Fed here. Do not go into fed gov't. Been getting worse for years and trend looks set to continue.

This is op. In law school my favorite subjects were labor and employment law as well as classes on conflict resolution, like negotiation, mediation, arbitration, etc. All of my summer work was in federal government or public interest and I worked in various general counsel offices in during the semester too. I didn't really think about what types of non lawyer positions would work best for me until I applied to this program and I'm still pretty clueless.

Congratulations, OP. Agencies are all so different. Can you give us some idea of areas of interest that you have?

Can anyone give any insights as to which agencies are particularly good or bad?

My experience with the program is as someone who hired and worked with a bunch of PMFs in the mid-2000s. It can be a great way to get your foot in the door of a Federal career, however, I think the biggest flaw in the program is that there is no general oversight and your experience will greatly depend on how the particular agency you land in will treat you. If they don't have a good plan for PMFs, you will very likely languish in an intern-like role and unless you are very aggressive and vocal about progressing your career forward, may never get any particular momentum going. So be very careful about which agency to choose through the program! Try and talk to former PMFs who worked there, ask questions about the career path and rotation opportunities and get any promised perks (loan pay-off, career ladder promotions, etc) in writing!!

I am a finalist too, anyone that can share advice about good agencies to work at? Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:This is OP- I was selected as a finalist! Hooray, I guess (although apparently pp above would disagree)! Now I am working on spiffying up my resume and linked in profile. If anyone has any advice- good agencies, etc., I would very much appreciate it! TIA!!!

Congratulations!

Can you elaborate?

The program is a joke.

This is OP- I was selected as a finalist! Hooray, I guess (although apparently pp above would disagree)! Now I am working on spiffying up my resume and linked in profile. If anyone has any advice- good agencies, etc., I would very much appreciate it! TIA!!!

Don't do it. The organizations I've worked in used PMFs as interns basically.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a PMF in the mid-90s. JDs were very rare in the competition those days. Great opportunities, I was just very assertive about finding my own position and my own details since the program itself wasn't going to provide me the experiences I wanted.

Since the process has changed, I can't offer much advice OP but will say good luck! Especially with the government in a hiring freeze essentially, there will be opportunities to do great work.

PP can you give more details about this? How do you find your own positions and details? How did you choose an agency? It sounds like people have varying experiences based on how much they work to make it better for themselves.

I had already had some government internships and reached out to those contacts, as well as some of my adjunct professors who were civil servants to find a position. Once in my agency, it turns out they had a formal PMF program and wanted to rotate us throughout the building on their own schedule. My boss and I both said no I wasn't doing it and that was that. Used contacts to set up my own rotations outside my home agency.

My specific areas of interest really narrowed down the agencies that I was interested in working for.

My policy office hires attorneys (to do policy work, not in the general counel's office) through this program.

Had a friend do PMF back in 2004, she used it to get an attorney position. She is now a high ranking lawyer at the same agency.

Knowing what I know now, I regret not applying and doing the same.

I went into Big Law thinking that was the ticket. HA HA HA.

Anonymous wrote:I was a PMF in the mid-90s. JDs were very rare in the competition those days. Great opportunities, I was just very assertive about finding my own position and my own details since the program itself wasn't going to provide me the experiences I wanted.

Since the process has changed, I can't offer much advice OP but will say good luck! Especially with the government in a hiring freeze essentially, there will be opportunities to do great work.

PP can you give more details about this? How do you find your own positions and details? How did you choose an agency? It sounds like people have varying experiences based on how much they work to make it better for themselves.