Are you interested in pursuing a federal job outside of practicing law? If so, consider these types of jobs that The Partnership for Public Service is seeing JDs successfully build careers:
- Rule Making/Regulation/Compliance (creating/revising, writing, and interpreting federal regulations)
- Ethics/Inspector General/Civil Rights (also have legal jobs in these areas)
- Project Management (especially overseeing contractors or handling bidding processes)
- Negotiations/Alternative Dispute Resolution (within the agency, with other agencies, with contractors, with constituents)
- Legislative/Inter-Agency Liaison/Appropriations (working with Congressional, inter-agency, and intra-agency counterparts)
- Investigations/Enforcement (especially inter-agency efforts)
- Public Policy and Internal Policy Development
When applying to these positions, don't forget that many of these types of jobs are called various things by different agencies, so think broadly. Read through job descriptions carefully and tailor your federal style resume (which is longer than your legal resume, usually 3 to 4 pages) for each position. This top ten tips will help you develop the additional information that you include in such applications. Some of these positions will also be posted directly on the agency websites because they are temporary or the agency is exempt from using USAJobs.
