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I'm a rising 3L and my ideal legal job once I graduate would be to work for an administrative agency. Does anyone have a job at an agency or know any advice on getting them? Are there any "hot spots" when it comes to new agencies?

Agency jobs are hard to come by at the moment because of the budget crunch. Your best option is to try and intern there if you are close enough. Federal agencies officially hire through USA jobs, however, if you are working there and here of a job opportunity you can talk to the person in charge of that division and "apply" on usa jobs but the employer will be looking for your application.

Hope this helps.

http://www.pslawnet.org/federalgovernmentresources

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Federal agencies don't have to post their attorney openings on USAjobs.com, so a lot of times they'll have openings that you'll only know about if you a.) know someone in that office, or b.) have your resume on file and that resume makes their first round interview offer cut-off. (i.e. they call you and ask if you're still interested in interviewing for a job with that agency).

Financial agencies are busy and getting busier because of the financial crisis and Dodd Frank. I think tax regulations are making the IRS busier as well, but you'd need a tax background. Check out agencies like the SEC, CFTC, FRBG (they hire out of law school), and FDIC.

What is FRBG?

Also, anyone have any experience with working at a lower position to get your foot in the door? I'm referring to working as a policy analyst or investigator.

Thank you for all the advice.

The FRBG is the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. I'm opposed to the Fed but I'll do anything for money, so I'll definitely look into them. It's good to know that they hire out of law school. Hopefully things will be a little better economy-wise in a year.

I wouldn't hang all your hopes on the fact that interning will get you a job down the line. Fed agencies love interns because of the free labor. They don't owe you anything once you intern and the process for getting a real job at any agency is very different from getting an intern position in law school. Often, an entirely different person or group of people are making the hiring decisions and the selection criteria are much more stringent. Bottom line is that interns are a dime a dozen at fed agencies and it's not going to help you that much. Look at the honors program numbers in the handbook you can get from your school...the numbers should be pretty sobering for you.

AFA non-attorney positions, through USAJobs, good luck. Applying to those is such a crapshoot it's not even funny. Odds are you won't even qualify for most of the jobs you'd want unless you have very specific and useful pre-law school work experience. They won't hire you just because you have a law degree.