DoL (Labor) 2013 Honors Attorney Program Forum

[Anonymous User]

That said, I'm quite sure having worker-side labor/employment experience helps, whether that's with DoL during 2L summer or some other time during law school, other relevant agencies, or even plaintiff-side firms. Every DoL Honors attorney I've been able to google-stalk has substantial experience like this. (Lest you think I'm totally creepy, DoL published some kind of newsletter in the last year with an article about the Honors Program that provided lots of names to look up on LinkedIn.) A bigger question is whether you could get one of these positions without that kind of experience, and I don't know - it probably depends on who's doing the hiring, what else you bring to the table, and how well you can spin the latter as applicable to the job.

I think it's essentially impossible to get a DoL honors job without any employment law experience, based on the Honors attorneys I know and talk to, and the fact that they are only hiring a handful of people for an employment-law only job. I do know for a fact that it's possible to get an honors position without having interned at the DoL itself.

Yeah. My interviewer said they're basically trying to do a couple things. One is ferret out people with little to no employment law experience, and also try to gauge your commitment to public interest work.

Do you think those two criteria are the most important in the evaluation process? As opposed to grades, law school prestige, etc.? Obviously, at this point, its all conjecture–but does anyone know how candidates were evaluated in the past?

[Anonymous User]

100+ finalists? Jeeze. In any event, I hope that if anyone gets an offer they will announce it. It would keep the rest of us from dwelling on this for the next few months.

[Anonymous User]

That said, I'm quite sure having worker-side labor/employment experience helps, whether that's with DoL during 2L summer or some other time during law school, other relevant agencies, or even plaintiff-side firms. Every DoL Honors attorney I've been able to google-stalk has substantial experience like this. (Lest you think I'm totally creepy, DoL published some kind of newsletter in the last year with an article about the Honors Program that provided lots of names to look up on LinkedIn.) A bigger question is whether you could get one of these positions without that kind of experience, and I don't know - it probably depends on who's doing the hiring, what else you bring to the table, and how well you can spin the latter as applicable to the job.

I think it's essentially impossible to get a DoL honors job without any employment law experience, based on the Honors attorneys I know and talk to, and the fact that they are only hiring a handful of people for an employment-law only job. I do know for a fact that it's possible to get an honors position without having interned at the DoL itself.

Yeah. My interviewer said they're basically trying to do a couple things. One is ferret out people with little to no employment law experience, and also try to gauge your commitment to public interest work.

Do you think those two criteria are the most important in the evaluation process? As opposed to grades, law school prestige, etc.? Obviously, at this point, its all conjecture–but does anyone know how candidates were evaluated in the past?

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Based on my conversation with my interviewer, he said that's what they're really looking at, in terms of winnowing down the pool. Even before we started talking a little more frankly about the whole process, it was pretty clear, based on his questions, that's what he was interest in.

Beyond that, I can't say what role it plays. Probably still relevant, but I'd imagine they winnow the pool down to candidates that have shown a commitment to public interest and employment. So not as large a role as it might play earlier in the process.

[Anonymous User]

I know past hires who have had COA clerkships (one clerked for SCOTUS), who went to prestigious schools, worked at biglaw firms, etc. I think that yes, those things are considered, count and are a plus. I know that when I was an intern, our office's class was 90% T6 schools. But I don't think it's a prereq.

[Anonymous User]

I know past hires who have had COA clerkships (one clerked for SCOTUS), who went to prestigious schools, worked at biglaw firms, etc. I think that yes, those things are considered, count and are a plus. I know that when I was an intern, our office's class was 90% T6 schools. But I don't think it's a prereq.

Please excuse my ignorance. What do you mean "our office's class"? Also, where did you intern (which office)?

[Anonymous User]

My impression (from talking to people involved in hiring for government agencies) is that while dedication to public interest/the area of agency expertise are crucial for everyone, emphasis on grades/school prestige/prestige of other experiences can vary a lot by individual interviewer. Some people care a lot, some don't. So some of it depends on who's doing the hiring in a given year, and it can change.

That said, I have a hard time thinking that someone who has demonstrated dedication to public interest and expertise/experience in the area of law, AND has great grades AND went to a prestigious school isn't going to get any kind of a boost from the grades/school. I could see if you were weighing someone with just great grades/school against someone with less great grades/school but who had amazing employment law experience, the grades/school wouldn't be sufficient. But it seems DoL can usually find the 7-10 people in the country who have the complete package.

(I'm the one who's talked about google-stalking previous hires; there's definitely a range of backgrounds - e.g. one has Duke/NYU/9th Circuit; one went to law school at Temple; one has Yale/Berkeley/work experience in a variety of grassroots orgs/labor firm; that kind of thing. Certainly prestigious schools are well-represented!)

[Anonymous User]

I just spoke to my interviewer and she/he told me that the hiring committee will have offers by the end of the year (or at least, that is the plan).

[Anonymous User]

Please excuse my ignorance. What do you mean "our office's class"? Also, where did you intern (which office)?

A "class" as in, the people who were summer interns during a given summer. And I'm not giving more details beyond an office at the DoL, nor do I think it's really relevant to the topic at hand.

[Anonymous User]

Any movement?

[Anonymous User]

.

[Anonymous User]

I wish.

[Anonymous User]

*crickets*

........

I'm beginning to wonder if anything will happen this year. Assuming of course they haven't already made a move and we're just not hearing about it.

[Anonymous User]

Any updates out there?

[Anonymous User]

I hope not, I haven't heard anything.

[Anonymous User]

Nothing here. Apparently last year (yes, I was nerding out and checked out last year's thread) people received either phone calls or emails prior to the decisions asking whether the individuals were still "interested" and informing them that they were in the final 30. Not sure if that is the protocol this year, but if you do receive an email or phone call or offer or ding, please report so the rest of us know what's going on.

[Anonymous User]

I just got a call to set up an interview at one of the regional offices. I already had an interview back in the fall during the on-campus recruiting process though. So I guess some offices are doing more interviews?

[Anonymous User]

Which regional office is doing the second interview? Does anyone know if any offers were made yet?

[Anonymous User]

My interviewer indicated that they would be trying to make an offer to the person selected for hire in that region ASAP after interviews conclude this week, but that their region is getting first pick, thus headquarters (and presumptively other regions) will be doing their hiring afterwards, and the timeline for that was unclear. She did say everything was subject to change as well because of the budget situation.

[Anonymous User]

My interviewer indicated that they would be trying to make an offer to the person selected for hire in that region ASAP after interviews conclude this week, but that their region is getting first pick, thus headquarters (and presumptively other regions) will be doing their hiring afterwards, and the timeline for that was unclear. She did say everything was subject to change as well because of the budget situation.

Thanks for the info. Any idea why this particular region is doing secondary interviews? I suspect that this is a special case. If they really plan to do secondary interviews for the other regions and HQ, this could go on for another couple of weeks.

[Anonymous User]

My interviewer indicated that they would be trying to make an offer to the person selected for hire in that region ASAP after interviews conclude this week, but that their region is getting first pick, thus headquarters (and presumptively other regions) will be doing their hiring afterwards, and the timeline for that was unclear. She did say everything was subject to change as well because of the budget situation.

Thanks for the info. Any idea why this particular region is doing secondary interviews? I suspect that this is a special case. If they really plan to do secondary interviews for the other regions and HQ, this could go on for another couple of weeks.

Thanks for post re. regional office hiring and timing.

Does anyone know if any "semifinalists" for the national office have been notified and asked for references yet?

[Anonymous User]

Any new news?

[Anonymous User]

Nothing here.. I am starting to worry that offers have gone out to people exclusively not on this thread o_O

[Anonymous User]

Nothing here.. I am starting to worry that offers have gone out to people exclusively not on this thread o_O

Hard to believe there's a universe of law students beyond this thread.

Nothing here. I sent an email to someone with whom I have had contact previously. No response.

Starting to get less sanguine as the days pass in silence.

[Anonymous User]

They have made a couple offers, but there is too much uncertainty in the budget to extend any more at this time although they would like to. I have no more details than this.

[Anonymous User]

What if a person were able to intern twice (summer and part-time semester) with the DOL, would that help?