Trying This Again

Ok, so I'm giving blogging one more try.  I thought I'd start back up with a recap of a major event that happened last week:

FSS FMO Oral Assessment Recap

So, I took the oral assessment for the Foreign Service Specialist Financial Management Officer on Thursday, March 13, 2014.  I am pleased to announce that I passed – I scored 5.7 (out of 7; 5.25 required minimum score).  Also, I passed all three sections.  Because there is not much around about Specialists’ oral assessments, I want to share my recap of the day and the process, NDA-compliant, of course.

Background:

I think I truly decided to enter the Foreign Service late in 2010, after spending some time with a friend who is a foreign service officer.  At the time he was posted in Pristina,Kosovo.  My partner and two of our friends stayed with him on a trip through the Western Balkans (Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, and Macedonia).  I enjoyed hearing about his experiences and seeing first-hand some of his life in the Foreign Service.

  

I took the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) in October, 2011 and passed.  I submitted my Personal Narrative Questions (PNQ), but didn’t get an invite to an oral assessment.  I took the FSOT again in October, 2012.  I passed and again submitted my PNQ.  This time around I did get invited to an OA and I went in May, 2013.  Unfortunately, I only scored a 5.00, and only passed the structured interview portion.  Sad, but not discouraged. (BTW – I was in the management track.)

I saw the FMO vacancy announcement about two weeks after my (failed) OA and I applied.  I passed the preliminary qualifications and then passed the QEP stage and got an invitation to an oral assessment – about nine months later.  Went to DC, took the OA, passed, and here we are.

The Oral Assessment:

I flew down to DC a day early and stayed at the Holiday Inn Capitol.  It’s basically attached to the State Annex 44 building, the assessment center for the Foreign Service.  Smart move as it was COLD on Thursday morning and I didn’t have to walk outside to get to the assessment center.  I arrived about 30 minutes early (of course, though, I had been awake since 4:30 that morning).  While waiting to be escorted up, I met and talked with another FSS OA’er, Jose, who was assessing in the IMS specialty.  We were escorted up at about 8:55 and told general instructions and given lots of paperwork to sign – one of which is a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), which means that I can’t get overly detailed about some parts of the OA.

General tip:  read the official Foreign Service Specialist Oral Assessment Study Guide available from the Department of State.  It will tell you what to expect and how to prepare.  Also, if you get invited you will get a letter further detailing what to expect.  Study it, too.

The Specialist’s oral assessment is made up of three parts:  (1) Written Memo (timed), (2) Computerized Test (timed), and (3) Structured Interview.  The structured interview is further divided into three parts:  (3.1) Motivation and Experience, (3.2) Hypothetical Scenarios, and (3.3) Past Behavior.  Since I had passed the structured interview portion last time and also since I am currently in a master’s in accounting degree program, I was most anxious about the written memo part of the day.  While writing is part of my degree program, timed writing in the style that State wants is not.  Before the OA, my biggest fear was having my time expire and not being done.

Written Memo:

I had 45 minutes, as explained in the study guide and invitation letter, to write a memo on a specific topic relevant to my specialty:  financial management.  I can’t tell you the topic or issues, but be assured it will be tailored to your specialty.  I read the instructions first (ALWAYS READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS), then set about writing my memo.  I was pleasantly surprised to find myself done with about 10 minutes to spare, so I proofread for spelling and grammar and ended up restyling some phrasing.  I was done with two minutes to go, and I felt really good about what I had written.

My tips/tricks on the writing portion:

• If you aren’t used to writing quickly – practice, practice, practice.  Check out the FSOA yahoo group for Case Management files in the files section and use them for timed writing practice.  Also, you can look online for business school cases (HBS, etc), or just pick stories from a newspaper or magazine to write about.  What’s important is that you don’t get to the OA without having practiced timed writing.
• During your practice, time yourself at 30 or 35 minutes instead of 45.  This way you will build in slack that you can use for editing and proofreading.
• Don’t get discouraged if you can’t write in your allotted time during your first couple of practices.  It takes time, but keep at it.  Like all skills, you need to develop this if you aren’t already proficient.
• Be concise, concise, concise!  One to two pages really means no more than 1.5 pages, not a full two pages.  Also, we all know you’re smart, but leave the big words out.  Simple, clear, and to the point.
• Don’t rely on spell- or grammar-checking during your practice.
• Think about this format:
• Paragraph 1:  Introduce yourself, the issue, and say what’s in the memo.
• Paragraphs 2, 3, 4:  Talk about your…whatevers:  solutions, proposals, ideas, etc.
• Paragraph 5:  Wrap it up and maybe propose next steps/actions.
• This is a good general format which can easily be adapted to suit a particular problem or scenario.  This is basically how I approached it.
• When you’re at the OA and sitting in front of the computer ready to start – take a deep breath, then read the instructions first.

Computerized Test:

Next up was the computerized test designed to measure your competency in your specialty.  I was not too worried about this part of the OA, and I was not surprised.  Certainly, know your specialty.  Read each question carefully, especially if you haven’t been in a test-taking environment.  Right before my OA I had already taken two Auditing exams and another exam in Graduate Financial Accounting II.  If there are conceptual issues in your specialty, perhaps peruse a graduate-level textbook or other reference source.  Other than that, I don’t have much advice on this part.  Either you know your stuff or you don’t, and this portion will help the assessors determine that.

Structured Interview:

Think of this as a very thorough job interview, because that’s precisely what it is.  In the study guide it will tell you that the interviewers have been trained to be stone-faced.  This is true, but they are also human beings.  Don’t be put off by this.  For many, this is the most stressful part of the OA.  In my case, I’ve been interviewing for jobs since the summer of 2012 and I’ve worked with a career counseling and coaching group after my layoff in 2012.  This was invaluable experience.  If you haven’t done much interviewing lately, I highly suggest practicing or even seeking some professional help/advice. 

  

Here are more tips:

• Have your “stories” ready to go, and know which stories align with which Dimension.  You don’t want to tell a great story only to have it be unrelated to the Dimension being evaluated.
• Breath and relax.  If there is water available, take advantage of it; you’ll be talking a lot.
• Like the writing portion, be concise and stay on topic.  No wandering. 
• Be organized and be specific, especially in the hypothetical scenarios section.
• If you are given any instructions, follow them!
• Be polite:  offer water, stand up if someone comes in the room, offer your hand and introduce yourself.
• Be yourself:  if you normally talk with your hands (which I tend to do), then do so.  If you get excited about something specific, it’s OK.  Especially when talking about your motivation to join the foreign service you want to show some of your passion.
• However, be conscious of things like your posture (sit upright, toward the front of the seat, and lean forward slightly), eye contact (DO, even if they aren’t looking at you all the time), acknowledge who’s speaking, fidgeting (DON’T), etc.  Basically, you want to be fully present during the interviews.
• Use humor if appropriate (it’s in one of the Dimensions, even). 

I felt that I did OK in this part, but there were definitely times when I thought to myself:  did I really just say that? or, what do I say now?.  Also, the interviewers took a lot of notes, which the official study guide tells you they will.  A Lot Of Notes.  And I found myself once or twice mentally stammering, then telling myself to stop that, and then feeling like I lost my train of thought.  Remember, it’s OK to take a few seconds to compose your thoughts before speaking, especially if you have to talk about organization of actions or items or such.

Results:

Before the OA started, I was most concerned with the writing and least concerned with the interviewing.  After the last section and while waiting for the results, that flipped:  I felt good about the writing and, honestly, thought I might not have passed the interviews.

Waiting for the results felt like it took forever.  Actually, I think it only took about 15 minutes, maybe 20.  During that time, though, everything went through my mind:  did I write well enough?  did I make stupid mistakes on the competency test?  did I impress the interviewers or bomb?  Then I told myself that it’s taking so long because they have to put together a whole lot of paperwork and information for my “Congratulations” packet.  Yeah – that’s why it’s taking so long.

Finally, one of my interviewers got me and took me back to where we interviewed.  This was the truly nerve-wracking part, because I’d been here before with not-so-good news.  When they said “Congratulations…” I visibly slumped a bit in my chair – I was so happy.  I could see that the interviewers were happy too, with big smiles on their no-longer-stoney faces.  I felt so good in that moment.

I know there are more hurdles to jump and passing the OA is only one of them.  But, really, it’s probably one of the toughest parts to get over.  So now it’s on to clearances, hopefully onto the register in a good position, and then on to an Orientation Class in the not-too-distant future.

One last piece of advice I received from the Diplomat in Residence for New England (BTW, if you can talk with or meet the DiR for your area, do so):  you’ve passed the qualifications, you’ve got the experience and education they’re looking for; now what they really want to know is are you a person who won’t freak out at post.  That’s very important – not freaking out.