Your steps to apply

Trial Attorney (Open Continuous)
Consumer Product Safety Commission · District of Columbia, District of Columbia · Closes in 122 days

1 Check you can apply
2 Resume and documents
3 Apply on USAJOBS
4 After you apply

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1 Check you can apply You are here

Who can apply: The public, Federal employees - Excepted service.

Open to the public and to current federal employees in the excepted service. You must be a U.S. citizen, and no prior federal experience is required.

Experience: You need 52 weeks of specialized experience (work that built the specific skills this job needs) at the next lower grade. For GS-12, this means investigations, legal pleadings, and enforcement advice; for GS-13 and GS-14, you must have worked independently and handled hearings or trials, with GS-14 requiring complex matters.

Education: You need a J.D. or LL.B. law degree. Higher grades also require years of practicing attorney experience: 1 year for GS-11 (or an LL.M. or superior law school work), 2 years for GS-12, 3 years for GS-13, and 4 years for GS-14.

Licenses and certifications:

Active bar membership in good standing in a U.S. state, D.C., or Puerto Rico

Experience can be paid or unpaid, volunteer work included: if it matches the duties, it counts. The full rules are in the announcement.

2 Resume and documents

Write a federal resume for this job. For each job you held, give the month and year you started and ended, your hours per week and what you did, using the words of the experience the announcement asks for. Many announcements accept resumes of up to 2 pages: check this one.

Resume ready: dates, hours per week, duties Resume of two pages or less showing dates, hours per week, duties, and series and grade for federal jobs Proof of current active bar membership or good standing Law school transcripts (unofficial transcripts are acceptable) Proof of law degree such as a diploma Recent copy of SF-50 showing title, series, grade, and salary DD-214 if claiming veterans' preference SF-15 if claiming 10-point veterans' preference Proof of eligibility if using a special hiring authority

3 Apply on USAJOBS

Closes in 122 days (March 5, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time).

The announcement may close early without notice. The first referral cut-off date is November 13, 2026, and later applications are referred at regular intervals as vacancies occur.

You sign in to USAJOBS with a Login.gov account, answer the questionnaire and upload your documents, then you submit. Answer the questionnaire honestly: your resume must show what you claim.

How they rate you: Your application is first checked against the minimum qualifications, and then a Subject Matter Expert reviews your resume and documents. Scores come from the questionnaire and USA Hire assessments that measure competencies such as decision making, negotiating, and reasoning.

Apply on USAJOBS ↗

4 After you apply

In USAJOBS, under Applications, you can see where your application stands: received, reviewed, referred to the hiring manager or not, then selected or not. It can take a few weeks.

For the interview, prepare three examples with the STAR method: the Situation, the Task, what you did (Action) and the Result.

If they choose you: a tentative offer, then a background check, then the final offer with your start date.

Tips for this job:

Your resume must show each job's dates, hours per week, duties, and federal series and grade, since only the first two pages are reviewed.
Include proof of bar membership and law school transcripts, because missing documents can cost you consideration.
List only schools accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Kandidatu is an independent website: only the official posting counts. Read it before you apply.