rights (0.8%); and Education (0.3%) In 2020, LawNY closed a total of 4,881 cases, benefiting 10,532 New Yorkers.

LawNY® is committed to equitable inclusion across race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ability, sex, religion, economic circumstances, ethnicity, national origin, and culture. We are increasingly committed to creating a law firm where race equity, diversity and cultural competency are integral components of our work, from client advocacy to internal operations. We are actively seeking applicants whose work incorporates this perspective and whose lived and professional experience contributes to sustaining an environment that enables staff and clients to feel empowered, valued, respected, and safe.

Office Description

This position is located in LawNY®'s Human Resources department with involvement in all seven offices and management team. This position can be located in any office. 

Position Description

In 2021 the LawNY® Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee released a 100 page internal policy audit. The policy audit recommended anti-bias processes for recruitment, hiring and onboarding (RHO) (as well as supervision, mentorship and retention; and human resources grievances, complaints and protections). This position will administer the new recruitment, hiring and onboarding process under the direction of two DEI Managers and the Human Resource Director. The position is a member of the human resources team, and will also work closely with the Human Resources Administrator and Deputy Director of Operations. 

DEI recruitment strategies include assisting with proactive recruitment at law schools and undergraduate institutions that historically and disproportionately serve students of color and integrating recruitment efforts with community lawyering efforts that will develop meaningful relationships needed to recruit from within the communities LawNY serves.

Recruitment duties also include aligning job posts with standardized anti-bias job post lens, maintaining the recipient list currently used for general job posting, producing hiring and interview matrixes for each job posted. The position also schedules and collaborates closely with the DEI managers and HR team on multi-annual pre-mortem hiring meetings to identify staffing needs across office, programs and the organization.

The Recruitment Hiring and Onboarding coordinator is responsible for communication with both job applicants and LawNY hiring teams, including managing confidential communications and data collection. The position is also responsible for scheduling and coordinating multi-annual onboarding trainings, and collaborating closely with the DEI and HR teams to maintain LawNY’s new employee welcome packet.

Responsibilities These are the most significant responsibilities and primary functions of the position.

• Collaboratively administer LawNY®’s recruitment, hiring and onboarding Pre-Mortem Process which would identify staffing needs, job qualifications, and candidate evaluation criteria.
  • The administrator would schedule the Pre-Mortem Meeting across offices
  • Coordinate Timely submission of open position from managers before the Pre Mortem
  • Edit job description posts to align with DEI Job Post Guidelines
  • Manage feedback and editing process for job posts with Pre Mortem Team
  • Create candidate evaluation Matrixes 
• Administer job posting on BambooHR® platform
• Maintain up-to-date applicant demographics collection information on Bamboo® application platform
• Annually, work with DEI Managers and Human Resources Director to produce demographic reports for all applicants, applicants selected for interviews, and candidates hired.
• Organize incoming job applications for hiring committee review including:
  • Redacting applicant names; 
  • Populating candidate evaluation matrixes; 
  • Maintaining confidential applicant demographics database; 
  • Applying Mansfield/Rooney rules to candidates chosen by hiring committee
• Coordinate communication with applicants, including:
  • Confirming application receipt; 
  • interview offers, rejection, and scheduling;  
  • Communicating job offers 
• Manage calendar and scheduling for hiring teams, including scheduling hiring team trainings and applicant interview schedule
• Communicate with recruitment partners (in collaboration with DEI managers) listed in targeted recruitment plan, including:
  • Upcoming application periods 
  • Job announcements
  • Relationship building opportunities
  • Recruitment events and job fairs
• Maintain records and contact information of past applicants for pool hiring

Qualifications 

These are the traits, attributes, attitudes, and skills that speak to the candidate’s ability to succeed in the position. While no one candidate will possess all of the requirements listed, the ideal candidate will have many of the following qualifications. LawNY encourages each candidate to think about their own personal knowledge, skills, and experience, as well professional skills and experience, in relation to the list of qualifications.

• Must have a demonstrated commitment to helping low-income and marginalized  persons overcome institutional barriers to justice 
• Excellent use of remote collaborative technology including GSuite, Microsoft Suite, Zoom
• Demonstrated excellent written and oral communication skills 
• Ability to collaborate with a large, fast paced team, with and without direct supervision 
• An understanding of the concepts of institutional and structural racism and their impact on underserved and underrepresented communities
• Ability to work under multiple deadlines and manage simultaneous projects
• Strong problem-solving abilities, time and task management, and organizational skills. 
• Ability to serve as an advocate for individuals of all ethnicities, genders, ages and backgrounds
• Embraces and actively promotes an inclusive and equitable work environment
• Strong knowledge of diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism, anti-oppression and social justice
• Experience incorporating the perspectives of multiple communities, including communities of color

Qualifications - Additional 

The following are skills a candidate may possess based on past experience in a similar role, but are not required to apply for the job.

• Degree in a relevant field or work experience with comparable responsibilities

• Prior experience and commitment working with and helping low-income, marginalized and/or other oppressed communities/persons overcome institutional barriers to justice. 
• Experience managing confidential personnel data
• Experience using BambooHR® or comparable hiring software platforms
• Proficiency in a language other than just English

Salary

Salary is set on a standardized organizational salary scale based on years of job experience. Upon job offer, candidates are asked to complete a form describing years of direct and comparable experience. Human Resources and the Executive Director review the form and provide the candidate with a proposed salary placement. The candidate may review and suggest alternate placement. The salary scale intends to mitigate bias. LawNY conducts an annual equity audit to compare salary placement with staff demographics. 

The salary for an Administrator with five years of legal services experience is $39,690 as per the LawNY® salary scale. 

Benefits

LawNY® provides an excellent package of fringe benefits including health, dental, vision, disability and life insurance as well as generous leave provisions.

Application Instructions

To apply, submit your cover letter, resume, and three references through LawNY®’s BambooHR® platform. State clearly in your cover letter which position you are applying for.

To promote social justice and achieve our mission, LawNY® is committed to maintaining a diverse staff and creating an inclusive and respectful workplace. In your cover letter, please explain how you think your lived and/or professional experience or background has prepared you to contribute to a work environment with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Questions? Contact Brenda Thompson, Human Resources Administrator at bthompson@lawny.org

Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc. (LawNY®) is an equal opportunity employer. LawNY® strongly encourages applications from Black, Indigenous and People of Color, women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people with disabilities, and persons from other underrepresented groups whose background may contribute to working in and sustaining an environment that enables staff and clients to feel empowered, valued, respected, and safe. LawNY welcomes applications regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, genetic information or any other consideration protected by law.