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Post by iapplied on Jul 6, 2010 20:04:29 GMT -5
8-)I came off the street as a practicing attorney and as an administrative law judge with a state workmen's compensation commission, with with the hearings were adversary. Now I don't know how much litigation plays with qualification as an ALJ, I think the main thing is contact with the proletariat, dealing with the public. Sitting in an office, and not dealing with those out there, bodes ill when you come in contact with them in a hearing. You have to know how to deal with people. Dealing with people is so key! I would also add that dealing with delays and red tape is another biggie! I think if one is used to calling all the shots, or used to getting things done with little or no red tape, or used to certain fringe benefits, or used to people getting fired, then that person will likely have a serious adjustment with working in any government position for the first time but especially as an ALJ. That means you'll likely work with people you otherwise wouldn't, and because of limited staffing, you'll likely have to get over what your position is, and you will also likely have to find a way to work with difficult people. You will likely have to wait for a budget to buy needed/wanted equipment, even then seniority plays a part as well. You'll likely have to choose your battles and let small things go. You will then have to weigh your frustrations, if any, with the benefits of the job and find that overall, you either like the job or you don't. But you will likely have to make a mental adjustment when transitioning from all private practice work to working for the government. I can't speak for all agencies or for everyone but I do know that to be true for me. I like that the ALJ position has mentors since my mentor helped me make that transition.
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Post by Well on Jul 7, 2010 7:29:53 GMT -5
Dealing with people is so key! I would also add that dealing with delays and red tape is another biggie! I think if one is used to calling all the shots, or used to getting things done with little or no red tape, or used to certain fringe benefits, or used to people getting fired, then that person will likely have a serious adjustment with working in any government position for the first time but especially as an ALJ. That means you'll likely work with people you otherwise wouldn't, and because of limited staffing, you'll likely have to get over what your position is, and you will also likely have to find a way to work with difficult people. You will likely have to wait for a budget to buy needed/wanted equipment, even then seniority plays a part as well. You'll likely have to choose your battles and let small things go. You will then have to weigh your frustrations, if any, with the benefits of the job and find that overall, you either like the job or you don't. But you will likely have to make a mental adjustment when transitioning from all private practice work to working for the government. I can't speak for all agencies or for everyone but I do know that to be true for me. I like that the ALJ position has mentors since my mentor helped me make that transition. In my former life I had to hire staff for a government agency and one thing you have to learn is how to spot people who can make a good transition. Some people thrive on intensity and don't cope well with the idea of arriving at 8am and walking out the door at 4:30 without a laptop and blackberry to do more work at home. You have to learn to do things that seem stupid and inefficient. Sometimes it's because it is what you have to do to deal with the audits of your work by the independent oversight people who want that dumb paper trail and other times because the assistant director thinks its a marvelous idea and it is one of the great "innovations" they brought to the agency. If your desk chair breaks 90 days before the end of the fiscal year when there is money left, you might end up with a super deluxe desk chair. If it breaks after the start of the fiscal year, you may end up scrounging in the storage room for a less broken chair. You may end up running like a crazy person to call dibs on the five year old chair of a more senior person who gets a new chair when you can't. In hiring you are trying to weed out the people who don't have a job for a meaningful reason that would make them a bad hire and the people who see 8 hours a day in a government office as their vision of the work as being equivalent to their own private island with umbrella drinks. Having mentored a number of people through the government transition you have to show people how you are making a meaningful difference with the work while at the same time developing some degree of indifference to how the structures around you actually work.
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Post by hod on Jul 7, 2010 10:22:04 GMT -5
Well said Well. The craziest thing coming from private to public practice is that -no one is assiged to you as your AA, paralegal, secretary or whatever. You get your own coffee, write your own notes, and no one is in any particular awe of or gives deference to a license to practice law or a judicial robe. You are not in Kansas any more.
The other crazy thing is that the most logical ideas are often still born. You think that the office should get a copier when one breaks-no a copier comes when fiscal budgetary concerns say it comes whether you need it or not. You think you should be able to buy that copier using left over furniture money that you don't need. No first of all there is no such thing as left over furniture or any money -Management will spend it. And second copiers are not furniture. Management will buy a conference table that you have no room for and will have to store for the next few years. Life in the government is frustrating or funny depending on perspective. Those who can manage to work the system (I mean this in a perfectly legal way) are ahead of the game. Those who can laugh at themselves and the other oddities that come around are absolute winners. Act like your mama is watching, treat everyone as if he or she was someone you actually cared about, and do what little you can to relieve some of the misery out there. Thank God you don't have to be a rainmaker and that the check comes every other Friday. Say another prayer for the (so far) unbelievable job security. It allows you to concentrate on the truly important things in life.
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Post by iapplied on Jul 8, 2010 6:20:25 GMT -5
Thanks for providing examples Well. You really brought the message home and made me laugh in the process!
Hod, I laughed at your post too as I recall the spending/no spending frenzies at the end of fiscal year.
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