DOJ Honors Program 2014-15 Forum

[Anonymous User]

OCIJ finalists are partially up

EOIR- OCIJ candidate. Status changed to finalist around the same time Deana posted on AVUE. No e-mail, phone call, reference check yet. Survey: I haven't seen OCIJ people post on the spreadsheet, is no one interested? I am.

Same person here as above ^. Reference contacted today by phone, told to e-mail back a questionnaire about the candidate. My reference was nice enough to fill it out before going out of town today but with the Thanksgiving holiday, this could be a problem with my other references.

[Anonymous User]

Congrats!! In response to your survey I am an OCIJ finalist and I just joined TLS today. I also updated my stats in the spreadsheet. I haven't heard from any of my references yet that they have been contacted I'm hoping they are contacted soon though because I am already getting nervous! It seems that in the past all of the candidates who had their references checked were first pick candidates and not alternates. May I ask...did you indicate that you would go anywhere on your preferences form?

[Anonymous User]

Congrats!! In response to your survey I am an OCIJ finalist and I just joined TLS today. I also updated my stats in the spreadsheet. I haven't heard from any of my references yet that they have been contacted I'm hoping they are contacted soon though because I am already getting nervous! It seems that in the past all of the candidates who had their references checked were first pick candidates and not alternates. May I ask...did you indicate that you would go anywhere on your preferences form?

I did indicate that I would go anywhere.

[Anonymous User]

OCIJ finalists are partially up

EOIR- OCIJ candidate. Status changed to finalist around the same time Deana posted on AVUE. No e-mail, phone call, reference check yet. Survey: I haven't seen OCIJ people post on the spreadsheet, is no one interested? I am.

Same person here as above ^. Reference contacted today by phone, told to e-mail back a questionnaire about the candidate. My reference was nice enough to fill it out before going out of town today but with the Thanksgiving holiday, this could be a problem with my other references.

This is helpful, thanks! Good to be prepared for the possibility that calls won't come until after Thanksgiving, which would be annoying.

[Anonymous User]

I'm an EOIR/OCIJ finalist and I just heard from one of my references that she was contacted.

Also I updated my status in the spreadsheet

This ^ is me. I also indicated I would go anywhere.

I just looked back on my application, I listed 5 references. Do you think they'll need responses from all of them before decision time? I would really like this to be over with next week/before finals

Edit: I meant to also say that my reference said they asked for the questionnaire to be returned by Dec. 1

[Anonymous User]

I'm sort of regretting that I did not indicate that I would go anywhere. Now that I think about it, I think I would go anywhere for this job. Does anyone think I should contact the DC office to tell them I changed my mind? Or will that look bad? I've heard that willingness to go anywhere does not affect whether you are a first pick or alternate but I don't know how true this is.

[Anonymous User]

I'm sort of regretting that I did not indicate that I would go anywhere. Now that I think about it, I think I would go anywhere for this job. Does anyone think I should contact the DC office to tell them I changed my mind? Or will that look bad? I've heard that willingness to go anywhere does not affect whether you are a first pick or alternate but I don't know how true this is.

At this point, I don't really see how it would hurt you. But I also don't imagine it will help all that much. At worst they're just going to tell you that it's too late to amend your geographic preference list. They're clearly already in the process of assigning people to courts, so maybe there's a chance they would pull your name up on the list of finalists in order to fill some undesirable court.

Basically the process at this point is that they have a list of people they want, and then they try to arrange them all into courts, with regard to their geographic preferences.

[Anonymous User]

First time poster here. I'm an OCIJ applicant. My Avue screen has changed recently. Before it said I was a finalist, but now it lists my application under "Jobs I Have Applied For" with a closed status for the law clerk vacancy. I also suddenly have more options available to me in Avue, but I have no idea if I am being given an offer or am an alternate since it lists the location as DC and the agency is the office of recruitment.

DC was not on my geographic preference list, and I have no idea if my references have been contacted. I have received no call from anyone, so I was wondering what this all means...

[Anonymous User]

First time poster here. I'm an OCIJ applicant. My Avue screen has changed recently. Before it said I was a finalist, but now it lists my application under "Jobs I Have Applied For" with a closed status for the Law Clerk vacancy. I also suddenly have more options available to me in Avue, but I have no idea if I am being given an offer or am an alternate since it lists the location as DC and the agency is the office of recruitment.

DC was not on my geographic preference list, and I have no idea if my references have been contacted. I have received no call from anyone, so I was wondering what this all means...

You went to the general AVUE page. Login via http://www.justice.gov/legal-careers/en ... -attorneys --> Online Applications

[Anonymous User]

I'm hoping they still have a LOT of references to contact for OCIJ.

[Anonymous User]

OCIJ is hiring 70 applicants. It'll take em a while to get through everybody's references.

[Anonymous User]

I'm sort of regretting that I did not indicate that I would go anywhere. Now that I think about it, I think I would go anywhere for this job. Does anyone think I should contact the DC office to tell them I changed my mind? Or will that look bad? I've heard that willingness to go anywhere does not affect whether you are a first pick or alternate but I don't know how true this is.

At this point, I don't really see how it would hurt you. But I also don't imagine it will help all that much. At worst they're just going to tell you that it's too late to amend your geographic preference list. They're clearly already in the process of assigning people to courts, so maybe there's a chance they would pull your name up on the list of finalists in order to fill some undesirable court.

Basically the process at this point is that they have a list of people they want, and then they try to arrange them all into courts, with regard to their geographic preferences.

Current clerk here. I'd definitely call them up. When I was going through the process, I had indicated in my Avue app and in my interview that I was willing to go anywhere. Somewhere in the midst of the reference-check/finalist stages, I was so nervous that I called them to check my status, and the personnel indicated that my application didn't show the "willing to go anywhere" choice. She thanked me for the change and a few weeks later, I was offered a position. Nowhere near my top 5 but completely happy with my placement.

[Anonymous User]

Deanna just posted this on Avue...number of alternates is a bit strange but good to know something.

Greetings, all; I've received inquiries on the status of Antitrust Division HP offers. As of today, Antitrust has issued "first-round" offers. Please note that there are candidates who received an offer from multiple Antitrust locations who will be able to accept only one, assuming they accept either. There are also candidates who have an offer from another component as well as from Antitrust. Again - only one can be accepted. It is highly likely that Antitrust will issue subsequent offers as responses/declinations come in.

[Anonymous User]

Deanna just posted this on Avue...number of alternates is a bit strange but good to know something.

Greetings, all; I've received inquiries on the status of Antitrust Division HP offers. As of today, Antitrust has issued "first-round" offers. Please note that there are candidates who received an offer from multiple Antitrust locations who will be able to accept only one, assuming they accept either. There are also candidates who have an offer from another component as well as from Antitrust. Again - only one can be accepted. It is highly likely that Antitrust will issue subsequent offers as responses/declinations come in.

Seeing this message was not the most uplifting way to celebrate Thanksgiving, but I guess not having to speculate is good. Looks like it’ll be piecemeal for the next couple weeks until Antitrust fills up.

[Anonymous User]

Deanna just posted this on Avue...number of alternates is a bit strange but good to know something.

Greetings, all; I've received inquiries on the status of Antitrust Division HP offers. As of today, Antitrust has issued "first-round" offers. Please note that there are candidates who received an offer from multiple Antitrust locations who will be able to accept only one, assuming they accept either. There are also candidates who have an offer from another component as well as from Antitrust. Again - only one can be accepted. It is highly likely that Antitrust will issue subsequent offers as responses/declinations come in.

Seeing this message was not the most uplifting way to celebrate Thanksgiving, but I guess not having to speculate is good. Looks like it’ll be piecemeal for the next couple weeks until Antitrust fills up.

Yeah. But I do think it's better to know. The number of alternates is a little bizarre, especially since it's probably more than 6. Guess they didn't want to add finalists later on and couldn't really narrow the selections any more. It's also possible that they expected a lot of rejections for whatever reason.

[Anonymous User]

Now that references are being contacted for OCIJ, does anyone else feel like days are passing really slowly? The wait didn't seem that bad until that news started coming out, and now I can't stop thinking about it and telling myself that it's going to be next week at the earliest.

I can't believe the power that a few people at OCIJ have over me...

[Anonymous User]

I was told that first round OCIJ offers won't start until mid-December (as an estimate), so we may have even longer to wait.

[Anonymous User]

I was told that first round OCIJ offers won't start until mid-December (as an estimate), so we may have even longer to wait.

Oh that's really unfortunate. I was told at my interview that it would be end of November/beginning of December. Since end of November is out, I was really hoping for first week of December.

Probably good not to get hopes up though.

[Anonymous User]

I was told that first round OCIJ offers won't start until mid-December (as an estimate), so we may have even longer to wait.

Oh that's really unfortunate. I was told at my interview that it would be end of November/beginning of December. Since end of November is out, I was really hoping for first week of December.

Probably good not to get hopes up though.

Hey, a little optimism warranted. OCIJ odds for interviewees were 3 to 1 at worst, and now that the selectees have been chosen they're even better. Somebody, somewhere in the DOJ machine thought you were worth an offer, all things being equal. The rest of the process is just hairsplitting and logistics. That's not so bad.

[Anonymous User]

I was told that first round OCIJ offers won't start until mid-December (as an estimate), so we may have even longer to wait.

Oh that's really unfortunate. I was told at my interview that it would be end of November/beginning of December. Since end of November is out, I was really hoping for first week of December.

Probably good not to get hopes up though.

lol I was told end of December/beginning of January. I have a feeling a lot of us had the same interviewer too (for HQ interviews).

Yet another day passes by, and no word from any references that they've been contacted.

[Anonymous User]

I posted this on the spreadsheet too. For the ATR people, I got a little more information that I found helpful. I'd rather not say from who but this is good information.

The number of finalists is less than the number of interviewed but they got enough people approved for offers to guarantee that they wouldn't have to go back to the pool of interviewed candidates. There's no formal ranking of alternates, because the offers are section specific. I'd imagine then it's the case that the sections probably know who they have in mind if their spot opens up. They encourage those with offers to communicate their intentions quickly and once an offer is declined, they're pretty quick to offer another person (within a day or two). Considering all of this, I think we can expect additional offers to trickle out over the next couple weeks. Hope this helps some. Everyone enjoy your Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous User]

I just got done speaking with the (very friendly) individual at EOIR, who indicated to me that offers would begin to be made starting next week. The impression I got was that the process would last beyond that week, though.

[Anonymous User]

I just got done speaking with the (very friendly) individual at EOIR, who indicated to me that offers would begin to be made starting next week. The impression I got was that the process would last beyond that week, though.

Ugh none of my references were checked. I must be an alternate, so I will keep job hunting. Congrats everyone else

[desrea777]

Hey everyone. I was a 2014 honors hire and work at DOJ now in a trial attorney position. I thought I'd check-in on this year's thread - one that I spent hours looking at a year ago. I just wanted to mention a couple of things:

1) My offer (phone call) came on a Monday after another had gotten their call on a Thurs or Fri and posted so on here. I had assumed I was out of luck. I'm fairly certain different people were making the calls depending on who interviewed you and such. And weeks later, more spots were added - my Division went from 4 to 8-9 ultimately.

2) My references got called over a week before it switched to "finalist," and the offer came a week after that.

3) Even if you don't get a call but are a finalist, don't get too discouraged. Granted most people accept their offers, but more spots may be added.

4) Posting stats or asking about stats is pointless. In my incoming group we had a large variety of backgrounds. If the interviewers sensed excitement and a genuine interest in the work during your interview, as well as some people skills, you have a shot. Let the stats thing go - you got the interview, after which it was all on you.

Good luck, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks s for posting. Wait is tough. Would you mind sharing which component you are in?