The State Dept has a very rigid system for recruiting, vetting and hiring new FSOs. Aside from being able to get and retain a Top Secret clearance, you must also agree to accept any foreign posting during your first two years. Because so many people submit FSO applications and only a small percentage of them get hired, the competition is fierce. If you are a typical 20-something college graduate without any demonstrable experience in foreign affairs, not multilingual, or haven’t lived, worked, or traveled outside the U.S. to any appreciable extent, you will need to “level-the-playing-field,” as the saying goes.
If you find yourself in the uphill battle I just described, the first thing to do – and this is almost an automatic thing – is enroll in graduate school to earn a master’s degree. My advice is to pursue the graduate degree as a full-time student and get it behind you as soon as you can. If your undergraduate degree is in a field-of-study that is not intuitively related to foreign service, then you are better-off studying for a master’s degree that is immediately recognizable as relevant to an FSO career.
When it comes to applying for any job in the 21st century, I will share with you an excerpt from a magazine article I wrote several years ago entitled, “The Professional Employee: How to Find and Keep the Best.” The three broad skill categories applicable to any job vacancy are:
1. Technical skills;
2. Transferable skills;
3. Fitting-in skills.
Most managers have such busy departments, that when they need to hire additional help, they opt for a strong emphasis on Technical Skills. I call this style of applicant review, “plug n’ play.” Right or wrong, most managers in today’s world do not feel they share in the responsibility for a new-hire’s success like it was 30 years ago. I call this style of new employee hiring, “The Steve Miller ‘Swimming Pool’ Theory of Management.” Simply stated: You throw the new-hire into the deep end of the pool; if they sink to the bottom drain, well, they probably would have failed at some point anyhow…better that we know it now and not waste anymore time on him. If, however, you pop-to-the-surface, spitting & sputtering and make it to the side of the pool, the boss throws you a towel and says, “welcome to the team.”
I realize my swimming pool theory sounds kind of cynical…but, the reality is not far off-the-mark. For an aspiring, young FSO, you’re not likely to bring much professional experience (i.e.; technical skills) applicable to the Foreign Service. The good news, however, is the State Department is not expecting a lot of work history (if any) from their 20-something FSO candidates. But, the recruiters are going to look very hard at a candidate’s transferable and fitting-in skills. In fact, U.S. workforce statistics reveal that poor fitting-in skills are the major reason a new-hire is not retained at the end of their probationary period.
Fitting-in skills are extremely difficult to acquire from book learning. For most of us, our fitting-in skills are closely related to maturity, and life’s living experience. Fitting-in skills include things like: Cultural sensitivity, accepting constructive criticism, not using profanity, willing to accept and perform well on less attractive work assignments, knows when to shut-up & listen, able to recognize and steer clear of office politics as much as possible, and so on. Transferable skills can include above average understanding of Microsoft Office applications, thinking through a problem before acting, adept note-taking and telephone skills, solid internet research skills, etc. Whether you already have some foreign service technical skills, or not, no one is going to hire you as a junior FSO if you have inadequate transferable and/or fitting-in skills.
One of the aspects that catch FSO candidates off-guard is making a career track selection at the time you apply. There are five FSO career tracks: Consular Officer, Economics Officer, Management Officer, Political Officer and Public Diplomacy Officer. The duties under each track are fairly broad. For example: On Monday a Consular Officer might spend the day reviewing foreign national visa applications. On Tuesday the same Consular Officer might be sent by their manager on a two hour drive to another city to determine what is going on with an American expatriate who was arrested yesterday because the local police decided he was the cause of a car accident.
Most FSO candidates have at least a small notion that living abroad as an FSO is a life of intrigue and adventure. To that end, Political and Public Diplomacy Officers are seen as the glamor jobs of the Foreign Service.
State Department recruiting information says that if you are successful in getting through the cumbersome vetting process, each would-be new-hire is placed on a career track eligibility list of their choosing. The lists are kept in candidate seniority order. Naturally, the two lists for PO, and PDO are heavily impacted, and you could easily wait for a year or more before your name rises to the top of the list to receive a job offer. The three track lists for Consular, Economic and Management Officer are much shorter (approx 6 months).
Often times the recruiting department will have an officer candidate requirement in Consular, Economic or Management and one or more of the pools doesn’t have enough people on the list. Under those circumstances, the recruiters will begin contacting FSO candidates from the other lists to offer them a job. An example might be: A PO candidate has been waiting 10 months to receive a job offer, and her husband is getting perturbed about the length of waiting time. An FSO recruiter contacts the young lady and offers her a Consular Officer position in Bangladesh. She’s under no obligation to accept this out-of-track job offer. The important factor to consider is if she accepts the job to start work sooner, rather than later, she’s removed from the PO track waiting list. The State Dept cautions candidates accepting assignments from another track list that the first overseas posting (Bangladesh, in our example) is likely to last three years and during that time the new FSO is ineligible to apply for jobs back in their preferred track; they will have to wait to complete the Consular Officer posting, first. It could be three-to-five years before she can apply to go back on the PO waiting list.
As if all of the foregoing requirements were not enough, I have saved the “best” for last. As is the case for most entry-level jobs in the U.S. Government, there is often a qualification exam to be taken. The FSO job is no different in that regard. I can tell you the FSO qualification exam is easily on a par with the Bar or CPA Exams. I took the FSO exam four years ago. I am here to tell you, it is the mother of all exams. I passed it; but, by time I was finished, I was so wrung-out that I didn’t even care anymore if I passed or failed. The State Dept has some sample, former test questions, and you can buy a study guide on Amazon.com. On this exam, book learning is just a fraction of what is needed to pass. Just about any question you can think of regarding geography, international law, economics, religious studies, world history, the U.S. Constitution, U.S. political studies, wars, famine, etc. You name it; it’s on there. To pass this exam, you must be well read, have an intellectual bent, outstanding written & oral communications, and superb analytical skills.
Steve Miller, Copyright (c) 2015
Recently, someone asked me what I think about when the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. comes to mind. Over the years my thoughts have coalesced into one recurring image and my feelings that go with it. I am sharing this with you on Veteran’s Day, as a Vietnam 4th Generation Veteran. I hope my thoughts will strike a cord with you. God Bless All of Us, and God Bless America.
The REPORT on NATIONAL SECURITY KINETICS™ 