How to become a Foreign Service Officer: Part I

Some time ago I had promised a few folks a neat narrative on the process of becoming a FSO.
Before I begin, a brief departure on a different topics for all the parents out there. Have you ever had those happy, romantic dreams as newly minted parents how you will be putting your child to sleep while singing gently to her? Yeah? Yeah, well, so did I. Reality is a bit different though (yeah, I know, I am reinventing the wheel here). Last night, Son, who has transitioned to a real twin-sized bed, woke up unexpectedly at 11.30pm, asked to use the potty and then completely refused to sleep. After half an hour of threats and pleadings that if he does not stop, I will put him back in the crib (kind of an awkward threat, given that we got rid of the crib), I opened up the pack and play and put him there to show what a powerful mommy I am (stop rolling your eyes, seemed like a great idea at the time). After some time, I asked him if he wanted to go back to his big bed. The obstinate child looked at me and said no. Oops--right back at you mommy! So, I gently took him out of there, put him in his big bed and laid down with him. Remembering my romantic motherly notions, I offered to sing to him the ABC song and the offer was gladly taken. I started singing it, spicing it up with random Twinkle twinkle (same melody, you know). Mom's dream right? Sure, until 20 mins later, when I was still singing those damn songs (a good 143 times, I think) and kept putting myself to sleep only to have Son's stern voice prod me--Momma, ABC! He finally went off.

So, trying to get into the United States Foreign Service is kind of a similar experience--not at all what you'd expect it to be and yet somewhat similar; a long, unnecessarily protracted, painful, frustrating, filled with waiting, apprehension, guessing, many trials and errors at times, seemingly depending on the random mood swing of other people and hopefully, immensely wonderful in the end.

Step 1--the decision

One wonderful morning you wake up, look at your normal life and have a sudden lapse of reason. Minutes later you come back to life and discover that you have decided to join the Foreign Service. You get immediately inordinately excited, google "foreign service" and land here: http://careers.state.gov/officer (if you are interested in being a so-called generalist; if you have some mad technical skills, you should consider becoming a specialist). Awed by the stupendous info on the site, you firm your decision to "promote peace, support prosperity, and protect American citizens while advancing the interests of the U.S. abroad" and proceed to find out what you need to do next. Here is what you do NOT need: no special requirements for education, work experience, language proficiency, etc. HA! But you better have them. Let's see why:

Step 2--choose your poison

For the generalist FSO, in the Foreign Service, there are 5 different career tracks you can choose from. You can be a: 1) consular officer, 2) economic officer, 3) management officer, 4) political officer and 5) public diplomacy officer (or as your momma once told you--you can be ANYTHING your ever wanted to be; no, not an American Idol finalist; no, not even America's Top Model or Bachelor contestant; hey, this is the Foreign service, focus!). You need to choose what you want to be before you apply--once you go in, in 95% of the cases, you cannot change your track. I know people who have but it is not common. Your track will be decisive for your future assignments and career development. So choose wisely. If you cannot stand the media circus and inane and pointless journalist questions, do NOT become PD. If visiting unwise American youth in Thai prisons for marijuana possession, crying for your help and, looking straight in your diplomatic eyes, swear on their dead cat that they thought the dried grass was an ancient Thai herb for smelly feet ain't your thing, do NOT choose consular. If arguing with relentless Vietnamese landlords who want to hike up the price of diplomatic residences threefold by threatening to sell the land to developers instead, do NOT go into management. You get the idea. Read about the tracks in some detail here: http://careers.state.gov/officer/selection-process#nogo

Step 3--the written exam, or FSOT

Next, you need to take a famed exam called the Foreign Service Officer Test. It has 2 components--a multiple choice test and an essay portion. The test is administered ONLY 3 times a year, and if you (surely not!) happen to fail it, you can re-take it after 11 months. So, the moment you get that epiphany that you want to take the test and feel somewhat prepared, take is ASAP. This year the next FSOT is in mid-Feb. The deadline to register to take it overseas is Jan 24, and in the US--Feb 2. Keep in mind that there is limited capacity--once it is filled, wait for the next test date. The State Department has been nice enough to administer the test in many of its embassies around the world.

In the interest of keeping this readable, I intend to keep each parts fairly short. This is it for now. Next post will extrapolate on a VERY key topic--HOW and WHAT to study for the FSOT. Stay tuned!

PS--for those who wonder, I am STILL in adjudications. And not happy.