Has anyone considered foreign service officer?

mrmillersd · Post by **mrmillersd** » July 4th, 2013, 8:02 pm

I love traveling, exploring, and international relations /economics. Has anyone considered joining the US Foreign service to meet women abroad? You cant always chose where you are stationed, but at times you can chose your travels once you gain more expereince.

AnonymousAmerican · Post by **AnonymousAmerican** » July 4th, 2013, 8:13 pm

can you explain more on that

Cornfed · Post by **Cornfed** » July 4th, 2013, 8:41 pm

Wouldn't foreign service officers consist entirely of ruling class tossers and their house pets (females, darkies etc.) now?

ladislav · Post by **ladislav** » July 4th, 2013, 10:20 pm

You will be assigned as embassy staff. A good job and great perks. Downsides? No freedom to go where- and do or say what you want . Pretty much a well paid lackey. My opinion.

gsjackson · Post by **gsjackson** » July 4th, 2013, 10:21 pm

Cornfed wrote:Wouldn't foreign service officers consist entirely of ruling class tossers and their house pets (females, darkies etc.) now?

Maybe politically appointed diplomats. Foreign Service officers are career civil servants who have to pass a fairly demanding written test, so you could at least argue that they are the products of a meritocracy. It's not an easy gig to get, and I'd imagine it's littered now with affirmative action hurdles.

Jester · Post by **Jester** » July 4th, 2013, 10:50 pm

mrmillersd wrote:I love traveling, exploring, and international relations /economics. Has anyone considered joining the US Foreign service to meet women abroad? You cant always chose where you are stationed, but at times you can chose your travels once you gain more expereince.

I used to get the "PhilFaqs" newsletter, and he pushed this hard, for his fellow aging vet expats ALREADY living in the Philippines, as a way to get a good-paying job.

The exam is easy if you're a news and history and politics and geography/travel junkie like me and quite a few guys on here.

The other factor is, you need to be able to list your whole work record, including gaps. Same with any government or financial job.

Plus it's a year-long process to get hired.

If my "career" hadn't been so spotty, I would do it myself. Piece of cake. But for me I couldn't even count all the jobs I've had, let alone list them.

Told my recent-grad son about taking the Foreign Service exam, but no dice....... noone listens to Dad.

Five different employment tracks, some are very non-political. Just arrange the embassy picnic, things like that.

AnonymousAmerican · Post by **AnonymousAmerican** » July 4th, 2013, 11:23 pm

sounds like my kind of job. I am a news/history/geography junkie. for once, it will pay off being that. in high school, people would look at me weirdly for being that.

Jester · Post by **Jester** » July 4th, 2013, 11:26 pm

AnonymousAmerican wrote:sounds like my kind of job. I am a news/history/geography junkie. for once, it will pay off being that. in high school, people would look at me weirdly for being that.

You will be in your element.

AnonymousAmerican · Post by **AnonymousAmerican** » July 4th, 2013, 11:29 pm

Jester wrote:
AnonymousAmerican wrote:sounds like my kind of job. I am a news/history/geography junkie. for once, it will pay off being that. in high school, people would look at me weirdly for being that.
You will be in your element.

lol. I just want to finish my degree first.

Repatriate · Post by **Repatriate** » July 5th, 2013, 12:33 am

I looked into it a long time ago and let me just say that your life will be under a microscope. You will get assigned to a lot of different places for 2 year stints. In some real hellholes too since the choice locations aren't always available. On the plus side I guess you can work yourself up to becoming a full blown diplomat or ambassador but that's after 20+ years working for the government. The lack of freedom though is something to consider.

Ghost · Post by **Ghost** » July 5th, 2013, 12:58 am

Jester · Post by **Jester** » July 5th, 2013, 10:22 am

Ghost wrote:I can't really imagine anyone here being able to stomach working for DaddyGov as a lackey...

Well for me I just figured do it 2 years to get situated abroad. Not forever. Instead of online work, which I find lonely.

For my sons, pretty much the same. I was just looking for a way to entice them abroad. Figured they would spread their wings and fly, once out of the U.S. birdcage.

Post by **Winston** » July 6th, 2013, 9:41 pm

ladislav wrote:You will be assigned as embassy staff. A good job and great perks. Downsides? No freedom to go where- and do or say what you want . Pretty much a well paid lackey. My opinion.

Another downside is that you can't be a freethinker. You will have to pretend to agree with every US foreign policy and side with the US on all issues, even when they are wrong. And you cannot criticize your own government too.

There are websites with more info on it. One of them even had Colin Powell on the front page welcoming you to foreign service. lol

Here is one I found:
http://careers.state.gov/officer

Here is the criteria it lists:
http://careers.state.gov/officer/is-the ... ht-for-you

As you can see, being willing to live in dangerous areas and hazardous situations is one of them.

Here is an interview with a guy who works as a foreign service officer:
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/04/2 ... rdiplomat/

Has anyone considered foreign service officer?

Has anyone considered foreign service officer?

Re: Has anyone considered foreign service officer?