First of all, let me say in-house is a great gig. If this is your goal, go for it.
But know that being an in-house lawyer means working with commercial teams and thinking very differently. Your co-workers will be finance people, sales people, marketing people and operations people. And they’ll expect you to understand that you’re a support function there to advance the goals of the business. This differs drastically from being a big firm lawyer, where a lot of your work is about assessing risk and taking a risk adverse approach to cover yourself and your firm. Being in-house means thinking commercially. It means looking for a way to say “yes” rather than “no, we can’t do that”.
So how do you become more commercial, and what appeals to hiring managers? For me, having an MBA was a huge help. I got hired in-house right after finishing a joint JD-MBA and completing my NY bar. From my first job onwards, I’ve developed a specialization in my industry and 4 years later have no difficulty finding a job.
Showing you have a sound commercial background and understand the demands of the business is key.