How Higgs LLP is transforming early-careers recruitment in law with ThriveMap

At Higgs LLP, everything starts with people. For over a century, this Black Country-based law firm has been a cornerstone of legal expertise, built on a foundation of authenticity, inclusivity, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.

But for Higgs, the key to delivering exceptional results lies in a simple philosophy:
“If we take care of our people and our people take care of our clients, then everything we want as a firm will take care of itself.”

This belief drives everything they do, from serving their clients to nurturing their teams. So, when it came time to rethink how they assess and select early-career talent, Higgs knew they needed a partner who could help them hire the next generation of solicitors with confidence—people who not only have the right skills, but also the right mindset and fit for the firm’s culture.

That’s where ThriveMap comes in.

The challenge: Hiring for excellence

Early-careers recruitment is a critical process, especially for a firm like Higgs. The team aren’t just looking for strong CVs or academic achievements; they want candidates who can thrive in their culture, demonstrate real potential, and embody the values that have been central to their identity since 1875.

Traditional hiring methods—such as unstructured interviews and reliance on academic qualifications—aren’t able to provide the predictive insights they need. Higgs sought a more effective way to uncover the qualities that truly matter: competency, commitment, and cultural fit.

The Solution: Realistic Job Assessments

That’s when Higgs appointed ThriveMap to design a custom early-careers assessment. The goal? To create a solution that will identify the best-fit candidates who align with Higgs’ ethos of fairness, inclusivity, and precision.

With ThriveMap’s Realistic Job Assessments, Higgs will be able to:

• Simulate job-realistic tasks to provide an immersive candidate experience.
• Measure candidates’ competency, commitment, and alignment with the firm’s values.
• Make accurate, bias-free hiring decisions.

Our process begins with in-depth workshops and job task analysis, ensuring the assessment mirrors the actual work the successful applicants would do at Higgs. This isn’t about testing candidates for the sake of it—it is about giving them an authentic preview of what life at Higgs will be like, and giving candidates the opportunity to opt-out if it’s not the right fit for them.

What’s next?

Selecting the right best-fit candidates is crucial for shaping the future success of any organisation, and the only way to do that effectively is through a forward-thinking approach to recruitment.

The future of hiring is about using immersive, AI-proof, realistic, and predictive assessments that provide an accurate measure of a candidate’s true potential.

At ThriveMap, we’re proud to help firms like Higgs to ensure they’re hiring the talent that will drive success for years to come.

For more information on how ThriveMap’s early-careers pre-hire assessments can support more accurate, fairer and faster hiring, get in touch for a demo.