Hello from Charleston, South Carolina. Yes, we're still here on authorized departure. Yes, I'm still teleworking for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh. It's been just over three months, but it feels like much longer. We are definitely ready to get back to Cambodia and get on with our assignment there.
We've been laying low, social distancing, self-isolating while in Charleston. Except for some bike riding we haven't done much, really. It most definitely hasn't been any sort of vacation here.
I'll put a few photos below. Before those, though, I'll answer a couple of questions that I get from time to time about the Foreign Service and my job.
What is the difference between the Foreign Service and other federal employment?
The US Foreign Service is just one part of US federal employment. The most common is Civil Service, but there are also the military (Uniformed Service), personal contractors, and third-party contractors.
The US Foreign Service basically has two flavors: Foreign Service Officers, aka Generalists, and Foreign Service Specialists, aka Specialists. Generalists are commissioned officers, meaning that the US Senate confirms their appointments as foreign service officers; Specialists are not commissioned officers, but rather hired under specific hiring authority for each speciality. I am a Foreign Service Financial Management Specialist. Both generalists and specialists are commonly called foreign service officers (though, some don't like specialists being called officers).
Five agencies of the US Government are designated as foreign affairs agencies: Department of State, US Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Agriculture (Foreign Agricultural Service), Department of Commerce (Foreign Commercial Service), and the US Agency for Global Media (formerly Broadcasting Board of Governors), which includes the Voice of America. These five agencies have foreign service officers.
The main difference, though, is that foreign service officers (generalists and specialists) typically spend the majority of their careers overseas working in US embassies and consulates. There are lots of other differences, like retirement plans, pay scales, home leave, etc.
How does someone join the Foreign Service?
I can speak to the State Department; other agencies will have their own ways to join. In general, there are two paths to join the Foreign Service: as a generalist or as a specialist.
Generalists take the Foreign Service Officer Test, which is usually given three or four times a year across the USA and at some places overseas, too. Those who pass then go through a qualifications round. Those who pass this round will be invited to participate in an in-person evaluation called the Oral Assessment. Those who make it past this will go through background investigations, security clearance, and suitability review. After all this, candidates are placed on a register for up to 18 months to wait for new positions to open. If an orientation class is called, those on the register will be invited in rank order to join. Candidates can defer once; if they are not called within 18 months of coming on to the register they time out and must start the process from the beginning. Anyone who doesn't pass any part of the process above can try again, but must wait a year from when they took the FSOT to try again.
Specialists respond to specific job announcements, like those here: https://careers.state.gov/work/available-jobs/. Job applicants will be evaluated for minimum qualifications and those that pass will move to a Qualifications Evaluation Panel review. Those who pass this round will be invited to an Oral Assessment for their speciality and then the process proceeds as above: investigations, clearances, suitability, register, etc. Those who don't pass will need to wait until the next job announcement comes out for their speciality to try again.
Both paths are long and competitive and candidates are advised not to quit their current jobs or make life altering plans until actually offered a position. It took me two years from applying to the job announcement to my first day or orientation.
How do you know where you will be assigned?
For generalists and specialists the first two assignments are designated - they are chosen by human resources, based on the needs of the Department, with some input by the new officers. Generalists also have the requirement that one of their first two tours will be in a consular role.
For subsequent tours there is a bidding process. This usually happens in the last year of an assignment. There is a system that shows which positions in which embassies or consulates will be available. Officers identify potential assignments and then start lobbying. After the lobbying period, officers place bids on specific assignments, interviewing starts, and then offers are made, called handshakes. These offers are then confirmed back in Washington, DC and announced at the end of the process.
That's the simple version. In reality is can be more complex. Networks and reputation, called "corridor rep", is important to securing an assignment you really want. Some officers play the game well and others just see what happens. I've been through the process once, so far, and got my first choice. I'll bid in the summer of 2021 for transfer in 2022. We'll see how that goes.
Feel free to ask other questions in the comments box and I'll try to answer if I can.
Now...how I spent my summer authorized departure.
Some wine...
and bicycle rides...
and more bicycle riding...
more bicycle riding...
some beer helps...
socially-distanced Pride...
and yet more bicycle riding...
watching the flowers bloom...
and sunsets (thanks to dust from the Sahara).
