Candidate Testimonials
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The process of searching for the perfect opportunity is much more difficult than I would have ever thought. I personally do not believe I could have landed my ideal position without Gary D’Alessio’s help. During my search, I have spoken with numerous recruiters both in Chicago and nationally. I have found that the very best recruiters, such as Gary, are those that take the time to really listen and understand the candidate’s interests, values and experiences, rather than try to stick a square peg in a round hole. In this realm, Gary was the best. He did an excellent job in understanding me and properly focusing my search. Gary is also very personable and working him is like working with a friend, which made a challenging process seem fairly easy.
Arnstein & Lehr LLP
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“Katherine could not have been more professional, genuine, pleasant and committed throughout my job search process. She had helpful suggestions and answers to my questions. Katherine was never rushed and never rushed me, returned my calls promptly if she was unavailable and was thoroughly knowledgable about my law firm, so there were no surprises once I started with them. It also was clear that Katherine's goal was not simply to quickly place me. She obviously values establishing relationships and realizes that whether there is or is not a long-term fit, you never know what may happen down the road. Katherine has not forgotten me since placing me, which I certainly appreciate. I would highly recommend working with Katherine she is sophisticated, dedicated and mature beyond her years of experience.”
Stellato & Schwartz
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“The decision to leave my law firm and change practice areas was not easy. Furthermore, doing so in a difficult hiring market made the task that much more challenging. To my good fortune, a colleague of mine recommended Alan Rubenstein. Alan’s contacts and knowledge of the Chicago legal market cannot be understated. However, what truly sets Alan apart is his personal touch. Specifically, in Alan I found a true representative throughout the hiring process. Alan is genuinely interested in his candidates' immediate and long term career goals and spends substantial time preparing and counseling his candidates throughout the process. I am so impressed with Alan’s skills that I have recommended his services to several of my friends. They echo the same praise for Alan as I do. He is simply the best.”
Chuhak & Tecson, Ltd.
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“I felt an immediate boost in confidence after meeting with Gary D’Alessio. Gone were the anxiety and stress, replaced instead by focus and an action plan that Gary tailor-made for my needs and desires. Gary’s ability to help you transform your resume is unquestionable. Case in point: I targeted the law firm I wished to join and sent my resume long before meeting with Gary. I heard no response. With Gary's assistance, I overhauled my resume, revitalizing and refocusing it. I heard from Loeb & Loeb within a week.
Gary’s commitment to learning what made me tick, and what truly would make me happy, was as evident in the care he took targeting job opportunities as it was in his unique approach to marketing my skills. Rather than gather my resume and mass reproduce it to the highest bidders, Gary met with me one-on-one, meticulously researched my strengths, consulted his vast network of resources and pursued only those opportunities that made sense for my career aspirations.
I highly recommend Gary’s services. The job search is an exhausting and stress-filled endeavor, but when I started working with Gary I stopped dreading the daily job hunt and approached it with excitement and a renewed sense of hope.”
Loeb & Loeb
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When I decided to relocate to Chicago after practicing law on the East Coast for two years, I turned to my law school’s career development department for assistance. After revising my resume no less than ten times, I arranged meetings with alums from my law school who were practicing in Chicago to obtain more information about the Chicago legal market. After a few informational interviews, I found myself across the desk from a partner in a very prominent law firm in Chicago who gave me the one piece of advice that would ultimately land me the opportunity of my dreams: “stop wasting your time networking and go see Gary D’Alessio!” This partner explained that Gary is the best in the business at matching job-seeking associates with firms that are both a social and professional fit. Indeed, when this partner was a junior associate, Gary helped her find her current firm where she later made partner.
So, I headed over to Gary’s office for our initial meeting. During this meeting, Gary and I spoke at length about what type of firm I was interested in pursuing, what type of law I practiced and hoped to practice, my resume, strengths, potential challenges, and my timeline. Gary was very attentive and really understood where I was trying to go with my practice. I felt confident that he would be able to steer me in the right direction.
After our initial meeting, Gary insisted I completely rewrite my resume, which, according to Gary, was a law student’s resume. Gary and I spent hours rewriting my resume. Every descriptive word, formatting mark, and punctuation mark was scrutinized. Six substantive revisions later, my resume was complete and we were ready to initiate the search.
Within days of completing my resume, Gary generated a list of firms for me to consider. The list was based on the factors we discussed in our initial meeting. My resume was sent only to the firms I selected.
Within three weeks of Gary transmitting my information to the firms, I had five interviews. Before each interview, Gary gave me a packet of information about the firm and each of the interviewers. In most cases, the information was not available on the website or online. Gary even made himself available for mock interviews. In the end, I was thoroughly prepared for each interview and everything went very well.
In addition, throughout the interview process, I was consistently complemented on my resume. One interviewer said the layout of my resume and the manner in which the information was conveyed was the best he had seen.
One of the firms, Freeborn & Peters, stood out. The firm was the exact size I was seeking, extremely reputable, and an all around perfect social and professional fit. I received an offer within days of my final interview with the firm. Although firms continued to request an interview (because Gary continued to follow-up and chase leads), I removed myself from consideration and accepted Freeborn & Peter’s offer.
I do not know whether my experience was unique, but even if it was, I could not have replicated Gary’s efforts or achieved the same result on my own. From start to finish, Gary found me my dream job — in just under six weeks, and I could not be happier at my firm.
FREEBORN & PETERS LLP
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The decision to leave my first and only firm did not come easily. I had one previous experience with a recruiter that was immensely unsatisfying. The recruiter repeatedly made vague references to all of the candidates with credentials similar to mine that he had placed at “top firms” but, when pressed for details, he became awkwardly combative. Rather than devising a list of firms that reflected my professional values, he simply handed me a preprinted list of the twenty-five largest firms in Chicago and asked me to pick the firms that were of interest. After this experience, I tried to find a job on my own.
When I had exhausted my contacts at other firms, a friend suggested that I call Gary D’Alessio. My friend recounted his experience trying to find a job on his own, and insisted that he never would have landed his current job without Gary’s help. Skeptical of my friend’s effusive praise, I spent part of the afternoon researching Gary—I spoke with other friends about the recruiters they had used in making their lateral moves, surveyed the Chicago recruiting market and spoke with some contacts involved in lateral hiring at other firms. My research confirmed that Gary was the preeminent recruiter in Chicago, and I called him the next day.
After a few minutes on the phone with Gary, I understood why he is so highly regarded and knew that he would help me find precisely the kind of position I was looking for. Gary and I spoke at length about my professional experience and practice. Because he is a lawyer with several years of practice, Gary understood exactly what I described and knew the value it could add to another firm’s practice. He then suggested we meet in person.
Gary put me through the most exacting interview I had during my entire search. He also helped me craft a vastly superior resume to the one I had previously used. It was clear to me that Gary was more interested in my long-term career goals and professional values than he was in finding a quick-fix to my job search by placing me in a firm that might not be a good fit. In stark contrast to the other recruiter I met, Gary produced a narrowly tailored list of target firms. What mattered most was how well I would fit in with the firms and the value I could add versus whether the firm made the AmLaw 100 list.
What I appreciated most about working with Gary was his complete candor in assessing my lateral options. He was refreshingly blunt. Gary plainly told me which firms I had a realistic chance of success with and which firms were unlikely to consider me as a candidate. But, Gary’s pragmatism was counterbalanced by his encouragement and constant support when I decided to apply to firms we considered to be reaches.
While working with Gary, I felt as if I was his only candidate, and finding me the ideal job was his only priority. Gary was proactive and aggressive in developing potential job leads, scheduling interviews and following up with each firm after I concluded my interviews. It was an enormous comfort when I realized that Gary works “attorney hours”. Just as the practice of law extends past the hours of 9—5, so does Gary’s work hours. He was extremely responsive and I always felt like we were in this job search together. Every phone call was returned the same day and every email was answered, often within a few minutes. And just when I would begin to take things too seriously, Gary’s wry humor would put my job search in the proper perspective.
Ultimately, I landed my dream job. I moved from a respectable firm with a narrow practice focus to an elite international law firm with a highly sophisticated and comprehensive litigation practice. I’ve changed the focus of my practice entirely and now have the opportunity help grow my new firm’s Chicago office. I’m certain that I never would have been able to land my new position without Gary’s help.
STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP
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“Moving from New York and knowing very little about the Chicago legal market, I expected that my job search would be long and painful, and cause considerable stress. I began working with Gary D’Alessio and quickly learned that I was putting my future in the hands of a very seasoned, skilled and qualified legal search consultant.
Unlike other consultants with whom I have worked in the past, Mr. D’Alessio did not ‘disappear‘ after my first conversation with him. During my job search, he kept in constant contact with me and tailored his searches to exactly what I requested, including the size of the firm, my legal field preference and the firm atmosphere I wanted for my new position. What became clear is that Gary listened to my preferences and with his exceptional knowledge of the Chicago legal environment, he knew where I would be a good fit.
Throughout the interviewing stages of my job search, Mr. D’Alessio called to discuss—at length—a particular firm’s history, environment and culture, as well as his personal impressions of other candidates who had interviewed there previously. He asked me tough questions just like a partner interviewing me would. He mailed several packages of information about firms to me before an interview so I was armed with as much knowledge before walking into an interview.
Needless to say, my transition from New York City to Chicago went very smoothly—I secured several interviews within days of my initial conversation with Mr. D’Alessio, having never stepped foot in Chicago. All in all, I made only two trips back and forth from New York City and got the job I wanted on my second trip. Moving from out of state, I thought it would have taken me at least a month to find my ideal job. To my happy surprise, as a result of working with Mr. D’Alessio, the job search process took only two weeks!!!
I recommend Mr. D’Alessio to any attorney moving from out of state to Chicago. You will not find any legal search consultant who knows the Chicago legal market so thoroughly. He provides up to date information and extensive research about the law firms, is careful to secure interviews that correlate to your personal preferences, and keeps in touch throughout the entire process. In the end, I could not have placed my future in better hands.”
UNGARETTI & HARRIS
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“The decision to leave my former firm was difficult, but the thought of conducting a job search in Chicago while continuing to practice in Indianapolis was simply overwhelming. Fortunately, I was referred to Alan Rubenstein by a friend. Alan’s knowledge of the Chicago legal market and the different cultures within various law firms was invaluable. The information and resources Alan provided gave me a competitive advantage and allowed me to negotiate a superior arrangement, but most importantly, he helped me select the firm best suited for my personal and professional goals. I have since referred several of my friends to Alan and they have each had equally rewarding experiences.”
KIRKLAND & ELLIS
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“After taking a brief hiatus from the practice of law, I was looking for a position which would enable me to enjoy a better balance between work and my personal life. I turned to Gary D’Alessio not only for his assistance in exploring opportunities for me, but to provide me with the counseling and guidance I needed. Gary’s personal experiences, familiarity with the Chicago legal market and timely knowledge of various opportunities ultimately led me to a part-time position at which I have never been happier.”
BURKE WARREN MACKAY & SERRITELLA PC
