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Does anyone have experience interviewing with Deloitte Internal Services? I had my final interview a week and a half ago, and received positive feedback throughout. The hiring manager had positive things to say and mentioned they hoped to make a decision by the end of last week. It’s now Friday the week after. The role still shows as “Interviews in Process.” We did discuss potential start dates, but no salary. Any experience with receiving offers for an internal services role? Is this common?
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Hello RSM coworkers! I am thrilled to be moving to RSM into a Scheduler roll. I just found out yesterday and want to be as prepared as possible in the next steps.
So here are my questions.
How long does the background study take? I'm guessing admin staff have a study that is faster and less complicated than someone in Tax ect.
When training at home what did you need that wasn't supplied by RSM? My home office is well stocked but I want to be as prepared as possible.
Thanks in advance!
Hey! Any Google folks know if it’s possible to negotiate fully remote if a contract role is hybrid? Personally, I don’t want to relocate and go to the office on a contract role given the current economy. Plus, I’m assuming contractors are the first to go in layoffs. I just think it’s a fair trade off if I’d be allowed to work fully remote. I’m also trying to have flexibility to manage my Airbnb business in a different country. Same time zone as the home office if I’d travel weeks at a time.
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How do you find in-house positions?
Pro
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Depending on what business unit you support but I’d definitely focus at least the first 3 months on learning the business. I made the mistake of wanting to jump into work to “prove” my worth but missed a lot of aspects in that rush that I had to relearn(and often look slightly out of touch) later.
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Agreed 100%
If you’re giving legal advice, start your email with something like ‘based on the facts as I currently know them’. You’ll never have all the facts so this gives you wiggle room when things change. Seems silly, but it’s a nice card to play, “well I didn’t know that, this changes everything”
Been in house for 3.5ish years and this is a great little nugget I’m going to use going forward.
Realize that you’ve probably been operating at a capacity that isn’t normal. Everything is much slower. I basically just had to reset my nervous system. 😂
That’s been my experience but I’m with a fairly large insurance company and it’s so much less chaotic than private practice
Being pleasant to work with goes a long way.
We don’t like gunners.
You’re now a business partner. Not opposing Counsel. Think about how you can help move the business forward. When they come to go with a legal issue (or an issue they think is legal) don’t just give them the legal answer, give them the answer that help them move the business forward. Be a good business partner.
This is incredibly helpful, for someone else also who just started in house. Thank you!!
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Learn the business. Bookmark the org chart. Ask lots of questions.
Join national/local orgs for in house counsel you can get a lot of great advice and continued support from them
Acc is great. (I’m a local board member)
If it’s not part of your onboarding, ask to setup meetings/intros with your primary stakeholders and leads within the legal department to understand what they do, how you will interact with them and how you can be most effective. Ask lots of questions and don’t be afraid to not know much starting out. With that said, try to Google some questions before asking them if you can😀.
Ask if you can shadow people within your team in the legal dept (join negotiations to listen, ask for their templates, etc.). If you are doing commercial work, ask to walk through the templates you will use a lot to understand why they push for certain terms. Again, ask lots of questions, even generic ones like “what do you wish you knew when starting out here?” And “any tips on how I can get up to speed and start to help as quickly as possible?” Being eager to help, kind, humble and curious will go a very long way. Show you care and want to help.
This is solid.
Good read and applicable to most in-house roles. Also, as another poster said, spending your first few months learning the business, the players, the personalities, and the playbook. Be a partner, not a roadblock.
https://www.amazon.com/Workplace-Strategies-Technology-Lawyers-House/dp/B08WSFVBZG
Absolutely do not buy this book. It’s like 30 pages in size 16 font, with some of the most generic “advice” you can think of: obvious things that are in essence like “be a good business partner”, “be business minded” or “calibrate risk”. All things you can read for free either here on FB or other publicly available sources. I’ve seen this book recommended a few times here, but I found it to be an absolute waste of money. (Side bar: Could it be the author himself shilling his e-book on an anonymous platform?).
Don’t flex that you were at a big firm. Learn the business, how it operates and makes money. Get to know people from each area of the business, you want to have a reliable internal network that you can raise even the dumbest questions to while you’re learning. Generally, people have outside lives more than big law. Understanding that and getting to know people goes a long way.
Engage early and often, across the organization.
Be super responsive, and if you can’t be, make sure they know asap!
Whenever possible, give your boss and business partners the option to answer your emails with just one word - yes, no, approve, etc.
Make sure your boss is never surprised. Report out/up weekly.
Be respectful of everyone regardless of their title. This should be the norm everywhere, but I have noticed a couple attorneys coming from Big Law who treat our paralegals like crap. Maybe that’s considered okay at some companies but at ours it did not go over well.
Learn to give legal advice in laymen’s terms. i.e. explaining things in a way a non-lawyer understands and giving advice that’s practical/that the business can actually act upon.
Learn to communicate with business people. Drop legalese and memo style communication. Emails should not have blocks of text but rather high level bullet points. Frame issues and recommendations in a way that meets their needs and understanding. Come with solutions (never just problems or “no”s)!!
Get aligned with your boss on outside counsel spend and the approval process? For example, is there a certain threshold below which you have authority to approve use of outside counsel?
Meet with the business leaders that you will be supporting and pick their brains about what is working well and what can be improved upon.
Try to address some of their needs early on and you’ll have friends in high places.
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F
Thanks, everyone! This is super helpful.
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I’m starting in house on the 31st too. Best of luck to you!!
Thanks! You too.