Current FSO taking questions

[CurrentFSO]

I am curious about security clearances.  I am an American citizen who spent a couple of years working abroad and I have a graduate degree from another Western country.  Will it be difficult for me to get a security clearance?  Will people look down on me because my graduate degree is not from an American university?

 

Lots of FSOs have lived and worked overseas before joining the Foreign Service, so it's not too unusual.  Living overseas or even a lot of places in the U.S. can complicate the security clearance process and make it take longer, but it's not necessarily a problem. 

 

Honestly, for better or for worse, the State Department tends to care very little about what you did before the Foreign Service, so most people won't spend much time thinking about where you went to grad school. 

[elohelay]

Hi there,

 

Not sure if you're still taking questions, but I was wondering if you could provide a general profile of the "average" public diplomacy officer, based on the interactions (if any) that you may have had with them. This is the track I am most interested in and scored the highest on in the quizzes provided by State, so I am curious as to how well I fit the profile. Thanks!

[CurrentFSO]

Hi there,

 

Not sure if you're still taking questions, but I was wondering if you could provide a general profile of the "average" public diplomacy officer, based on the interactions (if any) that you may have had with them. This is the track I am most interested in and scored the highest on in the quizzes provided by State, so I am curious as to how well I fit the profile. Thanks!

 

Hmmm, I'm not sure that there's a general profile of a PD officer as far as personality or anything.  PD officers generally focus on press and on cultural events and exchanges.  In a large post, a PD officer may focus on one or the other as part of several officers in a larger section.  In a small post, one person may do it all.  In Washington, there are both press and cultural issues/exchange jobs.  I do get the sense that some officers prefer one or the other and tend to seek jobs that fit in to one or the other, but most will either serve in smaller posts where they have to do some of everything or will reach a point in their career where most of the jobs available will require expertise in both sides of PD work. 

[LaLuna]

Hello!

I am so glad that I found your thread. I passed the FSOT in June right out of my undegrad. I sent in my PNs in July and now I'm just waiting for the results! I applied for the Economic cone. How was the Oral Assessment? Any advice and/or tips? During the Oral Assessment, are they looking for anything in particular (besides the 13 dimensions) for someone who wants to work in the Economic cone?

 

Thanks! 

[CurrentFSO]

Hello!

I am so glad that I found your thread. I passed the FSOT in June right out of my undegrad. I sent in my PNs in July and now I'm just waiting for the results! I applied for the Economic cone. How was the Oral Assessment? Any advice and/or tips? During the Oral Assessment, are they looking for anything in particular (besides the 13 dimensions) for someone who wants to work in the Economic cone?

 

Thanks! 

 

Congratulations on passing the FSOT and best of luck with the QEP.  The OA is a day long assessment and I believe that there's a study guide at http://careers.state.gov/uploads/af/20/af206801c2e36fe59f14b319b650bb98/FSO_OA_StudyGuide_2013.pdf that provides a lot of info.  The examiners are really looking for you to demonstrate the 13 dimensions.  There is an FSOA yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fsoa/ and I found some of the documents useful, though a lot of the posts were speculation and misinformation. 

[mrgreen102]

Do you have any advice on studying for the FSOT?  An FSO once told me that there is a lot of geography on the exam.  But a friend who took the exam told me that they did not have any geography questions.  Would you recommend buying one of the FSOT prep books or are those a waste of money?

[CurrentFSO]

I didn't do any specific studying for the FSOT so I can't make specific recommendations for studying.  There is an FSOT reading list at http://careers.state.gov/uploads/d8/db/d8db0c4f9dc58bd5620191eebd9ef8f7/3-0-0_FSO_readinglist.pdf but skimming over it, it sounds like a bit of overkill.  I think the suggestions I've heard before of reading a major newspaper and/or news magazine on a regular basis and being familiar with how the U.S. government works, basic international relations, basic history, etc.  The test is a mile wide and an inch deep, so you'll get questions all over the place but none of them will be too in depth. 

 

One thing that might be worth your time is to do some review for the English expression part and also to do some practice with the essays, especially if you're not used to doing timed essays.  ACT grades the essays, so it could be helpful to review the ACT essay process and whatnot.

[Tupacalypse]

I can't seem to find a consensus on this question anywhere but: Is there a contract you sign for a certain amount of years when you are accepted to an A-100 course?  That is...if you are directed to serve in Afghanistan, is it for a set number of years?  Or can you change posts as soon as a position becomes available?

[CurrentFSO]

I can't seem to find a consensus on this question anywhere but: Is there a contract you sign for a certain amount of years when you are accepted to an A-100 course?  That is...if you are directed to serve in Afghanistan, is it for a set number of years?  Or can you change posts as soon as a position becomes available?

 

Prior to starting A-100, I signed a continuing service agreement saying that if I did not work for the Department of State for at least 12 mos, not including work-related training, I would be liable to pay back the costs associated with my move, travel, etc.  So, this can mean different things, depending on the circumstances.  If you're hired from DC, so State hasn't paid for any travel or moves yet, and quit when you get your first assignment, you probably won't owe them much, if anything.  If, however, you were hired from Alaska, go to A-100 in DC, are assigned to Indonesia, have spent 10 months on per diem learning Bahasa Indonesia at FSI and have been moved to Jakarta and quit within your first month, you might owe quite a bit. 

 

Each assignment in the Foreign Service is for a set amount of time and when you bid on a job, you know how long the tour will be.  You are generally expected to complete the whole tour before moving on to another post, unless there are exceptional circumstances.  So, if you don't like your assignment, you're generally stuck with it unless there's a compelling reason to change assignments or leave an assignment early.

 

While State reserves the right to direct you to any post in the world, practically speaking, I am not aware of anyone who was directed to an unaccompanied assignment (that includes places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, etc) unless they specifically requested it.  Now, you might get assigned somewhere tough and/or somewhere you'd rather not go, but it's unlikely to be Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, etc.  Those posts are normally 1-2 years, due to the difficulties of living and working there.

[Tupacalypse]

Thank you!  That is a little relieving.  I have thoughts about becoming an FSO but I can't see myself doing it for my whole career.

[KevinDosi]

Any idea of whether a MA in IR would be more or less attractive over an MA in Middle East Studies? 

[wolfie53]

Hello!

I was wondering if you knew the process for hiring on officials who would work within missions to international organizations? Would it fall in the realm if civil service or foreign service? I am highly interested in working in the field of weapons proliferation and international organization.

[Gov2School]

At the State Department, weapons proliferation issues are handled by the offices under the Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, and most of those bureaus are staffed by Civil Servants (not exclusively, but primarily).  The US Missions to international organizations like ASEAN, UNESCO, the UN, EU, AU, The Hague, etc  function like embassies so they're staffed by Foreign Service Officers and Locally Employed Staff.  However, if you joined the Foreign Service you wouldn't be able to make a career out of just working at international organizations (you could always try for a job at the organizations themselves, rather than representing the US to those organizations).  There are civil servants that work in the International Organizations bureau at main State in DC, but not sure how many. 

[CurrentFSO]

Any idea of whether a MA in IR would be more or less attractive over an MA in Middle East Studies? 

 

I've not served on the Board of Examiners that reviews the resumes/FSOT scores and invites people to the OA, etc.  However, I don't think it would make much of a difference.  You're unlikely to spend your whole career in any one region, even if you have a specific regional interest.  I've met plenty of people who have MA/IR degrees and plenty who have MAs with a regional focus. 

 

Hello!

I was wondering if you knew the process for hiring on officials who would work within missions to international organizations? Would it fall in the realm if civil service or foreign service? I am highly interested in working in the field of weapons proliferation and international organization.

 

 

At the State Department, weapons proliferation issues are handled by the offices under the Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, and most of those bureaus are staffed by Civil Servants (not exclusively, but primarily).  The US Missions to international organizations like ASEAN, UNESCO, the UN, EU, AU, The Hague, etc  function like embassies so they're staffed by Foreign Service Officers and Locally Employed Staff.  However, if you joined the Foreign Service you wouldn't be able to make a career out of just working at international organizations (you could always try for a job at the organizations themselves, rather than representing the US to those organizations).  There are civil servants that work in the International Organizations bureau at main State in DC, but not sure how many. 

 

Gov2School is spot on.  For State, most of the jobs at missions to international organizations will be filled by Foreign Service Officers/Specialists.  There may be opportunities for Civil Service folks to do what they call excursion tours and/or TDYs.  I'll also add that you can also check USAJobs for some detail assignments and term assignments to some international organizations, like NATO (though not all).  Many of the missions will have multiple departments and agencies represented, so some other agencies might fill their positions with civil service folks on a detail assignment.

[spartuckeye]

Thanks for offering answers to our questions!

 

Some of the international affairs grad programs I applied to will offer public sector management and financial budgeting and management courses as part of their core curriculums (in addition to econ and stats). I was wondering whether you thought these courses were still relevant and useful in the Foreign Service for someone planning to be in the Political track, and not really considering the Management or Econ tracks. I was wondering whether you would recommend going to a school that includes this in their curriculum, versus a more traditional IR school that only requires international economic theory and a stats course. Thank you very much!

[Gov2School]

Thanks for offering answers to our questions!

 

Some of the international affairs grad programs I applied to will offer public sector management and financial budgeting and management courses as part of their core curriculums (in addition to econ and stats). I was wondering whether you thought these courses were still relevant and useful in the Foreign Service for someone planning to be in the Political track, and not really considering the Management or Econ tracks. I was wondering whether you would recommend going to a school that includes this in their curriculum, versus a more traditional IR school that only requires international economic theory and a stats course. Thank you very much!

Sorry, I seem to keep stealing in here, but I can tell you the answer to this question is: YES, it's a good idea to take these.  As you move up in your foreign service career, you will manage more and more people (in fact, managing people is a critical thing to do to get promoted). You will probably also have to manage budgets.  No matter what your cone is, if you're good at your job you'll end up managing at least a small staff. If you're really good at your job, you'll be managing a large bureau or eventually an embassy, and you'll be responsible for all the personnel, financial, and budgetary decisions that go along with that.  You'll of course be working on your policy issues, but you'll also be the person they blame if the money runs out before the end of the fiscal year, or if they can't get anything done because all your employees are despondent and unmotivated or your organizational structure is moribund. 

 

To give you an example, while many Assistant Secretaries and Ambassadors are political appointees, almost all of the "number 2" people in bureaus or at embassies are FSOs.  And it's those Principal Deputy Assistant Secretaries or Deputy Chiefs of Mission who are responsible for the day to day running of bureaus and embassies.  They have to make decisions, or make recommendations to their boss, about budgeting, employee morale, hiring/firing, organizational structuring, and project management for hundreds of people and sometimes many millions of dollars.  Most of the people in these posts are not management coned, these are the kind of jobs that officers of all cones aspire to, because they're the stepping stones to being considered for an Ambassadorship or higher.  The way the Foreign Service is set up, no one is supposed to get promoted unless they are a good manager (of course, like all things, the system is not perfect), and management is critically important to your career. 

 

In my opinion, no matter what your cone is, human capital management and communication (written and oral) are THE critical functional skills of a successful FSO. At first you'll just manage yourself and your assigned portfolio, but over time you'll become responsible for lots of people and possibly lots of money. Anything you can do to train for that in advance will be very helpful to you, I promise. 

[CurrentFSO]

I concur with Gov2School's assessment that management skills and at least basic budgeting skills are important in the Foreign Service, no matter what your cone for pretty much the same reason he/she lists.  However, I don't really know how much a couple of grad school classes on management and/or financial management will really help.  My graduate program did include a couple of those classes and I'd be darned if I can tell you much that I learned in them only six years later.  So, I'd say it probably wouldn't make much of a difference one way or another.  Not that those skills aren't important, they certainly are, but I really don't think that a couple of classes will really help you be much of a better manager.

[spartuckeye]

Gov2School--thanks for chiming in with your informative and helpful response, and thanks CurrentFSO for your thoughts on that subject as well!

[WinterIsSlumming]

This thread has been incredibly helpful, and I really appreciate your fielding so many questions! I've got a few more - 

 

I'm working on a dual degree program between SIPA and Mailman, and the latter has had a pretty heavy focus on health and human capital in the developing world. Part of what attracted me to the economic track is the State Dept website's brief mention of economic FSOs addressing 'scientific, environmental and health issues.' For some reason I'm picturing day-to-day economic track work coming straight out of the Economist's dismal finance section, which is a little less appealing. Have you or your colleagues had much of a chance to work on peripheral issues like health or education without having to hitch rides with USAID?  

 

By the time I graduate I'll have four or five semesters of two 'highly critical languages' - Hindi and Urdu, plus a regional focus on South Asia. I can see the logic of sending a new FSO with a background in French or Spanish to a relatively diverse collection of embassies, but would having a background in more uncommon niche languages have much of an impact on selection or placement?

 

This may be well outside your regional focus, but is there a more consistent demand for FSOs in embassies and consulates in India or Pakistan?

 

Piggybacking on that question about Pakistan, have you spent much time in countries with uh substantial danger allowances? While preserving your anonymity, can you tell me a bit about it? Has PTSD been a common problem among FSOs?

 

How much opportunity is there for economic officers to work on following a country's political scene without elbowing their way into a tour in the political cone? Is there very much crossover work with political officers?

 

As far as quant backgrounds go, I doubt I'll have anything beyond intermediate micro and macro and some mid-level statistics classes. Maybe calculus, econometrics, or game theory if I'm feeling pretty masochistic. Have any particular econ classes been really helpful?

 

Finally: I get the appeal of the political track, but the economic track seems so interesting! Is it really the least competitive?

[CurrentFSO]

This thread has been incredibly helpful, and I really appreciate your fielding so many questions! I've got a few more - 

 

I'm working on a dual degree program between SIPA and Mailman, and the latter has had a pretty heavy focus on health and human capital in the developing world. Part of what attracted me to the economic track is the State Dept website's brief mention of economic FSOs addressing 'scientific, environmental and health issues.' For some reason I'm picturing day-to-day economic track work coming straight out of the Economist's dismal finance section, which is a little less appealing. Have you or your colleagues had much of a chance to work on peripheral issues like health or education without having to hitch rides with USAID?  

 

By the time I graduate I'll have four or five semesters of two 'highly critical languages' - Hindi and Urdu, plus a regional focus on South Asia. I can see the logic of sending a new FSO with a background in French or Spanish to a relatively diverse collection of embassies, but would having a background in more uncommon niche languages have much of an impact on selection or placement?

 

This may be well outside your regional focus, but is there a more consistent demand for FSOs in embassies and consulates in India or Pakistan?

 

Piggybacking on that question about Pakistan, have you spent much time in countries with uh substantial danger allowances? While preserving your anonymity, can you tell me a bit about it? Has PTSD been a common problem among FSOs?

 

How much opportunity is there for economic officers to work on following a country's political scene without elbowing their way into a tour in the political cone? Is there very much crossover work with political officers?

 

As far as quant backgrounds go, I doubt I'll have anything beyond intermediate micro and macro and some mid-level statistics classes. Maybe calculus, econometrics, or game theory if I'm feeling pretty masochistic. Have any particular econ classes been really helpful?

 

Finally: I get the appeal of the political track, but the economic track seems so interesting! Is it really the least competitive?

 

Economic work does include environment, science, technology, and health.  Sometimes, in smaller posts, one officer might have ESTH as part of a larger trade and investment portfolio and other times, in larger sections, an econ officer might have just part of the ESTH realm, like just S&T.  Depends on the size of the section, what's going on at post, and how the section management chooses to distribute issues among officers.  However, it would be hard to make a career as an econ officer just doing ESTH work.  At some point, you'd have to do something more on the trade/finance side of things.

 

Not really.  State's actually not the best at utilizing prior experiences.  Unless you take recruitment language bonus points (the .25 or .38), there's no guarantee that you'll get assigned anywhere that uses that language.  I came in with two languages and have yet to use either of them, despite wanting to.  It just hasn't worked out with the assignments.

 

There is definitely a demand for officers in India and Pakistan.  Both are large missions with lots of jobs there.

 

My first post was a danger post and I won't lie, it took a toll on me.  Living in the middle of a danger zone, where you're constantly on edge does take a toll.  I'm not a mental health professional, so I'll stay away from any formal diagnosis of anyone, but I think that, unfortunately, some issues related to serving in a danger post do go unaddressed.  There are programs out there for people coming out of danger posts, but I think that sometimes people get too busy to take advantage of them and some people worry about how a diagnosis might affect their medical clearance and/or security clearance, so they avoid treatment.

 

There are opportunities to do political work if you want to.  In smaller posts, often the political and economic sections are combined, so your portfolio could cross over both arenas and/or you might back up the person doing political work.  It's also possible to do a tour as a political officer.

 

A lot of econ work doesn't really require a strong background in economics, to be honest.  A lot of it is negotiation, trade issues, etc.  So, there aren't really specific courses I'd recommend.  The Foreign Service Institute offers a six-month econ course for econ officers.

 

I think a lot of people assume you need to be an economist to be in the econ track, so I think that's why a lot of people skip over it when they are considering different tracks.  So far I've been happy with my choice as an econ officer.

[WinterIsSlumming]

Thanks for the impressively fast reply! Additionally, your candor about hazardous postings was really appreciated.

Is the point scale 1-10 for a new hire? If that's the case, a critical language bonus seems like it would be pretty helpful. It seems so strange that they don't jump on that sort of prior work. Would asking what languages you came in with break some of the anonymity? 

 

I'm curious about the role of consulates in the economic track. In areas with more diplomatic manpower, would economic officers have opportunities to work in consulates in commercial and industrial centers - extending my old example even further, Karachi or Mumbai - as well as embassies in political centers like Islamabad or New Delhi?

[CurrentFSO]

Thanks for the impressively fast reply! Additionally, your candor about hazardous postings was really appreciated.

Is the point scale 1-10 for a new hire? If that's the case, a critical language bonus seems like it would be pretty helpful. It seems so strange that they don't jump on that sort of prior work. Would asking what languages you came in with break some of the anonymity? 

 

I'm curious about the role of consulates in the economic track. In areas with more diplomatic manpower, would economic officers have opportunities to work in consulates in commercial and industrial centers - extending my old example even further, Karachi or Mumbai - as well as embassies in political centers like Islamabad or New Delhi?

 

The scoring on the Oral Assessment is 0-7.  5.3 is passing and it's rare to see scores above about a 6.0.  So, the .25 and .38 language points make a huge difference.  You can also take .17 in non-recruitment languages or in a recruitment language but without an obligation to serve in a job that uses that language, which is a smaller bump, but could still be helpful. 

 

It's strange they don't use prior experiences and it isn't.  A lot of it is honestly the timing of things.  There has to be a vacancy open and the timing has to work out.  If you speak Spanish, then probably you can find a Spanish vacancy, no problem.  However, if you speak Swedish and are econ coned, there are only going to be may be about 3 economic officers at embassy Stockholm and the odds of something coming open at your rank and where the timing works are small.  Then you add that there might be other people who are qualified and want the job, too, and you may well be out of luck. 

 

A lot of consulates have economic officers or combined political and economic officers.  There are often business issues of interest to the United States in consular districts.  Often an political and/or economic officer's focus in a consulate would be state/regional policies, trade promotion, etc. 

Edited April 8, 2014 by CurrentFSO

[WinterIsSlumming]

One more - language assessments require a score of 3 (or 2, for critical languages). I'm haphazardly trying to time my language assessment to maximize the length of time I've been studying. What's your rough estimate of the number of semesters we'd probably need in a particular language (let's say middle of the road in terms of difficulty, easier than Mandarin but a bit tougher than French) to hit a two or a three? 

 

Additionally, roughly how far into the process does this language exam occur? 

[CurrentFSO]

One more - language assessments require a score of 3 (or 2, for critical languages). I'm haphazardly trying to time my language assessment to maximize the length of time I've been studying. What's your rough estimate of the number of semesters we'd probably need in a particular language (let's say middle of the road in terms of difficulty, easier than Mandarin but a bit tougher than French) to hit a two or a three? 

 

Additionally, roughly how far into the process does this language exam occur? 

 

When I went through initial training, the director of the language testing unit came and spoke to us.  He said that people who majored in a language usually scored around a 2.  He did not specify whether that was for a "world language' or a harder language.  You can see English examples of the different levels here. The videos should give you a rough idea of the bar for each level. 

 

You can take a language test after passing the oral assessment to get bonus points.  You can also test in languages after you're hired for assignment purposes and/or to demonstrate proficiency in a language for tenure purposes. 

Edited April 17, 2014 by CurrentFSO

[CurrentFSO]

Bumping this in light of a recent question posted about the FSOT.