Makes sense, right?
I guess it’s no secret that my husband and I enjoy the possibility of moving to new places; especially abroad. Back in June, before my husband’s transfer was finalized, I decided to research the process of joining the Department of State’s Foreign Service. I’m not going to go into too much detail about the process, as other candidates have done a thorough job with this already. My experience with the process has been the following:
June 2009: Took the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT)
July 2009: Notified that I passed the FSOT and needed to submit my Personal Narrative Questionnaire (PNQ) within three weeks
July 2009: Submitted my PNQ’s
September 2009: Notified that I was invited to the Oral Assessment (OA) and had 30 days to schedule
September 2009: Picked February to take the OA
I’m sure the next logical question is: how does this all fit in to your plan of moving to Caracas?
Hmmm, it doesn’t. Well, sort of…
The plan is, if I pass the OA in February, my Top Secret Security Clearance can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months (sometimes 1 year) and given the amount of traveling I have done, I am banking on at least 6 months. That takes us to August 2010. Then, if I make it past adjudications, I will then be placed on the register waiting to be called for the next A-100 class (orientation for all Foreign Service Officers). At that point, I have the option of being asked to be placed on the Do Not Call list for up to 12 months; therefore, potentially being called off the register in August 2011. By then, we will have been in Caracas almost two years and will consider our options at that time.
Why the self-induced torture? I think I went through the process 1) for the experience and 2) to keep our options open. Makes sense, right?
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Tags: Caracas, Department of State, Foreign Service Officer Test, Oral Assessment, Personal Narrative Questionnaire, Questions, US Diplomat, Venezuela
Best of luck on the OA. I posted some tips on taking the OA last week at http://lifeafterjerusalem.blogspot.com.
Thanks!
I was thinking of a career as a FSO. I have some experience living in Bahrain and have traveled to Pakistan, Turkey and other countries. I will have my anthropology degree in hand one year from now.
What are your degrees in?
My undergrad is in International Economic Development and French. My masters is in Public Administration. The one thing that I have learned through this process is that international experience is usually the catalyst for many candidates to apply, but it is not necessarily a plus for the Board of Examiners. There have been people to make it in with no international experience or bachelors' degree. I guess this can be both encouraging and confusing.
Have you signed up for the written exam?