Foreign Service Exam/Diplomats

Rudey · #1 04-09-2003, 11:50 PM

So I'm taking the foreign service exam this weekend. Anyone ever taken it? I'm going to rock it but i haven't really seen much of what will be on it so I might just slight rock it.

-Rudey
--I might be a diplomat...haha...ain't that something.

Kevin · #2 04-10-2003, 12:39 AM

That sounds great man. What was your major? Let us know what it's like and good luck!

navane · #3 04-10-2003, 01:57 AM

I once went to a US Department of State open meeting for potential Foreign Service Officers. It was a very interesting presentation, but I decided it wasn't for me. I'm just not that into economics, international policy management and whatnot. (Of the five tracks, I rated highest in public diplomacy followed by management/admin).

They scared us with stories of being airlifted from the roof of an embassy during some crisis - one guy said it happend to him twice.

They were very clear in mentioning that the exam is not easy and that *if* you pass, you'll be added to a waiting list of candidates.

Overall though, I could tell that they really liked what they did and had some exciting times.

It sounds like you've got the "go get 'em" attitude! Rock that test, Rudey!

.....Kelly

XOMichelle · #4 04-10-2003, 03:19 AM

My friend (also in my chapter) is actually waiting for her first embassy assignment in DC! She is part of a 90 person diplomat officer class. I don't know all the particulars, but I know she passed both the written and the oral exams (the written hung over, at that!), and then had to go through a 7 month security clearance by the State Department. I was one of her personal refrences, and a guy with a very official looking badge came to my house to ask me about her (does she have foreign friends?).

The one thing she told me that helped her was her summer internship. She did one at the American embassy in Milan the summer before she took the oral test. So when they asked her about situations, she had already been in some of them.

Good Luck!!!
-Michelle

UKAXO · #5 04-10-2003, 07:46 AM

Rudey,

Best of luck on your exam!

I STRONGLY recommend an internship for anybody seriously thinking of employment with the Foreign Service. Our interns at the Embassy in London get a very good idea of what really goes on behind the scenes. Many of them leave with an even greater determination to make a career of it, while others decide it just isn't for them.

Please let us know how it all turns out!

Caroline

navane · #6 04-10-2003, 10:52 AM

Hey Caroline!

Glad to see you posting!!

But tell me....are jobs at the London Embassy "Exclusively for Everyone?"

.....Kelly

Jaggergirl · #7 04-10-2003, 11:00 AM

I sometimes toy with the idea of applying for the Foreign Service positions. How cool would that be. "Oh, I'm going to live abroad for 2 years and work for the gov't... where am I going? Don't know yet.... Oh! Ukraine. Cool."

It just seems like it would be an amazing life experience.

lionlove · #8 04-10-2003, 11:15 AM

I'm taking the exam on Saturday too. What career track are you in? I'm taking the consular track. Good luck.

AlphaSigOU · #9 04-10-2003, 12:39 PM

Another job that might be interesting (they used to advertise it in college papers and recruit in college campuses) would be a foreign 'case officer' with the CIA. If you can put up with a massive background investigation, thorough physical and psychological exams, as well as a polygraph it might be a decent career. People looking for the James Bond lifestyle need not apply.

I applied for a CIA staff job back when I was living in Washington DC some years ago. You first go to this non-descript building in Rosslyn to get a presentation about CIA careers and take a basic aptitude test to receive an application. The application is something like 20 pages in length and extremely thorough (they need at least 15 years of background data to process at least a TOP SECRET clearance). You send it in and... wait something like at least six months or so for the initial background investigation to be completed. Don't call them, they'll call you.

If you get called, you'll be told where to report (another nondescript office building in the Beltway) to take your physical exam and psychological tests, then sent to another building where you take your polygraph. The polygraph testing is practicallly the 'make or break' part of the application process; it is tough, no-nonsense, and has the atmosphere of a police interrogation. You get an initial exam, if the polygraph examiner feels you're hiding something, you get a second go with the box along with a hard-a** examiner. Following the tests, it takes anywhere from three to six weeks for them to send you a letter whether you got a job with them or not. If you didn't make the final cut, the letter will even inform you that you cannot even ask for the results of any tests nor the reasons why you failed to make the cut. (Because of the high security clearance, you have to take a polygraph exam every five years.)

If you do make the final cut you get a briefing, badged and sworn in to the CIA. Depending on your career field, you may be working in Langley or overseas as a case officer (there is no such thing as a CIA agent, only foreign nationals are recruited as agents for the CIA), probably under minor diplomatic cover.

If you're a math or computer whiz, the National Security Agency in Fort Meade (NSA, sometimes referred to as 'Never Say Anything') has a similar application process. NSA handles communications intelligence, cryptography and cryptanalysis.

Up until the early 1990s the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) officially did not exist; even its name was classified. They handle the spy satellite business.

The three military services have their own intelligence branches, and the DoD had its own umbrella organization called the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Peaches-n-Cream · #10 04-10-2003, 01:53 PM

Good luck, Rudey and lionlove!

Where can I get information about this test?

-Cream
--I'm bored and I need a change.

Peaches-n-Cream · #11 04-10-2003, 01:57 PM

Found the website. Only one test in 2003. Oh well maybe next year.

SATX*APhi · #12 04-10-2003, 01:59 PM

Hey Cream, what is it?

Please.

Peaches-n-Cream · #13 04-10-2003, 02:13 PM

Here's the site for the Foreign Service Exam. http://www.careers.state.gov/officer.../register.html

Here is the US State Dept. http://www.careers.state.gov/

Rudey · #14 04-10-2003, 04:29 PM

lionlove - I'm in the track for the economist position but I think I'm going to switch over to public diplomacy. I know they're hard to get but putting down consular because it's easier would leave me miserable. Can you switch tracks after you've been accepted ever?

UKAXO - Yeah the only thing I'm worried about are the people with the internships or the kids finishing up their peace corps tours. Do they offer internships for people who are about to graduate?

AlphaSigOU - Yeah I applied at the NSA and CIA. The NSA pays you beans and the CIA was...nice...but that's all. I also would have been unable to pass security clearance at the NSA without a special permit from a director and they never give those out for entry level positions. The positions I applied for were not science or tech based.

I'm not worried about the exams too much. They test some basic stuff and the stuff that isn't basic is just weird trivia (like who was the first native american senator) which I have some shot at I figure. Anyone know where to look for some more sample questions?

And what does the security clearance involve? I can't find anything on their website on what they check on.

-Rudey
--Cream wants to be like me!

AlphaSigOU · #15 04-10-2003, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
...And what does the security clearance involve? I can't find anything on their website on what they check on.

Check the Defense Security Service website at www.dss.mil - they handle most of the security clearance processing for the military and some other government positions. An FAQ on how the process works is at http://www.dss.mil/psi/index.htm .