Student Mediator (Paid, Summer Opportunity for Undergraduate Students)
Division of Regional Affairs
Syracuse Regional Office
Student Mediator (Paid, Summer Opportunity for Undergraduate Students)
Reference No. SYR_PUGS_SUM_2020
The application deadline is April 17, 2020
The New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is seeking an undergraduate student to serve as a student mediator for pay in the Syracuse Regional Office. In addition to its other activities, the Syracuse Regional Office's Consumer Frauds and Protection Unit prosecutes businesses and individuals engaged in fraudulent, misleading, deceptive or illegal trade practices, and mediates thousands of complaints each year from individual consumers. A large percentage of these complaints are resolved satisfactorily through an informal mediation process. The student mediator is an integral part of this mediation process.
Student mediators act as consumer advocates in negotiating consumer complaints with merchants. Each student mediator is assigned a number of consumer complaints files covering a broad range of consumer issues including retail sales, mail order transactions, credit transactions, telemarketing, warranty problems, home repair and automobiles.
The student is exposed to the Office’s procedures and philosophy and deals directly with consumers and merchants to resolve the complaints. Students are taught interviewing techniques and will have the opportunity to develop analytical skills as they learn to focus on the underlying issues to reach a resolution of each complaint. While each complaint is reviewed by a member of our professional staff, the student typically exercises significant discretion and independent judgment. Consumer Representatives, experienced volunteers or lawyers, supervise the students.
Position Details
- Undergraduates in their freshman year should wait to submit their applications until after they have received their first semester grades.
- The OAG’s summer program will officially run from June 1 – July 24, 2020. The students hired for this position will work 30 hours/week for the 8 weeks of the program.
- The selected candidate will be hired as a student assistant at the hourly rate of $13.86 for undergraduate students.
- Applications will be accepted online and positions will be filled on a rolling basis.
- Applicants must be available to meet in person or by video conference for interviews.
- Applicants must be eligible to be employed in the U.S.
- To be eligible, applicants must be full-time undergraduate students in good academic standing as defined by their schools.
- Applicants are encouraged to learn more about the OAG prior to submitting their applications by visiting the Divisions and Bureaus and Media sections of the OAG website.
Candidates from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
The OAG is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to workplace diversity.
How to Apply
The following section provides detailed information about the application process and application requirements. Please review the complete list of instructions prior to preparing and submitting your application materials online.
Applications for this opportunity are being received online. To apply, please click on the link:
Applications are submitted separately for each bureau/regional office, and an applicant’s candidacy for each application is determined separately by each bureau/regional office.
The application deadline is April 17, 2020, but please note that positions will be filled on a rolling basis.
The following documents are required for each application that is submitted: (Click on the document name to learn more)
- Please address to Legal Recruitment.
- If applying to multiple bureaus/regional offices, we recommend that you submit the same cover letter for each application, ranking those bureaus/regional offices in order of your preference.
- Indicate in your cover letter whether there are any deadlines related to your candidacy.
List of three (3) references.
- Only submit professional (i.e., supervisor or professor) references.
- Indicate your professional relationship to each reference.
- Include contact information and email addresses for each reference.
- An unofficial transcript is acceptable.
- Undergraduates in their first year should wait to submit their application until after they have received their first semester grades.
- Submit any piece of writing that demonstrates your ability to communicate and analyze information in a clear and concise manner, as well as your grammatical skills.
Failure to submit a complete application will delay the consideration of your candidacy.
Please allow at least three (3) business weeks for your application to be processed and reviewed by the hiring bureau/regional office. After three (3) weeks, to request a status update, please click here.
If you have questions about a position with the OAG, the application process or need assistance with submitting your application, please contact Legal Recruitment at recruitment@ag.ny.gov.