If you have made it to this round, you should be both thrilled and humbled. Even though there are more hoops to jump through after this, the Oral Assessment (OA) is the last of the rounds in which you have to actually perform well in order to survive. Everything after the OA, aside from paperwork, is out of your hands.
Step 5: The Oral Assessment
Think of the OA as the final round that places you on the cusp of the Foreign Service. The Board of Examiners (BEX) already knows you have the intellect required to do well as a Foreign Service Officer. Passing the FSOT confirmed this. The BEX also believes that you did a better job than the majority of other candidates in your career track of exhibiting the 13 dimensions the Foreign Service deems necessary to be successful FSOs. Advancing past the QEP confirmed this. Now it's up to you to show that you can exhibit these 13 dimensions at a high enough level to warrant receiving a conditional offer of employment.
Yes. This is the most grueling stage of the entire process. It's also the most emotionally charged stage. If you pass the OA, your candidacy will take a giant leap that brings you tantalizingly close to actually entering the Foreign Service. On the other hand, if you fail the OA, your candidacy will come to a frustrating and ignominious end. (And yes, you will have to start all over again at the FSOT whenever you are eligible to take it again.) And unlike failing the FSOT, where you can say the test questions were hard or you ran out of time writing your essay, and unlike failing the QEP, where you can blame "the process" for being too random or too opaque, failing the OA stings a little bit more because the responsibility for failing lies entirely with you. Even though the assessors cannot tell you what you did wrong, you will probably know.
The OA is held in Washington and sometimes at one other major city concurrently. Travel to the OA site and lodging while you are there are solely at your expense. OAs are conducted every day the government is open. There are no OAs on weekends, federal holidays, days on which the government is closed because of bad weather, or days on which the government is closed because of a government shutdown. In the event that your OA is scheduled for a day when the government is closed (typically because of bad weather), you can send an email to reschedule@state.gov and request another date. The size of an OA group can range from about 5 to as large as about 20.
Once you receive the good news about passing the QEP, you will have about one week to sign up for an OA date. The first available OA date for a cohort is about six weeks after receiving the QEP results. The last available OA date for the same cohort is about four months after the first available date. If you have your heart set on signing up for an early date, be ready. When you are finally able to register, the dates at the beginning of the OA window, Mondays and Fridays tend to get chosen quickly. People who are traveling to DC from afar or from abroad tend to choose Mondays or Fridays because it means less of a disruption for them regarding missing work. Anxious candidates also tend to choose the earlier dates in the window so they can get it out of the way.
There are advantages and disadvantages to taking the OA early or late. If you take it early, you can minimize the weeks or months that you will have to deal with the stress. But you also have less time to prepare for it. If you take it late, you will have lots of time to study and practice. However, the OA will linger over your head much longer.
The OA lasts for one full day and has three components: the Group Exercise (GE), the Structured Interview (SI) and the Case Management (CM). OAs start at 7:00 am and finish at about 3:30 pm. You will have about an hour for lunch. The GE is always the first exercise of the OA. After that, whether you do the SI and then the CM or the CM and then the SI is totally random. If your OA is unsuccessful, your day will be over at about 4:00 or 4:30. If you pass the OA, you might be on site until 6:00 or even later. If you are booking flight reservations, it might be a good idea to push your flight back home until later in the evening or even the following day.
Your performance at the OA will be measured by assessors from the BEX. They will evaluate how well you exhibit the 13 dimensions and how well you perform on the OA's three components. Scores can range from 1.0 (weak performance) to 7.0 (strong performance). In order to pass the OA, your overall score needs to be at least a 5.25. All three components are weighted equally. Therefore, you should note that it is still possible to pass the OA even if you score below a 5.25 on one or two components. If you totally rock one part of the OA, that can more than offset weaker performances with the other two components. Similarly, also note that it is still possible to fail the OA even if you score above a 5.25 on two of the components. Doing well with two components will not mean much if you totally bomb the third. And of course, people with high scores may pass all three parts; others candidates with low scores may fail all three parts.
It must be stated that even though 5.25 is the minimum passing score, this does not necessarily mean you should pack your bags and get ready for your new career as a diplomat in Washington. There are a few other steps involved, the last of which being the cruelest--particularly during these times of Congressional gridlock and federal budget cuts--especially for candidates whose OA scores are relatively low (5.3 to 5.5).
But we can worry about that later. For now, let's focus on the OA itself and scoring that 5.25.
To be continued...
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Monday, August 25, 2014
The FS Gauntlet: The Qualifications Evaluation Panel
The FSOT multiple-choice section is designed to weed out unqualified candidates who simply don't have the knowledge base or behavioral traits to be successful officers in the Foreign Service. The FSOT written essay is designed to further weed out the candidates who cannot write quickly, persuasively or articulately. I have read that only about 40-45% of FSOT takers actually pass, so if you are moving onto the next round, then congratulations! Compared to the FSOT, the next step in the process is much easier and much more frustrating at the same time. So, let's dive right in!
Step 4: The Personal Narratives and Qualifications Evaluation Panel
The Personal Narratives (PN) and Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP) stage is the stage where the Foreign Service Board of Examiners separates the merely smart people and talented test takers from the actual Foreign Service finalists. As mentioned earlier, this stage consists of two sections: Personal Narratives and the Qualifications Evaluation Panel. You only have control over the PN section, and you have about three weeks after receiving notification that you passed the FSOT to submit them. You do not have to complete all the PNs at once, but once they have been submitted, they can no longer be edited.
Section 1: Personal Narratives
The PN stage requires you to compose six long-form answers to questions about various traits you may have. Each narrative is restricted to 1300 characters, which includes spaces and punctuation marks. The PN stage gives you the opportunity to provide examples from your past that reflect the critical "six precepts" the Foreign Service seeks in its officers. You can draw from your personal experiences, professional experiences, or academic experiences. For each PN, you are required to provide the name of someone who can vouch for you or the experience. This person can be a coworker, supervisor, neighbor or friend. Note that it cannot be a subordinate or a family member. Verifiers do not have to be American citizens, but they do need to be able to understand English in the event that they are contacted.
You do not need to address all six precepts in each narrative, but you should ensure that all six of your narratives cover all six precepts at least once. You don't have a lot of space for each narrative, so writing concisely is critical. You should also be mindful of cutting and pasting from word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word. Special characters like apostrophes, quotation marks and commas may not show up correctly in the text window on the Pearson VUE webpage where you submit the actual narratives. It should go without saying that your narratives should be free of grammatical and spelling errors. So read your PNs carefully and enlist the help of a friend to help you proofread.
Section 2: Qualifications Evaluation Panel
Once your six PNs have been typed up and submitted, your overall application will be reviewed by the Foreign Service Board of Examiners (BEX), which consists of current senior FSOs. The BEX will examine your total file, which includes your FSOT scores, your PNs and your registration information (work history, educational background, etc.). They will then compare your file with other candidates' files within your chosen career track. Thus, political-track candidates' files are compared with other political-track candidates' files. The BEX then ranks all candidates within each of the five tracks and decides which candidates to invite to the next round of the Foreign Service application process.
Many talented candidates are frustrated by this step because no feedback is given regarding the strengths or weaknesses of individual PNs or how many candidacies were ended or extended at this particular stage. In other words, you can fail this stage and not know why. Additionally, personal narratives that might have been sufficient for advancing to the next round in one year might be insufficient for advancing in another year. Or a candidate's PNs might be good enough to advance to the next round in one career track, but not another track even with the same PNs.
DOS will not release statistics of how many people within each career track are invited to the next round of the process. However, they do acknowledge that the number of people who pass this stage is dependent on anticipated hiring needs. So if there is a pressing need for economic officers, for example, then more candidates who chose the economics track will be advanced to the next round. Officially, DOS has said that over the past seven years or so, the pass rate for the QEP stage has ranged from 5-100% for all career tracks. One candidate whose candidacy ended before being selected as an FSO filed a Privacy Act request and learned that only the candidates ranked in the top 19% of his career track for his particular cohort made it to the next round.
This stage is why your initial registration materials are so important. If you received any special awards, certifications, degrees, promotions, or honors, hopefully you listed those in your FSOT registration materials. If you have foreign language proficiency, hopefully you included this as well. You never know what the cutoff will be within a career track for any particular cohort, so that's why you want to be as thorough as you can with your registration materials and your PNs. Because of how competitive this stage is, many candidates are understandably guarded about helping each other--especially if they are in the same career track.
Results of the QEP stage are mailed to candidates about two to three months after the PN submission deadline. If your candidacy ends here, you will have to start the process all over again with the FSOT. (And yes, the one-FSOT-in-11-months stipulation still applies.) For what it's worth, I will admit to being stopped in my tracks twice at this stage. So if you are denied the opportunity to continue your candidacy beyond the QEP, don't feel too bad. It is apparently quite common. If you made it to this stage once before, you can surely do it again.
If you received good news in your QEP results letter, however, then you are eligible to participate in the most intense stage of the hiring process yet: the Oral Assessment (OA), which will be covered in the next post.
To be continued...
Step 4: The Personal Narratives and Qualifications Evaluation Panel
The Personal Narratives (PN) and Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP) stage is the stage where the Foreign Service Board of Examiners separates the merely smart people and talented test takers from the actual Foreign Service finalists. As mentioned earlier, this stage consists of two sections: Personal Narratives and the Qualifications Evaluation Panel. You only have control over the PN section, and you have about three weeks after receiving notification that you passed the FSOT to submit them. You do not have to complete all the PNs at once, but once they have been submitted, they can no longer be edited.
Section 1: Personal Narratives
The PN stage requires you to compose six long-form answers to questions about various traits you may have. Each narrative is restricted to 1300 characters, which includes spaces and punctuation marks. The PN stage gives you the opportunity to provide examples from your past that reflect the critical "six precepts" the Foreign Service seeks in its officers. You can draw from your personal experiences, professional experiences, or academic experiences. For each PN, you are required to provide the name of someone who can vouch for you or the experience. This person can be a coworker, supervisor, neighbor or friend. Note that it cannot be a subordinate or a family member. Verifiers do not have to be American citizens, but they do need to be able to understand English in the event that they are contacted.
You do not need to address all six precepts in each narrative, but you should ensure that all six of your narratives cover all six precepts at least once. You don't have a lot of space for each narrative, so writing concisely is critical. You should also be mindful of cutting and pasting from word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word. Special characters like apostrophes, quotation marks and commas may not show up correctly in the text window on the Pearson VUE webpage where you submit the actual narratives. It should go without saying that your narratives should be free of grammatical and spelling errors. So read your PNs carefully and enlist the help of a friend to help you proofread.
Section 2: Qualifications Evaluation Panel
Once your six PNs have been typed up and submitted, your overall application will be reviewed by the Foreign Service Board of Examiners (BEX), which consists of current senior FSOs. The BEX will examine your total file, which includes your FSOT scores, your PNs and your registration information (work history, educational background, etc.). They will then compare your file with other candidates' files within your chosen career track. Thus, political-track candidates' files are compared with other political-track candidates' files. The BEX then ranks all candidates within each of the five tracks and decides which candidates to invite to the next round of the Foreign Service application process.
Many talented candidates are frustrated by this step because no feedback is given regarding the strengths or weaknesses of individual PNs or how many candidacies were ended or extended at this particular stage. In other words, you can fail this stage and not know why. Additionally, personal narratives that might have been sufficient for advancing to the next round in one year might be insufficient for advancing in another year. Or a candidate's PNs might be good enough to advance to the next round in one career track, but not another track even with the same PNs.
DOS will not release statistics of how many people within each career track are invited to the next round of the process. However, they do acknowledge that the number of people who pass this stage is dependent on anticipated hiring needs. So if there is a pressing need for economic officers, for example, then more candidates who chose the economics track will be advanced to the next round. Officially, DOS has said that over the past seven years or so, the pass rate for the QEP stage has ranged from 5-100% for all career tracks. One candidate whose candidacy ended before being selected as an FSO filed a Privacy Act request and learned that only the candidates ranked in the top 19% of his career track for his particular cohort made it to the next round.
This stage is why your initial registration materials are so important. If you received any special awards, certifications, degrees, promotions, or honors, hopefully you listed those in your FSOT registration materials. If you have foreign language proficiency, hopefully you included this as well. You never know what the cutoff will be within a career track for any particular cohort, so that's why you want to be as thorough as you can with your registration materials and your PNs. Because of how competitive this stage is, many candidates are understandably guarded about helping each other--especially if they are in the same career track.
Results of the QEP stage are mailed to candidates about two to three months after the PN submission deadline. If your candidacy ends here, you will have to start the process all over again with the FSOT. (And yes, the one-FSOT-in-11-months stipulation still applies.) For what it's worth, I will admit to being stopped in my tracks twice at this stage. So if you are denied the opportunity to continue your candidacy beyond the QEP, don't feel too bad. It is apparently quite common. If you made it to this stage once before, you can surely do it again.
If you received good news in your QEP results letter, however, then you are eligible to participate in the most intense stage of the hiring process yet: the Oral Assessment (OA), which will be covered in the next post.
To be continued...
The FS Gauntlet: The FSOT
Okay, so you've decided which Foreign Service career track or cone you wish to pursue. You've decided that you really want to go through the application process and hope that you can someday wind up interviewing visa applicants at an embassy in some exotic capital, discussing war crimes with foreign ministers, giving press conferences in foreign languages, or helping stranded Americans evacuate a third-world country after a natural disaster. And you registered for the FSOT. It's time to make this dream a reality!
Step 3: The Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT)
STOP! Read this before going any further!
When you embark on your journey to become an FSO, an important thing to remember is that you are not at liberty to divulge any information about the test to anyone for any reason--even if that person took the test with you. All assessment materials used by the Department of State (DOS) are covered by a strict non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The NDA prevents candidates and officers who have taken these tests previously from disclosing their contents. By taking these tests and assessments, you are agreeing to abide by the NDA. Respecting the NDA is the main reason why I (as well as other Foreign Service bloggers, officers, veterans and aspirants) cannot be too specific when talking about the test. Additionally, Diplomatic Security and the Foreign Service Board of Examiners regularly scan webpages, message boards, and blogs to make sure confidential test and assessment information is not being disclosed. Violating the NDA can result in the termination of your candidacy or the termination of your job if you actually make it into the Foreign Service. I encourage everyone to study hard, share your tips, and help others when you can. But don't be stupid and risk everything because of a lack of discretion.
And now, back to the test...
The FSOT takes three to four hours to complete and contains four sections: a job knowledge section, a biographical information section, an English usage section, and a final essay. These will each be discussed in turn.
Section 1: Job Knowledge
This part of the test focuses on a grab-bag of knowledge. You may encounter questions about civics, current events, American history, world geography, cultural icons, management principles, basic mathematics, popular sports, and general statistics. Many FSOT-preparation sources recommend purchasing or studying various books in order to master this section. However, I personally think that the best study aids are daily newspapers, online news sites, world maps, and even Wikipedia articles on history.
Questions are all multiple choice. Scratch paper is provided for all examinees, but you are not provided with a calculator. Any math you have to do should be basic stuff you can do in your head or perform longhand, such as finding a percentage of a certain number. Each question is worth the same number of points. Because there is no penalty for guessing, you should answer every question here.
Be careful! You don't have a lot of time to complete this section. However, you are allowed to skip a question and come back to it later. Since all questions are worth the same number of points, it is wise not to waste time ruminating over a difficult question when you have several easier ones remaining.
Section 2: English Expression
This part of the test focuses on English grammar, the nuances of vocabulary, punctuation rules, and organizing your sentences or paragraphs for the sake of flow and clarity. This section is more challenging than it may appear because of the bad habits we may have developed courtesy of posting in "netspeak" on message boards, in text messages and in personal emails among friends. But if you are the type of person who gets annoyed by people who write things like "Me and my girlfriend went shopping" or "I talked with some boy's at school" or "I saw a dog, it was brown," then you should do quite well here.
Section 3: Biographical information
This part of the test is the most opaque. Unlike the other two sections that you can actually study for, this section is tricky simply because you don't know what DOS is looking for in a prospective FSO. This section of the test will ask you various personality-and behavior-related questions, such as how often or how likely you are to do certain things. Sometimes the test will ask you to provide names of people or examples of situations that address how you responded to the actual question. There is no point in trying to game the system here because only DOS knows if it is good that you are "unlikely" to do X or "very likely" to do Y.
Section 4: Written essay
The final section of the FSOT is the written essay. I personally found this to be the most nerve-wracking part of the test, and I consider myself a talented writer. You will have 30 minutes to write about an assigned topic. The examiners don’t care what your opinion is on the assigned topic; they just want to assess how well you write under deadline pressure. I recommend a standard four- or (ideally) five-paragraph essay complete with a topic sentence or thesis in the first paragraph, a restatement of the thesis in the final paragraph, and two or (ideally) three supporting paragraphs in the middle.
When writing this essay, it is important not to waste any time making outlines or extra notes. Thirty minutes is not a lot of time at all, especially if you are not a skilled typist. Every time I took this test, I completed my essay just before time expired. In fact, on my most recent attempt, the computer locked me out about two seconds after I typed the final period in my final sentence. Needless to say, if you have to "hunt and peck" when you type, you will bomb this section.
At the end of the test, you will answer a few survey questions about the proctoring, the test site and whether the time allowed for each test section was sufficient. Once these questions have been answered, you are free to leave the test site.
Congratulations! You survived the FSOT!
About three weeks after taking the FSOT, you will be notified of your test results via email. You will have to log into the test administrator's site (currently Pearson VUE) and download your FSOT results letter. You cannot call for your results or have them sent to you via postal mail.
A passing score is 154 points for the first three sections of the FSOT. If you scored at least 154 points, you then needed to score at least a 6 on the written essay in order to advance to the next round. Essays are not scored for candidates who scored below 154. Scores provided are t-scores, which mean the numbers listed show what percentage of candidates scored below you in a given section. So if you answered 49 out of 50 questions correct within a section, but most of the other test takers answered 50 out of 50 correct, your score will be lower than you may have expected.
If your composite score was below 154 or if your essay score was below 6, unfortunately your FSOT candidacy ends here. You cannot take the FSOT again for another 11 months. (You can pay to have your test and/or essay rescored by calling 866-389-8339. A successful rescore will allow your candidacy to continue, but at the time of a later test cohort. An unsuccessful rescore simply means you'll be out of a little bit of cash. Considering that you can't take this test so often, I think a rescore is worth it if your essay score was a 5 or if you came up just shy of 154 points on the multiple-choice section.)
If your score exceeded the 154/6 minimums, then you are eligible to participate in the next round of the Foreign Service gauntlet: the Personal Narratives (PNs) and Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP). This stage will be discussed in my next post.
To be continued...
Step 3: The Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT)
STOP! Read this before going any further!
When you embark on your journey to become an FSO, an important thing to remember is that you are not at liberty to divulge any information about the test to anyone for any reason--even if that person took the test with you. All assessment materials used by the Department of State (DOS) are covered by a strict non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The NDA prevents candidates and officers who have taken these tests previously from disclosing their contents. By taking these tests and assessments, you are agreeing to abide by the NDA. Respecting the NDA is the main reason why I (as well as other Foreign Service bloggers, officers, veterans and aspirants) cannot be too specific when talking about the test. Additionally, Diplomatic Security and the Foreign Service Board of Examiners regularly scan webpages, message boards, and blogs to make sure confidential test and assessment information is not being disclosed. Violating the NDA can result in the termination of your candidacy or the termination of your job if you actually make it into the Foreign Service. I encourage everyone to study hard, share your tips, and help others when you can. But don't be stupid and risk everything because of a lack of discretion.
And now, back to the test...
The FSOT takes three to four hours to complete and contains four sections: a job knowledge section, a biographical information section, an English usage section, and a final essay. These will each be discussed in turn.
Section 1: Job Knowledge
This part of the test focuses on a grab-bag of knowledge. You may encounter questions about civics, current events, American history, world geography, cultural icons, management principles, basic mathematics, popular sports, and general statistics. Many FSOT-preparation sources recommend purchasing or studying various books in order to master this section. However, I personally think that the best study aids are daily newspapers, online news sites, world maps, and even Wikipedia articles on history.
Questions are all multiple choice. Scratch paper is provided for all examinees, but you are not provided with a calculator. Any math you have to do should be basic stuff you can do in your head or perform longhand, such as finding a percentage of a certain number. Each question is worth the same number of points. Because there is no penalty for guessing, you should answer every question here.
Be careful! You don't have a lot of time to complete this section. However, you are allowed to skip a question and come back to it later. Since all questions are worth the same number of points, it is wise not to waste time ruminating over a difficult question when you have several easier ones remaining.
Section 2: English Expression
This part of the test focuses on English grammar, the nuances of vocabulary, punctuation rules, and organizing your sentences or paragraphs for the sake of flow and clarity. This section is more challenging than it may appear because of the bad habits we may have developed courtesy of posting in "netspeak" on message boards, in text messages and in personal emails among friends. But if you are the type of person who gets annoyed by people who write things like "Me and my girlfriend went shopping" or "I talked with some boy's at school" or "I saw a dog, it was brown," then you should do quite well here.
Section 3: Biographical information
This part of the test is the most opaque. Unlike the other two sections that you can actually study for, this section is tricky simply because you don't know what DOS is looking for in a prospective FSO. This section of the test will ask you various personality-and behavior-related questions, such as how often or how likely you are to do certain things. Sometimes the test will ask you to provide names of people or examples of situations that address how you responded to the actual question. There is no point in trying to game the system here because only DOS knows if it is good that you are "unlikely" to do X or "very likely" to do Y.
Section 4: Written essay
The final section of the FSOT is the written essay. I personally found this to be the most nerve-wracking part of the test, and I consider myself a talented writer. You will have 30 minutes to write about an assigned topic. The examiners don’t care what your opinion is on the assigned topic; they just want to assess how well you write under deadline pressure. I recommend a standard four- or (ideally) five-paragraph essay complete with a topic sentence or thesis in the first paragraph, a restatement of the thesis in the final paragraph, and two or (ideally) three supporting paragraphs in the middle.
When writing this essay, it is important not to waste any time making outlines or extra notes. Thirty minutes is not a lot of time at all, especially if you are not a skilled typist. Every time I took this test, I completed my essay just before time expired. In fact, on my most recent attempt, the computer locked me out about two seconds after I typed the final period in my final sentence. Needless to say, if you have to "hunt and peck" when you type, you will bomb this section.
At the end of the test, you will answer a few survey questions about the proctoring, the test site and whether the time allowed for each test section was sufficient. Once these questions have been answered, you are free to leave the test site.
Congratulations! You survived the FSOT!
About three weeks after taking the FSOT, you will be notified of your test results via email. You will have to log into the test administrator's site (currently Pearson VUE) and download your FSOT results letter. You cannot call for your results or have them sent to you via postal mail.
A passing score is 154 points for the first three sections of the FSOT. If you scored at least 154 points, you then needed to score at least a 6 on the written essay in order to advance to the next round. Essays are not scored for candidates who scored below 154. Scores provided are t-scores, which mean the numbers listed show what percentage of candidates scored below you in a given section. So if you answered 49 out of 50 questions correct within a section, but most of the other test takers answered 50 out of 50 correct, your score will be lower than you may have expected.
If your composite score was below 154 or if your essay score was below 6, unfortunately your FSOT candidacy ends here. You cannot take the FSOT again for another 11 months. (You can pay to have your test and/or essay rescored by calling 866-389-8339. A successful rescore will allow your candidacy to continue, but at the time of a later test cohort. An unsuccessful rescore simply means you'll be out of a little bit of cash. Considering that you can't take this test so often, I think a rescore is worth it if your essay score was a 5 or if you came up just shy of 154 points on the multiple-choice section.)
If your score exceeded the 154/6 minimums, then you are eligible to participate in the next round of the Foreign Service gauntlet: the Personal Narratives (PNs) and Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP). This stage will be discussed in my next post.
The FS Gauntlet: Registering for the FSOT
Okay, so you want to join the Foreign Service. You accept the three conditions of employment required of Foreign Service employees. You have made your career track selection. You are ready to go.
Now it's time to tackle the first hurdle major hurdle standing between you and the Foreign Service: the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT).
Step 2: Register for the FSOT
Every journey to becoming an FSO begins with the FSOT, which is perhaps the most difficult knowledge-based test that exists in the federal government. More information about that will be given in Step 3. But prior to taking the test, you have to register for it online. Until this summer, the FSOT was administered by ACT. Now it's administered by Pearson VUE. When you register, you will be asked to provide information about your educational background, employment history, foreign language proficiency, professional certifications and anything else that could augment or define your candidacy. Take this registration seriously because it will be used again later on in the selection process.
One important thing to remember is not to exaggerate your experience, qualifications, education or talents when registering for the FSOT. DOS reserves the right to verify all claims you make in your application and can use any exaggerations or misrepresentations as grounds for terminating your candidacy or even dismissing you after you've been hired! Don't be modest, but don't be deceitful.
When you register, make sure you have a credit card handy. Even though the FSOT is free, you will be charged about $50 if you register for the test and fail to show up. But since you are serious about becoming an FSO, you should not have to worry about this. (Right?)
Here is some general information about the test.
The FSOT takes about three to four hours to complete and is offered three times a year: in February, June and October. The test can only be taken once in an 11-month period, so if you fail the test or wish to take it again, you have to wait until at least a year has passed since your last test. In other words, you can take the test in February 2014, February 2015 and June 2016, but you cannot take the test in October 2014, June 2015, and February 2016.
You can register online about a month before the test is administered. Tests are given at various locations throughout the United States as well as at select American embassies and consulates abroad. You do not have to register for the FSOT at the site closest to your place of residence. The first time I took the FSOT, for example, I was traveling in Asia and took the test at a consulate in Japan.
The FSOT can only be taken over the computer. Knowing this, pay special attention to the testing facility where each FSOT is offered. If you find that the FSOT will be offered at a site that you know has slow or rundown computers, for example, you might consider registering for the test at another location. Other things to consider are how easy it is to find parking, how far the testing site is from your residence, and what days of the week the test is being offered. Not all testing sites offer the test on all days of a particular testing window. Some testing sites offer the FSOT on weekends. Slots for these days tend to disappear quickly.
My advice for anyone considering becoming an FSO is to take the test as quickly and as seriously as possible. It may take anywhere from around six months to almost three years for a candidate to go from taking the FSOT to receiving an actual job offer, so why allow the process to drag on even further? But remember, because you can only take this test once in an 11-month period, the FSOT should not be approached casually with the attitude of "well, I'll just take this test and see how well I can do." If you are lackadaisical about the test, fail it, and suddenly become determined about becoming an FSO, you'll still have to wait impatiently for a year! So if you really want to take it, but feel you are not adequately prepared, you are better off studying and waiting until a future test window rather than struggling with the test in the current test window, failing and being miserable for a year!
To be continued...
Now it's time to tackle the first hurdle major hurdle standing between you and the Foreign Service: the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT).
Step 2: Register for the FSOT
Every journey to becoming an FSO begins with the FSOT, which is perhaps the most difficult knowledge-based test that exists in the federal government. More information about that will be given in Step 3. But prior to taking the test, you have to register for it online. Until this summer, the FSOT was administered by ACT. Now it's administered by Pearson VUE. When you register, you will be asked to provide information about your educational background, employment history, foreign language proficiency, professional certifications and anything else that could augment or define your candidacy. Take this registration seriously because it will be used again later on in the selection process.
One important thing to remember is not to exaggerate your experience, qualifications, education or talents when registering for the FSOT. DOS reserves the right to verify all claims you make in your application and can use any exaggerations or misrepresentations as grounds for terminating your candidacy or even dismissing you after you've been hired! Don't be modest, but don't be deceitful.
When you register, make sure you have a credit card handy. Even though the FSOT is free, you will be charged about $50 if you register for the test and fail to show up. But since you are serious about becoming an FSO, you should not have to worry about this. (Right?)
Here is some general information about the test.
The FSOT takes about three to four hours to complete and is offered three times a year: in February, June and October. The test can only be taken once in an 11-month period, so if you fail the test or wish to take it again, you have to wait until at least a year has passed since your last test. In other words, you can take the test in February 2014, February 2015 and June 2016, but you cannot take the test in October 2014, June 2015, and February 2016.
You can register online about a month before the test is administered. Tests are given at various locations throughout the United States as well as at select American embassies and consulates abroad. You do not have to register for the FSOT at the site closest to your place of residence. The first time I took the FSOT, for example, I was traveling in Asia and took the test at a consulate in Japan.
The FSOT can only be taken over the computer. Knowing this, pay special attention to the testing facility where each FSOT is offered. If you find that the FSOT will be offered at a site that you know has slow or rundown computers, for example, you might consider registering for the test at another location. Other things to consider are how easy it is to find parking, how far the testing site is from your residence, and what days of the week the test is being offered. Not all testing sites offer the test on all days of a particular testing window. Some testing sites offer the FSOT on weekends. Slots for these days tend to disappear quickly.
My advice for anyone considering becoming an FSO is to take the test as quickly and as seriously as possible. It may take anywhere from around six months to almost three years for a candidate to go from taking the FSOT to receiving an actual job offer, so why allow the process to drag on even further? But remember, because you can only take this test once in an 11-month period, the FSOT should not be approached casually with the attitude of "well, I'll just take this test and see how well I can do." If you are lackadaisical about the test, fail it, and suddenly become determined about becoming an FSO, you'll still have to wait impatiently for a year! So if you really want to take it, but feel you are not adequately prepared, you are better off studying and waiting until a future test window rather than struggling with the test in the current test window, failing and being miserable for a year!
To be continued...
The FS Gauntlet: Career Tracks
Okay, so the three conditions of employment haven't scared you away. You're still interested in going through with this process. You think you want to become an FSO, but are unsure of how to proceed. This post will focus on how to start your application off right and inform you of what types of positions are available. The Department of State (DOS) publishes this information on its official webpage. Having gone through (most of) this process before, I can elaborate a bit. There are eight steps, some of which are easier than others. So, let's get started!
Step 1: Choose a Career Track
Think of a person who says he wants to join the military. "I want to be a soldier," he says enthusiastically. Okay, that's great, but it's not that simple. There are many kinds of soldiers. They perform different functions and have different domains of expertise. Soldiers can work in the military police force, infantry platoons, finance offices, courthouses, field hospitals, radio studios, munitions warehouses, animal clinics, and tanks. The Foreign Service works in a similar fashion. At the beginning of the process of becoming an FSO, candidates have to choose one career track (sometimes called a "cone") that will govern what kinds of assignments they receive once they've been sworn in.
There are five career tracks for FSOs: Consular, Economic, Management, Political and Public Diplomacy.
Consular officers are troubleshooters. They issue passports and visas. They also provide services to Americans in emergency situations, such as those who are incarcerated, those who need to be evacuated, those whose wallets or purses were stolen, and those who are dealing with international child custody disputes.
Economic officers do a lot of research and liaisoning with foreign businesses and governments with the goal of finding or advancing opportunities for American investment abroad. They often have a portfolio of specific economic sectors to monitor, such as airlines, energy or tourism.
Management officers are the administrators of the embassies themselves. They secure adequate housing for embassy workers, manage the embassy motor pool, recruit and train locally hired staff, and ensure that future sites for American missions and such comply with security requirements.
Political officers keep tabs on the general social and political conditions of a country. They monitor election results and write reports on how these results may impact relations with the United States. They also identify the primary actors in a foreign government or conditions among the local populations that may lead to instability.
Public diplomacy officers serve as official mouthpieces for the United States government abroad. They use foreign media to articulate United States policy. They regularly scan the local media and look for opportunities to use it to advance American interests. They also coordinate cultural exchange programs.
There are no particular educational or professional requirements for any of these career tracks. You do not need a degree in journalism to be a public diplomacy officer, nor do you need to have an MBA to be an economic officer. Having said that, you should carefully consider the career track you choose because it is very difficult to change career tracks later on. DOS has a useful tool on their webpage that is designed to help you decide which career track you are best suited for. It's worth checking out.
Care should be taken regarding choosing a career track. A candidate can choose only ONE career track, and this choice cannot be changed. Candidates should also choose a career track according to their personal interests, not what they perceive as the "easier" track to get into. Since we're talking about your actual JOB here, you would be doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't choose the track you are most passionate about.
There are various Internet forums that recommend applying for one track or another because the applicants stand a greater chance of being hired due to a lower number of candidates. This is horrible advice for several reasons:
1. The hiring needs of one year may be different from the hiring needs of another year. You may think you can game the system by applying as a management officer "because that's the worst track," but because the hiring process may take up to two years or even longer, you may be surprised to find that the needs of the Foreign Service have changed and that there is an oversupply of management candidates by the time you apply.
2. Because it is so hard to change career tracks and because you need to do work in your chosen career track in order to attain tenure, do you really want to risk working 20 years in an elite organization doing work you really don't like? If you really want to become a public diplomacy officer and draft press statements for the ambassador, why would you apply to become a consular officer and potentially have to interview visa applicants for hours each day?
3. The people who review your applications may question why you chose a career track that does not appear to be a good match for your qualifications. If you have a lot of business experience and have managed economic portfolios, how can you use this experience to explain why you want to be a political officer? If you can't translate your background into a compelling rationale for your candidacy, why should you be admitted to the Foreign Service? This kind of strategizing could result in a failed candidacy.
Once you have decided which career track you wish to pursue, let me remind you that FSOs are considered "generalists." In other words, DOS may need you to serve in positions outside of your designated career track. Additionally, all new FSOs are required to serve a consular tour (and/or possibly a management tour) in one of their first two assignments. FSOs at some smaller posts may perform the functions of several officers at the same time. Thus, a consular officer might also work as a public diplomacy officer and a management officer. This is just something to keep in mind.
One last thing. Please remember which track you signed up for. And if your memory is no good, then write this down somewhere. You cannot change your career track once it has been selected. And you cannot retrieve this selection in the event that you forgot it.
(It should also be noted that there is another half to the Foreign Service besides Foreign Service Officers. The Foreign Service also consists of Foreign Service Specialists (FSSs). FSSs have specific functions at American missions abroad, such as security, construction, or medical. After all, embassies need people to maintain their computer networks, issue medication, and provide security. More information about FSS tracks is located here. This blog, however, will focus only on the process of becoming an FSO and, hopefully, my future career as one.)
The next step of this process is where things get serious...
Step 1: Choose a Career Track
Think of a person who says he wants to join the military. "I want to be a soldier," he says enthusiastically. Okay, that's great, but it's not that simple. There are many kinds of soldiers. They perform different functions and have different domains of expertise. Soldiers can work in the military police force, infantry platoons, finance offices, courthouses, field hospitals, radio studios, munitions warehouses, animal clinics, and tanks. The Foreign Service works in a similar fashion. At the beginning of the process of becoming an FSO, candidates have to choose one career track (sometimes called a "cone") that will govern what kinds of assignments they receive once they've been sworn in.
There are five career tracks for FSOs: Consular, Economic, Management, Political and Public Diplomacy.
Consular officers are troubleshooters. They issue passports and visas. They also provide services to Americans in emergency situations, such as those who are incarcerated, those who need to be evacuated, those whose wallets or purses were stolen, and those who are dealing with international child custody disputes.
Economic officers do a lot of research and liaisoning with foreign businesses and governments with the goal of finding or advancing opportunities for American investment abroad. They often have a portfolio of specific economic sectors to monitor, such as airlines, energy or tourism.
Management officers are the administrators of the embassies themselves. They secure adequate housing for embassy workers, manage the embassy motor pool, recruit and train locally hired staff, and ensure that future sites for American missions and such comply with security requirements.
Political officers keep tabs on the general social and political conditions of a country. They monitor election results and write reports on how these results may impact relations with the United States. They also identify the primary actors in a foreign government or conditions among the local populations that may lead to instability.
Public diplomacy officers serve as official mouthpieces for the United States government abroad. They use foreign media to articulate United States policy. They regularly scan the local media and look for opportunities to use it to advance American interests. They also coordinate cultural exchange programs.
There are no particular educational or professional requirements for any of these career tracks. You do not need a degree in journalism to be a public diplomacy officer, nor do you need to have an MBA to be an economic officer. Having said that, you should carefully consider the career track you choose because it is very difficult to change career tracks later on. DOS has a useful tool on their webpage that is designed to help you decide which career track you are best suited for. It's worth checking out.
Care should be taken regarding choosing a career track. A candidate can choose only ONE career track, and this choice cannot be changed. Candidates should also choose a career track according to their personal interests, not what they perceive as the "easier" track to get into. Since we're talking about your actual JOB here, you would be doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't choose the track you are most passionate about.
There are various Internet forums that recommend applying for one track or another because the applicants stand a greater chance of being hired due to a lower number of candidates. This is horrible advice for several reasons:
1. The hiring needs of one year may be different from the hiring needs of another year. You may think you can game the system by applying as a management officer "because that's the worst track," but because the hiring process may take up to two years or even longer, you may be surprised to find that the needs of the Foreign Service have changed and that there is an oversupply of management candidates by the time you apply.
2. Because it is so hard to change career tracks and because you need to do work in your chosen career track in order to attain tenure, do you really want to risk working 20 years in an elite organization doing work you really don't like? If you really want to become a public diplomacy officer and draft press statements for the ambassador, why would you apply to become a consular officer and potentially have to interview visa applicants for hours each day?
3. The people who review your applications may question why you chose a career track that does not appear to be a good match for your qualifications. If you have a lot of business experience and have managed economic portfolios, how can you use this experience to explain why you want to be a political officer? If you can't translate your background into a compelling rationale for your candidacy, why should you be admitted to the Foreign Service? This kind of strategizing could result in a failed candidacy.
Once you have decided which career track you wish to pursue, let me remind you that FSOs are considered "generalists." In other words, DOS may need you to serve in positions outside of your designated career track. Additionally, all new FSOs are required to serve a consular tour (and/or possibly a management tour) in one of their first two assignments. FSOs at some smaller posts may perform the functions of several officers at the same time. Thus, a consular officer might also work as a public diplomacy officer and a management officer. This is just something to keep in mind.
One last thing. Please remember which track you signed up for. And if your memory is no good, then write this down somewhere. You cannot change your career track once it has been selected. And you cannot retrieve this selection in the event that you forgot it.
(It should also be noted that there is another half to the Foreign Service besides Foreign Service Officers. The Foreign Service also consists of Foreign Service Specialists (FSSs). FSSs have specific functions at American missions abroad, such as security, construction, or medical. After all, embassies need people to maintain their computer networks, issue medication, and provide security. More information about FSS tracks is located here. This blog, however, will focus only on the process of becoming an FSO and, hopefully, my future career as one.)
The next step of this process is where things get serious...
The Foreign Service Beckons: Is This for Me?
This blog has been dormant for a long time. And this blog has remained conceptual in its focus and my thoughts about its very existence for even longer. But I've finally mustered the courage and commitment to try again.
So yeah, I'm Zz. No, that's not my real name. But my aim is to go from being Zz Whatever to being Zz Diplomat. But unless the President taps me to become an ambassador to some obscure country halfway around the world, there's only one way to accomplish this goal: becoming a United States Foreign Service Officer (FSO) with the Department of State.
FSOs have a truly unique and challenging profession. They spend most of their careers working abroad, often in dangerous or inhospitable conditions. They staff our embassies. They visit us in foreign prisons. They negotiate with foreign ministers. They attend international conferences. They conduct visa interviews. They welcome the President and congressional delegations when they travel abroad. They evacuate Americans caught in the wake of a natural disaster or outbreak of war. They provide advice to ambassadors. And they research country conditions and report this information back to Washington.
Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it? Yes, it does. But because of the unique skillset and knowledge base required to do this job, the State Department (DOS) has instituted a rigorous application and screening process. About 20,000 people apply to become FSOs each year, but only about 3% of the candidates are actually hired. In other words, if you want to become an FSO, don't quit your daytime job. But at the same time, even though roughly 97% of FSO candidates are unsuccessful, there's no reason to believe you won't be one of the lucky 3% who survives!
But here's the deal. Unlike most other federal jobs, you cannot apply to become an FSO simply by submitting a resume and answering a few questions on the USAJOBS webpage. You have to take a test, write an essay, submit long-form personal narratives, survive a review panel, pass an oral assessment, receive a medical clearance, pass a background investigation, pass a final review panel, and be called from a register of eligible candidates before you can finally call yourself an FSO. That's a lot of information, so we'll start from the beginning.
When I say "start from the beginning," I must first advise you of three mandatory, non-negotiable, ironclad stipulations that all FSOs must agree to in order to be hired. If you can't agree to these three conditions, you should not waste your time.
1. You must be flexible with your assignments even if they may require you to assume unfamiliar or undesirable responsibilities. For example, even though you might be hired as a political officer (more on that later), you might have to complete a tour as a management officer. Even if your skillset is in public diplomacy, DOS may need you to serve as a consular officer. When dignitaries or other important delegations visit your duty location, you may be assigned as a baggage officer or a notetaker. (More information about this is available at Foreignservicetest.com.) You might need to be trained in a language you have little or no interest in.
2. You must publicly support the policies of the United States Government (USG). As a diplomat, you represent the USG abroad. Your bosses are the President of the United States and the Secretary of State. If you vehemently disagree with the President's decision to send military troops to Country X or you think the Secretary missed a golden opportunity when negotiating with Minister Y, you must be prepared to publicly defend the President, the Secretary, and the relevant policies or actions. If you can't hold your tongue in public, the Foreign Service is not for you.
3. You must be available to serve anywhere in the world at anytime. Yes, there are embassies and consulates in Switzerland, Italy, Britain and New Zealand. But there are also embassies and consulates in Iraq, Libya, Venezuela, and Nigeria. You might be assigned to an impoverished country with poor sanitation. You might have to work in a place where the climate is severe. You might have to work in a country ravaged by war. You might have to work in a place where the locals do not like Americans. And some assignments will not allow you to take your spouse or children or pets with you--and you'll still have to go there anyway. And sometimes you will have to uproot your family on short notice. If you are the type of person who will only become an FSO if you can work in a safe, developed country, then the Foreign Service is definitely not for you.
If you are still reading this, I assume you are okay with these three conditions of employment and are ready to get this show on the road. In my next post, I will provide information on the first steps involved in becoming an FSO and what types of FSOs there are. Stay tuned!
So yeah, I'm Zz. No, that's not my real name. But my aim is to go from being Zz Whatever to being Zz Diplomat. But unless the President taps me to become an ambassador to some obscure country halfway around the world, there's only one way to accomplish this goal: becoming a United States Foreign Service Officer (FSO) with the Department of State.
FSOs have a truly unique and challenging profession. They spend most of their careers working abroad, often in dangerous or inhospitable conditions. They staff our embassies. They visit us in foreign prisons. They negotiate with foreign ministers. They attend international conferences. They conduct visa interviews. They welcome the President and congressional delegations when they travel abroad. They evacuate Americans caught in the wake of a natural disaster or outbreak of war. They provide advice to ambassadors. And they research country conditions and report this information back to Washington.
Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it? Yes, it does. But because of the unique skillset and knowledge base required to do this job, the State Department (DOS) has instituted a rigorous application and screening process. About 20,000 people apply to become FSOs each year, but only about 3% of the candidates are actually hired. In other words, if you want to become an FSO, don't quit your daytime job. But at the same time, even though roughly 97% of FSO candidates are unsuccessful, there's no reason to believe you won't be one of the lucky 3% who survives!
But here's the deal. Unlike most other federal jobs, you cannot apply to become an FSO simply by submitting a resume and answering a few questions on the USAJOBS webpage. You have to take a test, write an essay, submit long-form personal narratives, survive a review panel, pass an oral assessment, receive a medical clearance, pass a background investigation, pass a final review panel, and be called from a register of eligible candidates before you can finally call yourself an FSO. That's a lot of information, so we'll start from the beginning.
When I say "start from the beginning," I must first advise you of three mandatory, non-negotiable, ironclad stipulations that all FSOs must agree to in order to be hired. If you can't agree to these three conditions, you should not waste your time.
1. You must be flexible with your assignments even if they may require you to assume unfamiliar or undesirable responsibilities. For example, even though you might be hired as a political officer (more on that later), you might have to complete a tour as a management officer. Even if your skillset is in public diplomacy, DOS may need you to serve as a consular officer. When dignitaries or other important delegations visit your duty location, you may be assigned as a baggage officer or a notetaker. (More information about this is available at Foreignservicetest.com.) You might need to be trained in a language you have little or no interest in.
2. You must publicly support the policies of the United States Government (USG). As a diplomat, you represent the USG abroad. Your bosses are the President of the United States and the Secretary of State. If you vehemently disagree with the President's decision to send military troops to Country X or you think the Secretary missed a golden opportunity when negotiating with Minister Y, you must be prepared to publicly defend the President, the Secretary, and the relevant policies or actions. If you can't hold your tongue in public, the Foreign Service is not for you.
3. You must be available to serve anywhere in the world at anytime. Yes, there are embassies and consulates in Switzerland, Italy, Britain and New Zealand. But there are also embassies and consulates in Iraq, Libya, Venezuela, and Nigeria. You might be assigned to an impoverished country with poor sanitation. You might have to work in a place where the climate is severe. You might have to work in a country ravaged by war. You might have to work in a place where the locals do not like Americans. And some assignments will not allow you to take your spouse or children or pets with you--and you'll still have to go there anyway. And sometimes you will have to uproot your family on short notice. If you are the type of person who will only become an FSO if you can work in a safe, developed country, then the Foreign Service is definitely not for you.
If you are still reading this, I assume you are okay with these three conditions of employment and are ready to get this show on the road. In my next post, I will provide information on the first steps involved in becoming an FSO and what types of FSOs there are. Stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)