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Looking for general tips on approaching an interview with a prosecutor's office for an internship.

Mostly, a response to "why do you want to intern with us" that expresses an interest in prosecution appropriately and doesn't sound naive, overzelously hardassed, or plain stupid.

I'm thinking something along the lines of "I've always been interested in prosecution and feel that an internship here would be a great opportunity to learn more about it firsthand."

Any other suggestions welcome.

you were interested in prosecution in kindergarten? sounds kind of weird

Prosecutors love when you talk about being an advocate for victims. And try to think of how you can frame your interest in prosecution as a story. Tell a story about what got you interested in advocating for victims and you'll be golden.

You're gonna hear a million different answers to this question. I interned at 1 during a summer and currently work in one of the major ones in the US.

At least, from my experience, in the metric fuckton of interviews I had while interviewing for my real job and talking to the people who make the hiring decisions there were a couple of key things they talked about.

Justice-what's it mean to you and why is it important (this can kind of go hand in hand with the victim advocacy thing)
A desire and demonstrated history of wanting to help people and public service
The wanting to learn the aspects of the office will help as well

While not directly relevant to the "why us" question. Make sure you have something to say about the power that prosecutors have to ruin lives and why you want to have such responsibility. When I was interviewing for my real job, that was a repeated theme, about not railroading a defendant on shitty facts.

And for more specifics, about the "why us"- research the office and know about 2 or 3 units that you're interested in and how you would like to know more about those particular units.

I know that's more about real job interviews and not an internship, but I think it fits. I can answer more questions in a PM if you'd like.

SouthernMiss wrote:Looking for general tips on approaching an interview with a prosecutor's office for an internship.

Mostly, a response to "why do you want to intern with us" that expresses an interest in prosecution appropriately and doesn't sound naive, overzelously hardassed, or plain stupid.

I'm thinking something along the lines of "I've always been interested in prosecution and feel that an internship here would be a great opportunity to learn more about it firsthand."

Any other suggestions welcome.

Well, why do you want to intern with them?

Having interviewed people for both internships and permanent positions at the USAO, I can tell you that most of us can pretty sniff through a bullshit answer.

Try to be genuine. Try to think really hard as to why you want to work in that office. If it's nothing more than the location is convenient to you, then say it.

I know from previous experience most of us appreciated a non-substantive, but honest, answer over one that's completely lock-stock from the "How to Interview with the Prosecutor's Office" handbook.

Let them know that you have some public speaking skill. Let them know you understand evidence.

Also, DO NOT say anything that makes it sound like you are "soft on crime". A very well regarded candidate in my wife's office, in an interview, said something to the effect of being opposed to giving jail time to offenders, and preferring options that rehabilitate the offender (something like that), and everything came to a screeching halt.

If you say anything political, sound vaguely conservative.