I’ve been in my position coming up on 3 months, completely new to in-house. Logically, I know that I can’t know everything but I can’t help but to be a little frustrated with myself. Everyone on the team is great but I just want to be able to add real value. How long did it take you to grasp things coming in to your position?

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So much of in house is institutional knowledge. When you start at a new company that all gets wiped out and suddenly your legal knowledge doesn’t give you the answer anymore because you don’t know enough about company risk tolerances, project history, and key stakeholders and priorities. I’m on my 3rd in house job and much less surprised about this at this point, but it’s a huge learning curve nomatter how senior.

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Agree with this. Will only add it depends on the size of the company too. At a small in-house job I added value shortly after joining (in a few days I resolved cases and in a few months knew most key players) but it was tiny. Now I’m a year in and have done a few pieces of work I’m proud of but still feel like I know very little about the company, important players, etc.

When I started in house I was told it’ll take a minimum of 6 months to feel like I’m not drowning and a year plus to really find my feet. Just learn as much as you can and build those connections.

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Thank you!

Adding to what others have said, I find that it comes in waves. I have been in my role since late 2020, and I still have days where I find myself totally lost on something, and it knocks my ego back down. It doesn’t help being relatively the most junior person in my department.

We’re not superhuman, and I think it’s unrealistic to expect absolute competence in 6 months/1 year/whatever arbitrary timeframe you want to impose, especially in a generalist role. I think we tend to hold ourselves to unrealistic standards in our profession at times. What’s important is that you’re making progress and having more productive days/fewer frustrated days over time, getting good feedback from your boss, and building good relationships with your internal clients.

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Started last Feb and felt the same way 3 months in. By 6 months in I was starting to feel more comfortable, now I feel like a pretty good member of the team.

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I’ve no advice but I’m in the exact same situation at 4 months in.

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Same! Started in October.

I had the same feeling when I started in-house, and about 6 months in I started to feel a little bit more confident. Only after 1 year in I really felt like adding real value.

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Join the New To In House vertical as part of ACC, In-House Connect, Contract Nerds and Laura Frederick (on LinkedIn) are also great. You will learn a lot from the ACC.

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I agree this is normal. I’m about 8 months in feeling like I’m drowning. I was told 6-9 months before I’ll start to feel like I’m not. Hang in there!

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A while. You want to have meets and greets with all the pertinent stakeholders in various areas so that you’ll either be able to get input or can get pointed in the right direction

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I don't want to scare you but I'm 18 months in and I feel exactly the same.

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Thank you all for the perspectives and tips!

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