Sunday, November 8, 2009
Frequently Asked Questions 1
FAQ Part 1
November 2009
I have let a lot of friends and family know about the career change. In doing so I have received the same (very good) questions from a bunch of different people, I thought I might start putting together a list of frequently asked questions and answers. Here is the first installment.
What exactly is the foreign service? The United States Foreign Service is a portion of the State Department that provides diplomats for over 265 embassies, consulates, and diplomatic missions in over 160 countries around the world. At the beginning of the application process, would-be foreign service officers must choose one of five career tracks:
• Consular: aid American citizens abroad and evaluate foreign citizen applications to visit or immigrate to the United States
• Economic: support American financial interests abroad
• Management: help manage the logistics of the local embassy, consulate, or diplomatic mission
• Public Diplomacy: support the embassy’s informational (media and communications) and cultural programs
• Political: develop and communicate information to form U.S. foreign policy, and implement policy originating from Washington.
I will be a Public Diplomacy Officer, but will likely do a Consular post for either my first or second tour.
How does one become a foreign service officer? Here’s the quick-and-dirty summary of how State whittles down 20,000+ applicants to the few that get through each year. Each of the following steps results in a large percentage falling out of the process:
1. Application: An extensive online registration statement in which the candidate provides extensive information about experience, education, and work history. At this first stage, the candidate must declare one of the five career tracks.
2. Foreign Service Officers Test (FSOT): A proctored written exam with multiple choice, short answer, and essay sections covering job knowledge, English expression and usage, and biographic information.
3. Personal Narratives: A series of essays describing the candidate’s experience and background to be completed within three weeks of passing the FSOT. A Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP) reviews the narratives and, combined with other factors in the candidate’s file, to determine whether the candidate should move on to the oral assessment
4. Oral Assessment (FSOA): An all-day series of exercises and interviews held in Washington, DC, and selected other major U.S. cities. The FSOA tests the 13 dimensions State considers critical to the foreign service jobs. Unlike the prior steps, candidates receive immediate grading on the FSOA at the end of the day.
5. Medical Clearance: The candidate and the candidate’s family (spouse and dependent children) receive extensive medical testing to ensure that all can serve worldwide without significant health concerns.
6. Top Secret Security Clearance: An extensive background investigation going back ten years, and sometimes longer, to identify any security concerns. Investigators will follow-up on all employers, friends, neighbors, foreign contacts, and a host of other leads. This process can take months and, sometimes, years, to complete. Mine will be much quicker as a result of my good living, good family, and good friends and of course not having a foreign address.
7. Final Review Panel: One last review of the candidate’s entire file during which the panel may conclude the candidacy should be terminated. This can result if the panel feels that the candidate has habits, a life style, etc, that does not properly represent the United States Government in a favorable light.
8. Register: Once the candidate’s file passes the Final Review Panel, the candidate’s name will be posted on a register for the applicable career track, in order of the score received at the oral assessment (plus any bonus points for language fluency and/or military experience). As State builds a new class (a typical class has 60-100 new officers), the Registrar draws names in order from each register. A candidate’s name will remain on the register for 18 months. If the candidate does not receive an offer during that period, s/he must begin the process again from the beginning.
(I'm hoping for the March 2010 Class!)
What happens next? The first order of business is training. Eight hours a day, five days a week, at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia. The initial A-100 course (named after the basement room where diplomats were originally trained) lasts seven weeks. There will then be additional training based on my first post assignment, both job specific and language. Language training can be anywhere from 3-9 months so my stay in DC could be close to one year.
Where are you going? It depends. This is the answer to just about all questions related to the foreign service. Flexibility is key. We sign on to be “worldwide available” which means literally anywhere (OK, not Somalia as we have no embassy, consulate or diplomatic mission there currently). During the first week of A-100 training, I will receive a bid list with about 100 open positions. I’ll have a week or two to research the posts and mark each with a high, medium, or low preference priority. Then it is up to the bureaucracy. At the end of week 5, all the new officers convene for “Flag Day.” In a formal ceremony each name is called one at a time and the officer is presented with a flag representing the country where s/he will be posted. Thus, stay tuned to the blog in early April. NOTE: Currently spending time learning the flags of the world!
Portions of this post are from the following blog and the State Department Website www.diplojournal.com/2009/09/01/faq-part-i)
November 2009
I have let a lot of friends and family know about the career change. In doing so I have received the same (very good) questions from a bunch of different people, I thought I might start putting together a list of frequently asked questions and answers. Here is the first installment.
What exactly is the foreign service? The United States Foreign Service is a portion of the State Department that provides diplomats for over 265 embassies, consulates, and diplomatic missions in over 160 countries around the world. At the beginning of the application process, would-be foreign service officers must choose one of five career tracks:
• Consular: aid American citizens abroad and evaluate foreign citizen applications to visit or immigrate to the United States
• Economic: support American financial interests abroad
• Management: help manage the logistics of the local embassy, consulate, or diplomatic mission
• Public Diplomacy: support the embassy’s informational (media and communications) and cultural programs
• Political: develop and communicate information to form U.S. foreign policy, and implement policy originating from Washington.
I will be a Public Diplomacy Officer, but will likely do a Consular post for either my first or second tour.
How does one become a foreign service officer? Here’s the quick-and-dirty summary of how State whittles down 20,000+ applicants to the few that get through each year. Each of the following steps results in a large percentage falling out of the process:
1. Application: An extensive online registration statement in which the candidate provides extensive information about experience, education, and work history. At this first stage, the candidate must declare one of the five career tracks.
2. Foreign Service Officers Test (FSOT): A proctored written exam with multiple choice, short answer, and essay sections covering job knowledge, English expression and usage, and biographic information.
3. Personal Narratives: A series of essays describing the candidate’s experience and background to be completed within three weeks of passing the FSOT. A Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP) reviews the narratives and, combined with other factors in the candidate’s file, to determine whether the candidate should move on to the oral assessment
4. Oral Assessment (FSOA): An all-day series of exercises and interviews held in Washington, DC, and selected other major U.S. cities. The FSOA tests the 13 dimensions State considers critical to the foreign service jobs. Unlike the prior steps, candidates receive immediate grading on the FSOA at the end of the day.
5. Medical Clearance: The candidate and the candidate’s family (spouse and dependent children) receive extensive medical testing to ensure that all can serve worldwide without significant health concerns.
6. Top Secret Security Clearance: An extensive background investigation going back ten years, and sometimes longer, to identify any security concerns. Investigators will follow-up on all employers, friends, neighbors, foreign contacts, and a host of other leads. This process can take months and, sometimes, years, to complete. Mine will be much quicker as a result of my good living, good family, and good friends and of course not having a foreign address.
7. Final Review Panel: One last review of the candidate’s entire file during which the panel may conclude the candidacy should be terminated. This can result if the panel feels that the candidate has habits, a life style, etc, that does not properly represent the United States Government in a favorable light.
8. Register: Once the candidate’s file passes the Final Review Panel, the candidate’s name will be posted on a register for the applicable career track, in order of the score received at the oral assessment (plus any bonus points for language fluency and/or military experience). As State builds a new class (a typical class has 60-100 new officers), the Registrar draws names in order from each register. A candidate’s name will remain on the register for 18 months. If the candidate does not receive an offer during that period, s/he must begin the process again from the beginning.
(I'm hoping for the March 2010 Class!)
What happens next? The first order of business is training. Eight hours a day, five days a week, at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia. The initial A-100 course (named after the basement room where diplomats were originally trained) lasts seven weeks. There will then be additional training based on my first post assignment, both job specific and language. Language training can be anywhere from 3-9 months so my stay in DC could be close to one year.
Where are you going? It depends. This is the answer to just about all questions related to the foreign service. Flexibility is key. We sign on to be “worldwide available” which means literally anywhere (OK, not Somalia as we have no embassy, consulate or diplomatic mission there currently). During the first week of A-100 training, I will receive a bid list with about 100 open positions. I’ll have a week or two to research the posts and mark each with a high, medium, or low preference priority. Then it is up to the bureaucracy. At the end of week 5, all the new officers convene for “Flag Day.” In a formal ceremony each name is called one at a time and the officer is presented with a flag representing the country where s/he will be posted. Thus, stay tuned to the blog in early April. NOTE: Currently spending time learning the flags of the world!
Portions of this post are from the following blog and the State Department Website www.diplojournal.com/2009/09/01/faq-part-i)
Continued Foreign Service Timeline
June 2009
Received an invitation to attend an oral assessment in Washington DC. This is the final portion of the testing process and is a day long event- you either pass and move forward or you are done and out of the running.
September 11, 2009
The day arrived and what a day it was. I woke at 3:30 a.m. and absolutely could not get back to sleep, so I decided I may as well get up and get ready, find the testing site, review notes and prepare for the day. After much confusion with my cab driver (we definately started out on the wrong foot), the distraction of a harsh rainfall and a very broklen umbrella, I actually did find the Annex 1 of the State Department (and made friends with the cabbie, even after my wicked behavior), however, I was 45 minutes early, it was pouring rain outside and not a coffee shop was open yet. So much for the early bird always catches the worm- not even the worms were out and about. Realizing that my nerves and anticipation had gotton the best of me and to not seem too over anxious by being so early, I found my way across the street and huddled under an awning until that first coffee shop opened its doors. After some personal reflection and note review and of course a grande coffee, I went back to the Annex and began the testing process.
It's a long day and we sign a non-disclosure agreement so I will not get into much of the material, but it was an exciting and terrifying day all at the same time. When the end came we were all put in a room and a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) came in and called one name at a time with 15 minute intervals. Nervewracking to say the least! With sweat running down my knees and after about 7 names called, I started to think that I just might make it. Low and behold when my name was finally called I was not escorted directly out of the building, but brought to a room and congratulated by many current officers. I think I was so in shock and so overjoyed that the whole time in that room just seems like a blurry dream. After receiving a conditional offer of employment (based on security and medical clearances and final suitability review) I went to meet with a security officer, submitted my security background forms, was fingerprinted, signed a bunch of other paperwork, said goodbye to my other "testmates" who had passed, and headed back to the hotel. Of course in perfect Karin form I had forgotton my phone charger so calls were limited to a few(thank goodness I learned how to text many folks at once LOL) I finished the evening with a nice Merlot and some lobbyists who became my company for the night of celebration...
November 2009
Now I am finishing up my medical and security clearances and waiting for suitability review. Keep your fingers crossed that the good news will come soon. The next steps include getting cleared by the suitability review board, making the public diplomacy register (this is a list of current eligibles for the track of public diplomacy), being invited to attend the Foreign Service Institue in Washingington DC (referred to as the A-100 class), getting my post, and possibly doing more time at the institute for intensive language training.
And then off to an embassy to begin my work. With all this waiting the imagination goes wild with thoughts of foreign places, new cultures, what the future holds, and the endless unknowns...
Now I just wait and dream...
Received an invitation to attend an oral assessment in Washington DC. This is the final portion of the testing process and is a day long event- you either pass and move forward or you are done and out of the running.
September 11, 2009
The day arrived and what a day it was. I woke at 3:30 a.m. and absolutely could not get back to sleep, so I decided I may as well get up and get ready, find the testing site, review notes and prepare for the day. After much confusion with my cab driver (we definately started out on the wrong foot), the distraction of a harsh rainfall and a very broklen umbrella, I actually did find the Annex 1 of the State Department (and made friends with the cabbie, even after my wicked behavior), however, I was 45 minutes early, it was pouring rain outside and not a coffee shop was open yet. So much for the early bird always catches the worm- not even the worms were out and about. Realizing that my nerves and anticipation had gotton the best of me and to not seem too over anxious by being so early, I found my way across the street and huddled under an awning until that first coffee shop opened its doors. After some personal reflection and note review and of course a grande coffee, I went back to the Annex and began the testing process.
It's a long day and we sign a non-disclosure agreement so I will not get into much of the material, but it was an exciting and terrifying day all at the same time. When the end came we were all put in a room and a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) came in and called one name at a time with 15 minute intervals. Nervewracking to say the least! With sweat running down my knees and after about 7 names called, I started to think that I just might make it. Low and behold when my name was finally called I was not escorted directly out of the building, but brought to a room and congratulated by many current officers. I think I was so in shock and so overjoyed that the whole time in that room just seems like a blurry dream. After receiving a conditional offer of employment (based on security and medical clearances and final suitability review) I went to meet with a security officer, submitted my security background forms, was fingerprinted, signed a bunch of other paperwork, said goodbye to my other "testmates" who had passed, and headed back to the hotel. Of course in perfect Karin form I had forgotton my phone charger so calls were limited to a few(thank goodness I learned how to text many folks at once LOL) I finished the evening with a nice Merlot and some lobbyists who became my company for the night of celebration...
November 2009
Now I am finishing up my medical and security clearances and waiting for suitability review. Keep your fingers crossed that the good news will come soon. The next steps include getting cleared by the suitability review board, making the public diplomacy register (this is a list of current eligibles for the track of public diplomacy), being invited to attend the Foreign Service Institue in Washingington DC (referred to as the A-100 class), getting my post, and possibly doing more time at the institute for intensive language training.
And then off to an embassy to begin my work. With all this waiting the imagination goes wild with thoughts of foreign places, new cultures, what the future holds, and the endless unknowns...
Now I just wait and dream...
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Foreign Service Timeline
February 10- Foreign Service Written Exam (FSWE)
- Hours into the exam and the computer goes black-what? Did I hit something? Step on a cord? How is this happening? Two hours of waiting and I find out it is not my fault, however, all of my information has been lost in space and I have to come back on Friday the 13th and take the entire test again (and it will be completely different). Really?
- Successfully completed the second FSWE of the week- yes, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and apprehensive, but in the end no black hole of internet space sucked up my information and it was completed.
- Submitted information and essays for the Foreign Service Qualifications Panel. Waiting on the edge for all scores and writing to be reviewed and to receive an invitation to the Oral Assessment.
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