Recruiter Vanessa Vidal van het Amerikaanse ESQ Recruiting LLC schrijft op het blog Inhouse Insider een aardig stuk over de “five rules to landing an In-house job”. Be realistic, be strategic, be flexible, be visible en be patient. “De meeste advocaten die willen overstappen naar het bedrijfsleven verwachten een salarisvermindering van 20 tot 30%, terwijl in de realiteit bij de overstap de vermindering 50 tot 70% bedraagt.”
Regel 1: Be realistic
Veel jonge advocaten denken wel even de overstap te kunnen maken, maar de realiteit is dat de advocaat die in house counsel wil worden, minimaal vijf jaar moet hebben. De regel van vijf jaar ervaring komt niet uit de lucht vallen: “Law departments seek experienced attorneys who can operate fairly independently, and lawyers with five year of private law practice have often been exposed to the type of depth and breath or work to provide them with some independence in their practice.”
Regel 2: Be strategic
In veel bedrijfsjuridsche posities heb je veel te maken met transacties. Om de kansen op een in-house positie te verbeteren, doe je er verstandig aan om veel te werken met cijfers, en ook in veel rechtsgebieden. “Since this is very much a numbers game, to improve your odds of moving in-house you should consider pursuing a general corporate practice that offers exposure to a lot of different areas. In other words, when it comes to in-house opportunities, not all practice areas are created equal.”
Regel 3: Be flexible
Wees flexibel, vooral ook in financieel opzicht. De verwachtingen ten aanzien van beloningen zijn vaak niet realitisch. “Most law firm attorneys expect to take a 20-30% cut from their law firm compensation, while the reality is that most law firm attorneys transitioning in-house experience compensation reductions ranging between 50%-70%. The median base salaries for in-house attorneys with 5-10 years of experience ranges between $100,000-$150,000 per year. These are not easy to digest figures, with many law firm lawyers looking to make less than the first-year associates they are training.”
Regel 4: Be visible
Wees zichtbaar, werk aan je netwerk. “There is no getting around it. The best way to land an in-house job is through connections. You have to make yourself visible to those who know about in-house positions before they hit the general candidate pool. The best way to cut through the long stack of resumes is to have someone vouch for you, or tell you about a position before it becomes available to the general public.”
Regel 5: Be patient
Geduld is een schone zaak: een in house job heb je niet zomaar te pakken. “That said, for the most part, it takes about six months to a year, for most applicants to land a position. This is not for the faint of heart or impatient. You will have to endure a lot of rejection, often silent, before landing that coveted in-house position.”