Two overarching things I think are the most important:Anonymous User wrote:Current JA looking for an AUSA position. Anyone with any experience, either firsthand or otherwise? Any advice for me? I've landed a couple of interviews, surprisingly. Any interview advice specific to JAs?
1. You want to appear to fit in with that office
2. You want to appear to be a valuable work asset for that office.
Fitting in: if you are landing interviews, you may have been able to handle this already. But no DOD, UCMJ, MCM, etc., speak in your resume, cover letter, or in your interviews. You do not want to be the "military guy/gal." Be the person they could put into an office the next week without having to polish you as a civilian. Everything needs to be translated into terms they can understand - you did not conduct X amount of Article 32 hearings, you conducted X amount of pretrial hearings that are equivalent to securing a grand jury true bill. Article 15s/NJPs are adverse administrative actions. Etc.
I found trying to explain our sentencing hearings for guilty pleas can be a bit of a mess - federal sentencing is (99.5% of the time) nothing like a fully adversarial hearing that may be presented to members, with witness testimony, evidence entered, etc. I generally just lumped those into my status of litigated courts and had no problems.
Also, avoid the Pentagonese idioms that seem to infect all levels of staff officers. From popping smoke to putting iron on target, just no. Same goes for radio brevity terms and anything NATO Phonetic alphabet. You reading me 5x5 on this?
I would also be doing some real research on all the press releases issued by that particular USAO. What sorts of cases are the prosecuting? What are their recent big victories?
Being valuable: You need to present yourself as someone who is high experienced and highly capable. Again, you need to appear plug-and-play ready where you could start there that same afternoon and be able to pull your weight.
Have all of your numbers unpacked and ready to discuss. X amount of Felony (GCM) courts tried to verdict. Y amount of misdemeanor (SPCM) to verdict. Z amount of expert witnesses presented and crossed. XX defendants crossed. Know the variety of different cases you may have prosecuted or defended ("I've had trials from cases ranging from sexual assault to arson to white collar offenses such as fraud and forgery.")
Have some war stories prepped about interesting or challenging cases where you shined. You will likely get the obvious questions like what was your most difficult case/what is a moment you are most proud of/etc. Have that all mentally locked and loaded (see, it is impossible not to fall into use of the military idioms).
Also be ready for situational judgment style questions. You have a felon, previously convicted of a white collar offense, who is found to be in possession of a family heirloom that happens to be a fully functional blackpowder musket, which was secured to the wall above the fireplace. Do you charge this felon with a 18 USC 922 offense? Why or why not?
Finally, they want someone that will stay in that office for at least 4 years. If you do not have clear ties to the local area, be ready to talk about that and be able to sell that the District of __ is the one for you.
Good luck!