DOJ legal excellence program includes PPSC

[JustHereNotStaying]

The PPSC usually hires as a separate entity. However for the DOJ legal excellence program Ottawa-Gatineau are they the same? Couldn’t really see anything other than the legal excellence program stating you prosecute CDSA offences (PPSC jurisdiction).

[TheDevilIKnow]

23 minutes ago, JustHereNotStaying said:

The PPSC usually hires as a separate entity.

If you are referring to general hiring of experience counsel, this is correct. However, this is not correct for articling as far as I know. Only in Toronto does the PPSC do its own 2L and articling recruit, if I understand correctly. In some other cities, students recruited on the DOJ side do rotations through PPSC. I am not sure if that occurs in all other cities; personally I am only familiar with Vancouver. But it looks like that's the deal in Ottawa based on the description you mentioned.

[Cajamz]

DOJ articling students in Ottawa-Gatineau can do rotations at PPSC.

[Byzantine]

Anyone have advice for getting a 2L job at DOJ? I'll be applying for Vancouver office and wondering if anything I should do over the summer to prepare for the interview process 

[TheDevilIKnow]

On 6/14/2022 at 9:55 AM, Byzantine said:

Anyone have advice for getting a 2L job at DOJ? I'll be applying for Vancouver office and wondering if anything I should do over the summer to prepare for the interview process 

I don't have any specific advice for that position,  but coming from a public service background I would emphasize the usual advice foe gov jobs: Adhere fanatically to the job description, "statement of merit", and whatever else is part of the job ad. Government hiring is based on fairly rigid processes of box-checking and rubrics. It's a bit stilted and unnatural, but keep in mind they're just trying to be consistent/fair.

I've had a lot of public sector jobs in various fields (I'm old) and they're pretty well all like that!

[JustHereNotStaying]

thank you for the comments it helped, did the interview and now fingers crossed (will update if something comes out of it).

[FORCE]

9 hours ago, JustHereNotStaying said:

thank you for the comments it helped, did the interview and now fingers crossed (will update if something comes out of it).

Hi ! I'm thinking of applying to DOJ next year ! how did you find the application and  interview process ? 

[JustHereNotStaying]

Tbh I felt it was easy going. However, I have been in interviews where I think I ripped it but didn’t get the job. It’s sort of a mix between crown and private law interviews where some substantive questions occur (they don’t ask you about fact patterns).
 

The best thing you can do is honestly go through their website and understand their initiatives. 
 

The fact that you only get one interview sucks - advocate your butt off. 

overall nice people. Great organization. 

[FORCE]

On 6/17/2022 at 7:32 PM, JustHereNotStaying said:

Tbh I felt it was easy going. However, I have been in interviews where I think I ripped it but didn’t get the job. It’s sort of a mix between crown and private law interviews where some substantive questions occur (they don’t ask you about fact patterns).
 

The best thing you can do is honestly go through their website and understand their initiatives. 
 

The fact that you only get one interview sucks - advocate your butt off. 

overall nice people. Great organization. 

Great !Thank you. I hope you get an offer !

[Major_Agnostic]

On 6/17/2022 at 7:32 PM, JustHereNotStaying said:

Tbh I felt it was easy going. However, I have been in interviews where I think I ripped it but didn’t get the job. It’s sort of a mix between crown and private law interviews where some substantive questions occur (they don’t ask you about fact patterns).
 

The best thing you can do is honestly go through their website and understand their initiatives. 
 

The fact that you only get one interview sucks - advocate your butt off. 

overall nice people. Great organization. 

Why would you want more than one interview? Student jobs already have enough hassle and hoops to jump through as it is so I for one am very glad to just have one interview hahaha. 

My recommendation for @FORCE and others is to pre-write answers/notes for potential questions on initiatives (like a current bill) and the mandate of the DOJ (supporting the dual role stuff). That's about it for substantive stuff, unlike Crown. Otherwise just have an SCC case ready to brief like for other interviews and read through the Public Servant Code of Values and Ethics; use the competencies and behaviours from the Code to flesh out your answers to typical situational questions.

[Major_Agnostic]

On 6/14/2022 at 10:18 AM, Cajamz said:

DOJ articling students in Ottawa-Gatineau can do rotations at PPSC.

I can confirm this.

Also, @Byzantine, I sort of answered your question in another thread, in case others want to check that out. Beyond applying for the official posting, getting into a gov position (like the DOJ internship that Queen's offers) would be a great way to find someone in Justice to network with and find out if an office needs an extra hand in the summer or something. For example, my current 2L job was not posted anywhere; I asked if I could stay on in the summer and ended up getting a casual contract.

[tiktok]

Does anyone know if it's common for the DOJ to hire from a pool of qualified candidates? I am currently in a pool that expires next summer and was wondering what my chances of being hired from the pool were. 

[Major_Agnostic]

On 7/2/2022 at 6:52 PM, tiktok said:

Does anyone know if it's common for the DOJ to hire from a pool of qualified candidates? I am currently in a pool that expires next summer and was wondering what my chances of being hired from the pool were. 

Asked someone at work who got in through FSWEP this summer. Idk that she was in a pool per se other than the general FSWEP pool, but she worked at another department in 2019 (also FSWEP) and got in more easily because of that. She thinks it’s unlikely to get DOJ through FSWEP if you haven’t already worked gov.

FSWEP is out of your control once you set it up, but definitely try and network or do an internship, which can give you an in for a casual (that’s what I did).

[SupremeCheese]

On 7/6/2022 at 2:55 PM, Major_Agnostic said:

Asked someone at work who got in through FSWEP this summer. Idk that she was in a pool per se other than the general FSWEP pool, but she worked at another department in 2019 (also FSWEP) and got in more easily because of that. She thinks it’s unlikely to get DOJ through FSWEP if you haven’t already worked gov.

FSWEP is out of your control once you set it up, but definitely try and network or do an internship, which can give you an in for a casual (that’s what I did).

DOJ out here hiring custas this year

[tiktok]

On 7/6/2022 at 2:55 PM, Major_Agnostic said:

Asked someone at work who got in through FSWEP this summer. Idk that she was in a pool per se other than the general FSWEP pool, but she worked at another department in 2019 (also FSWEP) and got in more easily because of that. She thinks it’s unlikely to get DOJ through FSWEP if you haven’t already worked gov.

FSWEP is out of your control once you set it up, but definitely try and network or do an internship, which can give you an in for a casual (that’s what I did).

interesting. Do you know if she will be able to partake in the program and article with the govt? 

[Major_Agnostic]

19 hours ago, tiktok said:

interesting. Do you know if she will be able to partake in the program and article with the govt? 

Not sure what you mean by the program. The only DOJ ‘program’ for students I know of is Legal Excellence, which is a completely distinct application process.
 

She told me she didn’t land an interview with them, so it’s by no means a guarantee even if you have been working with DOJ.

[FORCE]

On 7/2/2022 at 3:35 PM, Major_Agnostic said:

Why would you want more than one interview? Student jobs already have enough hassle and hoops to jump through as it is so I for one am very glad to just have one interview hahaha. 

My recommendation for @FORCE and others is to pre-write answers/notes for potential questions on initiatives (like a current bill) and the mandate of the DOJ (supporting the dual role stuff). That's about it for substantive stuff, unlike Crown. Otherwise just have an SCC case ready to brief like for other interviews and read through the Public Servant Code of Values and Ethics; use the competencies and behaviours from the Code to flesh out your answers to typical situational questions.

Hi ! thank you for the advice . Should I focus on a specific area of practice for the case law (immigration, aboriginal etc..) 

[Major_Agnostic]

On 7/24/2022 at 8:29 PM, FORCE said:

Hi ! thank you for the advice . Should I focus on a specific area of practice for the case law (immigration, aboriginal etc..) 

If you’re talking about the Legal Excellence Program then no, since there’s no specific practice area for the program. Just whatever case or initiative you find interesting!

If you’re applying directly to a specific gov office, then that’s a different story and I’d only be making educated guesses.