One Interview, One Offer

After finding out in November that I passed the California Bar Exam, I applied for 4 jobs. All 4 were with different counties, and 3 of the 4 were for positions as a deputy DA. Two I have not yet heard from either way, but the other 2 called and set up interviews. The first was this past Monday.

This first interview was for the only job that is not as a DDA. I had figured that the initial interview would be with the HR department, so I was kind of surprised when I showed up at the given address and found it was the actual department of the position. I was interviewed by a panel of 3 people: the director and deputy director of the 260 person department, and one of the 6 attorneys currently working there. I could not read them and had no idea what they thought of me or if they liked me.

Before I left, I asked what the next step would be and was again surprised by hearing that they would make a decision in 7-10 days without a second interview. I guess even though they stressed that this was a "no glamour" job, because it was for an attorney position I thought they would want to put the applicants through a little more hoop-jumping.

I received a phone call yesterday from one of the three on the interviewing panel. I thought maybe she needed to clarify something I had said during the interview. Nope. She was calling to offer me the job. It is contingent on a background check, though I'm not worried about that since I passed an extensive one for the Department of Justice prior to working at the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Now I'm not quite sure about the second job interview I have lined up. If the background check takes a while, I'll still go and see what they have to say. But if the check is completed rather quickly, it wouldn't really be appropriate to go if I would be starting a new job a couple of days later. We'll just see.

In any event, I'm thrilled to have a job lined up and to know that I'll be working soon, as an attorney. Makes it feel so much more official. :) This position will have me in court 2 full days a week, and preparing for those days the rest of the time. The department has 70,000 cases, so it sounds like exactly the crazy kind of work I prefer.