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I am targeting a fairly (but definitely not the most) competitive ausa district. I am not geographically flexible. I went to the regional powerhouse law school this district, but not t14. Think like gw/gulc, usc/UCLA, BC/Bu, UT, Vandy, etc. I’d say the target usao is 80 or 90% biglaw background but that might vary with administration.

I fedclerked in this district, Ada in the district’s major city for 3 years, biglaw at a top amlaw firm with former ausa partners for 1 year doing a mix of Fortune 500 commercial lit and internal investigations, although by chance my investigations have not much involved the local usao.

I am in biglaw now. While I am not in a huge hurry to jump out of biglaw, trying to senior associate into partnership track is probably not for me. I’ve been saving up money in anticipation of jumping to govt, but honestly usao is the only govt position I could see myself really liking.

Within the next couple years, based on what you know, ausa chance me. FWIW, I’ve already gotten interviewed there maybe a year ago, but got the vibe I wasn’t a serious contender due to lack of experience. Rejected after one interview. Assume no connections.

To the extent you don’t think my chances are decent, what could I do to improve them besides move?

Any other unsolicited advice would be appreciated.

I won't give a terribly long answer because other people have probably more to say but I was in a similar situation, but with some more connections and no ADA experience. I targeted just about every major city and had 10+ interviews but had ties to one major/competitive market and had worked in big law there. I made it through two rounds and didn't get it. My ties inside the office looked at all my interview files and basically said "we're not really sure why," better luck next time. I ended up getting an AUSA job in an even more competitive market (with no ties) and made some final round interviews in the most competitive of markets.

All that is to say, I think its really really hard to know when you aren't flexible geographically. My advice from the office I was targeting was keep applying. I got the vibe that several of my interviewers had applied many times and took it as a rite of passage almost.