Long story short, I was a biglaw midlevel corporate associate and about a year ago I took an in-house job as counsel at a startup. I knew I needed to get out of the firm, I just hated the lifestyle and was miserable. The startup's compensation was surprisingly high, I thought, north of $200k with a sizable annual cash bonus and stock options, so it was still a pay cut, but I felt good about it.
I'm really finding it unpleasant. It's poorly organized with a lot of fire drills, and the legal team feels pretty toxic, with a lot of CYA blame games and buck passing. I disliked the work culture of the firm, but at least there you have some objective metrics to point to (deal count, hours billed, etc) and secured advancement (if you're not canned or quit, you're moving up), so there is transparency of a sort. I've gotten better at managing the politics at this company, but it's a psychological burden that I'm not thrilled with.
I get the sense that I might be happier at a larger company with more organization and resources and established systems for doing things. We might be in a recession here pretty soon, which isn't optimal, but I'm beginning to think I should start planning an exit.
Does this seem like a reasonable story to tell potential employers? I tend to think of one year as the minimum tenure at a company to not look like a problem employee. I also tend to think it's counterproductive to badmouth your current employer to your prospective employer, but I feel like I need a good reason to be leaving so soon.
Appreciate any thoughts!
Oh, and to anyone looking to go in-house, ask for your first annual bonus to be guaranteed.
Jumping ship in-house at one year? Forum
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Re: Jumping ship in-house at one year?
Anonymous User wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 2:31 pmI get the sense that I might be happier at a larger company with more organization and resources and established systems for doing things.
I think that's a totally reasonable story to tell potential employers. Frame it about your personal preferences for work environment rather than the negatives of your current position, particularly because this was your first in-house position. You can say that you gained more understanding about how in-house departments operate and realized you liked a large department rather than a small one.
