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How hard would it be for someone in the top third of their class at a T1 to land a job at the DOJ or SEC?

Anonymous User wrote:How hard would it be for someone in the top third of their class at a T1 to land a job at the DOJ or SEC?

Pretty sure damn near impossible.

Also, why so anonymous?

What type of grades/rankings should someone be aiming for to get jobs like those?

..

I know of a T2 that one person from the two classes before me have gotten DOJ Honors. Both on law review/journal, but both from a T2. Not saying it isn't really selective, but people on this forum tend to make inferences about jobs based on the inferences other people on this forum make.

They are as difficult to get as biglaw.

I think government jobs tend to have a mystique about them because their review process is not as straightforward as a firm. With a firm, if you're in a certain % at your school (depending on where you are), then you'll probably get a job (well at least traditionally, ITE who knows?). With the government, they tend to undertake a more comprehensive review of your application. They will look beyond %, GPA, and law review. For those things, you need to be beyond a certain threshold (I've heard it varies by school like firm jobs) but then after that it's really a matter of "does this person have an interest in our particular mission/work/etc?" When you look at the application/number of acceptances ratio, government jobs such as the DOJ/SEC look abysmal. However, in reality, a fairly large number of people submit poor applications and they're immediately weeded out. You actually need to be fairly tailored in your application (e.g. cover letter directed towards the agency, related activities to the agency's mission). It helps to have spent your summers at government jobs (a fair number of which will lead to permanent offers) because this shows you're not just going to jump ship when the economy is doing better (this is a HUGE problem for a lot of government agencies because they can't compete $$ wise with a large law firm). From what I've seen, people tend to submit very generic applications to government agencies, treating them as a backup plan. Either that or they don't know how to write a proper government application (ask around, you can figure it out). If you spend some time on your application and assuming you're over a certain threshold (top 1/3 at a T25 is probably good enough although selectivity varies by school and agency), you should have a shot though it's still no guarantee.