Styleforum › Forums › General › General Chat › Thoughts on taking the Foreign Service Exam
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Thoughts on taking the Foreign Service Exam

post #1 of 9
8/3/09 at 8:30pm
Thread Starter 
Hi I tried looking and did not see any thread about this. I just got out of grad school and was thinking about taking the Foreign Service Exam. I was wondering if anyone on this board has any experience with a career in the state department. I found alot out about taking the exam and passing all the tests elsewhere and I mostly curious what the career is actually like and if it is right for me. It seems like an interesting and well-paying career but my main concern is the affect it will have on my personal life and what I will actually end up doing once I get the job. I am curious how often you get assigned different locations and how desirable the locations are for your first few years. Though I am a young guy in my mid-twenties, I am somewhat settled in NY. I am also in a long-term relationship and my girlfriend does not seem too interested giving up her job and moving to somewhere in the middle east for the next couple of years. So I guess I am asking if anyone on the board has passed the tests, if they like their career in the Foreign Service and if the quality of life is good for people who made a career out of it. Also is it possible to stay in the US, and more particularly in NY or a desirable city like London, once you get a job.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 9
8/3/09 at 9:36pm
I have a buddy that did it for a while.

To answer your questions, there is a reason it is called foreign service. He said they typically rotated people through the embassies every 2 years or so.

Also, he said the first post or two will be hardship posts. The more senior guys tend to get the stable countries. I think he said former Soviet countries and African countries were pretty common. Not sure if that is still the case, my info is several years old now.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 9
8/3/09 at 9:39pm
Thread Starter 
That seems somewhat accurate from what I have read. I have a friend of a friend who hated working for a big NY law firm and passed the tests and now works in DC. I do not think he ever worked abroad though.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 9
8/3/09 at 9:59pm
I understand now your first post has to be in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 9
8/3/09 at 10:28pm
I'm also interested in this and am in a similar situation (1 yr of law school left)

They did have someone speak at our school last year.

From what I remember-
2 yr postings, max of back to back in one place-- so no more than 4yrs at a time in one place

There are 5? i think different sorts of positions (don't remeber what they were)

Pretty sure he said you do NOT have to do a "hardship" posting. The guy who spoke to us had been doing it for 18yrs and said he had spent most of his time in Europe and some in S America, b/c you do kind of get to choose where you go and plenty of people choose to take postings in Africa and the like so he had never had to.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 9
8/3/09 at 11:48pm
Apparently after you take the test, you get an overall application 'score' which combines your degree, background, veteran status, blah blah blah, and test score.

Your score is then slotted into a big spreadsheet, essentially, and it can sit there for months. I was told this by a girl who took the test with just an undergrad degree, sorta forgot about it, and then 18 months later got an offer.

Supposedly, if you slot higher (presumably a law grad would slot higher than a 22 year old undergrad), then you are 'more preferred' and can get an offer in a reasonable amount of time.

I have thought about it too.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 9
8/3/09 at 11:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milhouse View Post
I have a buddy that did it for a while. To answer your questions, there is a reason it is called foreign service. He said they typically rotated people through the embassies every 2 years or so. Also, he said the first post or two will be hardship posts. The more senior guys tend to get the stable countries. I think he said former Soviet countries and African countries were pretty common. Not sure if that is still the case, my info is several years old now.
Sounds about right. In addition to the hazard pay you will live like a king in such countries because the USG wants to protect its staff. The uprooting myself every 2-3 years will get old in my opinion though. But people in the foreign service for decades are some of the most interesting people you could meet. I thought about it and took the test. I thought it was pretty easy but didn't get selected for the second round. I understand they look at a variety of things before admitting candidates to the second round. I'm pretty glad I didn't get ahead in hindsight, too.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 9
8/4/09 at 12:08am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the replies. I have heard their is actually a pretty high rate of dissatisfaction with the job, about on par with working in big law actually. It seems like everyone knows someone with some experience with it but I have never heard from someone who has actually done it.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 9
8/4/09 at 2:08am
I think it depends on the personality. It takes a special kind of person to handle moving every 2 years, living at times in hellholes, other times in the lap of luxury, etc.

Think about it. . . just as you start to get settled in and real used to stuffing yourself on Swiss chocolate, you get moved. 2 years probably blows by like a blink when you are in a nice place.

But if you are in a place you hate, 2 years probably seems like an eternity.

Also think about your wife. . . how will she have any sort of satisfying career unless she does something that can be done by telecommuting, OR, if she does serious time away as a consultant.

Think about your kids. . .they get to switch schools all the time. Just as they make friends, they move away somewhere else.

Then there is the work itself. Approving visas, helping US citizens in the country, preparing economic reports on the country, preparing for high profile people to visit the country, etc. Is that the kind of thing you like?

I've dealt with embassy guys in the commerce / finance divisions before. Not sure if they were FSOs or not (I think they weren't actually, but don't know for sure). They seemed to be really happy folks. They get to do the kind of work they like, they get to live in a country they enjoy, etc, for much longer periods of time. Seems like a better option IMO.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: General Chat
Styleforum › Forums › General › General Chat › Thoughts on taking the Foreign Service Exam