Life starting off as a Foreign Service Officer
I would have put this up in the job seekers room, but hose threads expire after 60 days, so I figured this old haunt was as good as any.
I am not there just yet, but my twilight tour in the military is coming, and I am thinking on my interest in FSO work that took me through two successful written exams in the past, and a offer to take the oral board which i turned down because I had just accepted an opportunity to return to the Marine Corps.
Do we have any members here who might be willing to share insight on life in the FS as it stands today?
I am particularly interested in any insight on the following:
-The impact of age on new FSOs. I took the oral board in 1991 alongside a wife of a recently-retired Air Force officer, so she was up in yeas. What is the average age of a recently-minted FSO these days? Is the process the same as it was the times I previously took the test?...written exam, followed by oral board? If successful at the oral board, what next, and how much time mght I be looking at before receiving a hire offer and assignment for training or duty station?
-Duty station assignment policies? Is it a matter of choosing the top five and hoping for the best, or are there standard practices where you have to take a hardship tour at the outset, since you are junior? (Not that it would matter to me, but the wifey wonders :wry:).
-What constraints and restraints are there regarding accompanied tours? I have two daughters who will definitely be in high school by the time this career change might be realized, so my wife and I are especially curious about overseas education issues. My oldest will be on her way to college.
-Would my wife's nationality have any bearing on assignment? She is a Filipino national still, but has finally decided to get around to petioning for naturalization, and speaks Tagalog as his first language.
-I will have spent twenty years previous to any FS work in the infantry. Does that have any bearing on the type of work I might be assigned as a junior FSO, or do career tracks come later, with FSOs starting out as sort of a jack-of-all trades.
I'll think of more, but most importantly, can anyone recommend a blog out there from a FSO where I might be able to gain further insight.
Foreign Service Officer & Foreign Service Staff
Some dated and some current tense State Department career info which may be of assistance to you:
1. The FSO exams now can be disassembled, ie, you can be evaluated for other than a bottom rank FSO career appointment based on your total life experience and education, provided what you have been doing is relevant to the then current needs of the Foreign Service.
2. You can also non-competitively be evaluated (again, so-called disassembled exam) for appointment into the Foreign Service Staff (FSS). The FSS assignments are more the jack of all trades starting point.
Hope these few snippets may be of informational assistance to you. My wife years ago, long ago, took the old FSO written exams, knocked the top out (a Cornell U. brain and languages major) and then declined to take the oral board follow up exam...for fear she would get into the Foreign Service!
Instead, she took a career appointment with the Organization of American States based at the OAS HQ in Washington, doing occasional TDY travel but always back to home in DC area. Her work with the OAS, in the Office of Educational Affairs, allowed her to become proficient in Spanish, Portugese, Italian, some German and some Greek. She majored in French in college and just improved on that language, French, in her work in a practical manner.
A non-US national wife I think is still a killer, however, in terms of security clearance. Have no idea what working on and toward US citizenship would or would not do for her, hence for you.
Tagolic as you know is an off-shoot of Spanish, unique to the Philippines.
Good luck.
Although guessing is a time-honored tradition in these parts...
...here's some info you may find useful ;)
1. woodlandtravels.blogspot.com- a late 30s guy, with family, going through the training process
2. securityclearancejobs.blogspot.com- old, but good info on security clearances
3. from what I have seen (a friend's experience), having an Albanian husband that you married after a three month courtship doesn't even stop a security clearance, it just slows down the process to a degree that's notable even by federal government standards
and the guy who writes WoodLand travels is pretty open about answering questions...
...and his wife would have a lot to say about family life, etc.
Closing Dates for PRTs fast approaching
You should check USAJobs for the clsoing dates for the PRT positions, if interested.
Most of the initial traunch for Afghanistan, and some Iraq positions, close this week.
Jcustis: Once you've figured out the constitution and BoR, a governance position might fit? No tests, except for the laborious essay process.
Steve