Wild Card wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2024 11:05 am
I think being able to articulate why public service, why this particular agency, and, of course, why this particular division / office really helps.
I think this is absolutely correct - these are the main things that a federal employer is going to want to see (I assume a state gov employer too, just don’t have experience with that).
I think most agency jobs will have dedent WLB - from partnering with them and when I get responses etc it seems a very 9-5 gig/no weekends, though as always, this varies by agency (for instance I get a lot of stuff back from State after hours, though not sure how much is workload vs. time zone differences). My sense is that trial attorneys will have heavier loads that attorney-advisors just because of the deadlines in litigation, though I don’t want to say that all attorney-advisor gigs are chill, it will definitely depend on the agency and what you do.
WRT USAOs, criminal AUSAs can have heavy workloads, though how heavy and how constant varies by office (SDNY people are always on email well into the evening) and also just what’s happening in your cases (i.e. if you’re going to trial, it’s long hours everywhere, but how often you go to trial varies; average where I’ve worked is 1-2 trials/year but it’s luck of the draw. I knew someone who had trials go 4 trial settings in a row - so two months of back to back trials - which would of course require a lot of work leading up to that period). Civil AUSA is generally more chill.
The civil/criminal distinction probably breaks down if you’re at Main Justice, though I’m not sure if you can generalize about the hours there (I feel like it’s more intense than the average civil AUSA gig but not as intense as the most intense criminal AUSA gigs, but that’s really just a hunch and different components will vary a lot). I don’t think it’s going to be biglaw levels of work though unless you’re, like, heading a major division or something.
As for when to apply - generally, it is going to depend on when a job is posted (some USAOs take rolling applications, but that doesn’t dictate when they actually fill an opening). I’d suggest keeping an eye out starting now, but you can probably start making plausible applications in late spring - around April/May. If the position requires the national security clearance background check (USAOs, at least some other main justice components or agencies), it can take 3-4 months to get clearance to be able to start work. The application timeline itself can vary a lot too - I’ve seen some searches conclude within a month to 6 weeks, others take more than that just to hear back about an initial interview.
The problem with applying earlier than that, assuming the posting doesn’t say anything about a later start date, is that most agencies only hire when they have a demonstrated need (and get funding for that demonstrated need), so will struggle to wait months and months for you to start, especially if they have another good candidate who can start sooner. They may need someone to start within a given window to keep the funding for the position.
That said, it’s worth looking at openings b/c some don’t come around very often and I don’t think there’s any harm in throwing your hat into the ring even if you’re not sure the timing will work out. So maybe don’t apply to something posted tomorrow, but if something interesting comes up in Dec/Jan, it might be worth a shot. I’ve seen people apply, not get hired b/c of timing issues, then get hired when a subsequent position opens. You might also be able to reach out and find out if they’d consider you if your start date couldn’t be till August/Sept 2025 - no guarantee you’ll get a straight answer about this, but you might.
(Just a last note, you may know this, but in case not, experience requirements for federal jobs are hard and fast, so there’s no point applying for something that requires X yrs of experience if you don’t have X years; the hiring committee won’t even see your application. A lot of positions look for 3 years, which I assume you will meet given your biglaw stint, so you should be okay, but not knowing your timeline, I thought I’d mention it, because in the private sector most job “requirements” can be ignored if the employer likes a candidate enough, which isn’t the case for federal hiring.)