Legal jobs with the federal government these days are few and far between, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has multiple attorney openings.
Job applicants can forget the dreaded knowledge-skills-abilities statement - the SEC is using a headhunter, Futurestep, "to provide strategic talent acquisition solutions to help the agency address its continuing talent needs." While retaining a headhunter may be standard operating procedure in the private sector, for federal agencies, it’s far more unusual.
Open SEC jobs include a trial attorney in the Enforcement Division and a senior advisor in the Clearance and Settlement unit within the Division of Trading and Markets, which both pay between $126,661 and $198,333. The SEC is also hiring an associate director for Clearance and Settlement and chief counsel of the Division of Trading and Markets, with salaries of up to $226,160.
The SEC is even using Futurestep to fill what amounts to entry-level attorney advisor positions - there are at least two vacancies, with pay starting at $81,225.
Futurestep is part of Korn/Ferry, which bills itself as the world’s largest executive recruiting firm. It was awarded a government contract in 2009 and began working with the SEC in February 2010, according a company press release, assisting with “the implementation of best-practice talent acquisition processes and expert support related to workforce planning, employment branding and talent technology strategy.”
The SEC job vacancies are listed on the Office of Personnel Management’s USAJobs.com website, but employment seekers are directed to Futurestep’s website to actually apply.
The SEC and Futurestep did not respond to requests for comment.
It’s imperative that the SEC fill the jobs before the end of the fiscal year in September, Enforcement Division head Robert Khuzami told a securities law conference earlier this month. The agency got a $70 million bump in funding which will go toward new hires, “but we only have five months to do it,” he said. “All of a sudden we have to push through a lot of hires, because if we don’t spend the money by the end of the fiscal year, it’s gone.”
The SEC’s workload has risen dramatically after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, which overhauled financial regulations. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also found itself short-staffed, and is currently looking to fill at least eight lawyer vacancies – but it’s doing so on its own, without a headhunter.
The sec is a fraternity, and they cant try a case, i user to want to work there and was begging for a job, i now find youre better off not working there and representing private clients because you will.kick their asses in trial as I have.
Posted by: bill s | December 17, 2011 at 11:33 AM
When the SEC failed to enforce the existing laws from 2006-2008, the SEC became part of the problem:
You may be interested in reading some of my public comments:
January 21, 2011:
http://www.sec.gov/comments/df-title-ix/whistleblower/whistleblower-80.htm
August 24, 2010:
http://www.sec.gov/comments/4-608/4608-1.htm
August 30, 2010:
http://www.sec.gov/comments/df-title-ix/short-sale-disclosure/shortsaledisclosure-11.htm
July 8, 2008:
http://push.pickensplan.com/forum/topics/2187034:Topic:17420
June 9, 2008
http://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-20-07/s72007-101.htm
To put the SECret patent information in context with current events, please read this recent article from the Los Alamos National Laboratory:
http://www.lanl.gov/news/releases/cheaper-hydrogen-fuel-cells.html
You may not have heard this exciting news because it was competing with the President's birth certificate controversy, killing Osama Bin Laden, the Royal Wedding, and other distracting media events.
To this date, no one at the SEC Enforcement Office has engaged in meaningful conversation about my unique life experiences. Speaking truth to power is not easy. This has been made more difficult in the post man created financial crisis world in which we live.
Posted by: Joe Jefferis | May 31, 2011 at 01:55 PM
The KSA-type questions are not gone!
Posted by: bob | May 25, 2011 at 12:26 PM
The SEC refuses to laterally hire attorneys who have solid litigation experience but no securities law specific experience. It is that mindset that has caused its "glut" of vacancies, but that is a poor hiring strategy, especially in light of the SEC's poor enforcement performance. It could also be that the SEC's HR department is simply incompetent just like its enforcement division. The blame for our economic crisis lays at the SEC's doorstep. Ironically, the SEC was created to prevent a second Great Depression, but its "securities law club" lawyers have completely failed that mission.
Posted by: Roland | May 25, 2011 at 10:16 AM