How long until you can lateral? Forum
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Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
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Anonymous User
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How long until you can lateral?
Wanted to know how long you must usually work at a firm before lateral opportunities start to open up.
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Anonymous User
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- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: How long until you can lateral?
i think around your 3rd or 4th year. before your third year you really don't know enough to make you an attractive candidate.Anonymous User wrote:Wanted to know how long you must usually work at a firm before lateral opportunities start to open up.
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Anonymous User
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Re: How long until you can lateral?
someone I met at a firm I interviewed with said she moved over from her first firm after less than a year. I think just depends on what the firm's needs are.
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Drewtheman84
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Re: How long until you can lateral?
Yup. I know someone who lateraled after 3 months because a firm that she turned down for an SA gig liked her and thought of her as soon as something opened up.Anonymous User wrote:someone I met at a firm I interviewed with said she moved over from her first firm after less than a year. I think just depends on what the firm's needs are.
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Renzo
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Re: How long until you can lateral?
This happens, but it's not very common to be able to lateral before you put 2-3 years in. Your friend was fortunate to have contacts that liked her that much. I've also known one person with a very technical IP background who was able to lateral as a 1st year because his expertise was in demand. But 99% of 1st and 2nd years A) don't know enough to be valuable to a firm yet, and B) will be viewed as flight risks/malcontents for wanting to flee so soon from their first job.Drewtheman84 wrote:Yup. I know someone who lateraled after 3 months because a firm that she turned down for an SA gig liked her and thought of her as soon as something opened up.Anonymous User wrote:someone I met at a firm I interviewed with said she moved over from her first firm after less than a year. I think just depends on what the firm's needs are.
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nealric
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Re: How long until you can lateral?
I started getting recruiter calls the day the my website bio went live. Whether those calls would have lead to anything is anybody's guess, but I probably could have jumped ship right away had I wanted to.
Certain types of lateral opportunities take more experience. Most in-house jobs want closer to five years of experience.
Certain types of lateral opportunities take more experience. Most in-house jobs want closer to five years of experience.
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TooOld4This
- Posts: 637
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Re: How long until you can lateral?
Nealric is correct, you can often lateral rather quickly. Many firms like to use laterals rather than (or in addition to) 3L recruiting to fill spots. A difference with lateral hiring and 3L or 2L hiring is that you will generally be hired into a particular practice area. The firm looks at what its staffing needs are and looks for people that will fill the niche.
The thing to be aware of is that some firms view laterals with a bit of suspicion. This isn't across the board, but there are definitely firms that distinguish between people that were hired as 2Ls and those that have lateraled in later. If you you do want to lateral, you want to be sure you have a good story. If you are looking to lateral, see if you can't figure out who is hiring. Getting your resume on the desk of HR without the assistance of a head hunter can give you a leg up (unless the firm has signed an exclusive deal with a head hunter and will be using them to screen all applicants -- then you would not want to bypass the head hunter's ad). Ideally, you will have a classmate/alum at the firm that you can contact to have them pass on your resume for an open position.
The thing to be aware of is that some firms view laterals with a bit of suspicion. This isn't across the board, but there are definitely firms that distinguish between people that were hired as 2Ls and those that have lateraled in later. If you you do want to lateral, you want to be sure you have a good story. If you are looking to lateral, see if you can't figure out who is hiring. Getting your resume on the desk of HR without the assistance of a head hunter can give you a leg up (unless the firm has signed an exclusive deal with a head hunter and will be using them to screen all applicants -- then you would not want to bypass the head hunter's ad). Ideally, you will have a classmate/alum at the firm that you can contact to have them pass on your resume for an open position.
