Here’s to 20 Years!

This March marks 20 years since I launched Wisnik Career Enterprises, Inc! I am often asked why I started my own business. My first answer is always “temporary insanity!” I had no business quitting a respected position as the Director of Recruitment & Training at Cadwalader to start WCE. At the time, my husband had recently graduated from law school and, with my encouragement, started his own law practice. We had a 3-year-old and very little savings, but I took the risk because I believed I had something valuable to offer my law firm colleagues. My vision was to offer the business training that attorneys do not receive in law school, such as business development and time management. This was 1996 and CLE was not yet required – so when it became a requirement in 1998, my programs were in high demand. In addition, I fell in love with recruiting, first at Lehman Brothers and later at Schulte and Cadwalader, so helping large law firms find the right talent for their growing recruitment departments was also part of my initial business plan. My colleagues from NALP and NYCRA became my first clients and, 20 years later, they are still critical to our success!

In 2004 we launched our marketing placement division. BigLaw was changing and firms were rapidly growing their marketing departments! Having an MBA in Marketing and a deep passion for business development, this new division fit my values perfectly!

We love finding the right talent for our clients and believe we do it better than any of our competitors. We know how to interview candidates (we’ve interviewed more than 10,000 and taught interview training at close to 60 law firms) and how to assess competencies and skills to ensure that candidates can do the job they are being hired for. We also understand and know how to identify a cultural fit, which is demonstrated by the fact that many of our placements have been with their firm for years. We are extremely proud of this!

Over the past 20 years, I have learned:

  • Relationships are everything! The reason I still love coming to work is because I really enjoy partnering with our clients, many who have become life-long friends.
  • Always do the right thing! I made a pact with myself in the beginning that we would never make a placement we did not believe was a good fit! We know how disruptive a bad hire is for everyone involved. I am proud to say that in over 20 years we have only had 7 refunds! 
  • Don’t become a dinosaur! I feel compelled to stay close to our clients and constantly learn from them. The legal world has changed a great deal over the past 25+ years, and I feel it is my responsibility to stay abreast of the marketplace and our clients’ changing needs. This is why we are always capturing industry trends and key data, and sharing them with you for free.

I recently attended a 5 day Business Mastery program for entrepreneurs; it was a 20th anniversary gift to myself. I learned a great deal, including that only 4% of new businesses survive 10 years. We have placed more than 800 candidates in over 120 law firms and presented more than 700 training programs over the past 20 years. I believe that our success is due to an unstoppable commitment to our clients and sincere desire to help them achieve their goals! I am deeply grateful for all of your support and trust in us, and I look forward to continuing to work with you for many years to come.

Thank you for a wonderful 20 years!

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