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Route 5 exists, too. I just got a State CS job last week thanks to my Peace Corps non-competitive eligibility. I'm just hoping that my security clearance doesn't take too long. 
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Oct 16, 2015 03:46
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zzonkmiles posted:Be warned that State is very difficult to get into. And the Civil Service route may be even more difficult to succeed in than the Foreign Service route because there are fewer openings and there's always the threat of an inside hire sabotaging your chances at an interview. Job announcements for State tend to fall into one of these four categories: 5. was mentioned above, but 6. is Disability hiring and/or Schedule A "fast track" hiring and, 7. is Student Internship hiring and 8. is Political Appointee. Not really aware of any other routes. Same is true for most gov't positions.
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Oct 16, 2015 07:33
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Speaking of State Dept. jobs, anyone have any insight about getting a job at an embassy/consulate as a local hire? Is it often that they hire Americans who already live in-country? (I'm referring to this kind of stuff).
Total Confusion fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Oct 16, 2015 |
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Oct 16, 2015 08:52
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Gold and a Pager posted:Speaking of State Dept. jobs, anyone have any insight about getting a job at an embassy/consulate as a local hire? Is it often that they hire Americans who already live in-country? (I'm referring to this kind of stuff). Local jobs do pop up from time to time, though U.S. expats don't get any special treatment. Many of the positions require you to speak the local language and you're competing on equal footing with everyone else who applies. That said, family members of U.S. govt. employees already assigned to Post and veterans do get preference in hiring.. That said, I recently hired an American who wasn't affiliated with the embassy, so it isn't unusual or especially difficult. You just have to be qualified, same as most other jobs.
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Oct 16, 2015 12:29
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General question (I'm never sure if I should post here or in the other thread in business/finance so please yell at me if I'm in the wrong place) for those who did the FSOT: Did you study a lot before it? I did the practice test on the website and it gave me the whole "you have a 90-something percent chance of passing this part of the test if your performance here is standard to how it would be then etc etc" but I was wondering what resources people might have used to study, and whether there's some guide or general tips for the writing parts of it that they could direct me towards. Google pulls up a lot of resources but I was hoping people who've done it might know the best ones. Thank you!
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Oct 16, 2015 16:05
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Skandiaavity posted:5. was mentioned above, but Does Student Internship include stuff like the PMF? Oh man those are some intimidating job prospects... 
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Oct 16, 2015 18:48
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Tendai posted:General question (I'm never sure if I should post here or in the other thread in business/finance so please yell at me if I'm in the wrong place) for those who did the FSOT: Did you study a lot before it? I did the practice test on the website and it gave me the whole "you have a 90-something percent chance of passing this part of the test if your performance here is standard to how it would be then etc etc" but I was wondering what resources people might have used to study, and whether there's some guide or general tips for the writing parts of it that they could direct me towards. Google pulls up a lot of resources but I was hoping people who've done it might know the best ones. Thank you! I wrote a blog on how I studied. You can find it here https://ficklomat.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/how-i-studied-for-the-fsot/ I don't get any ad money or anything, so I don't want you to think it's self-promotion. I've gotten a lot of feedback that it is helpful.
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Oct 16, 2015 23:11
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I'm not going to provide you with my sweet internet ad money, mister  Seriously though, thank you. That's perfect.
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Oct 16, 2015 23:14
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That's a good guide. I took my FSOT when it was ACT, not Pearson, so I can't speak to changes. But I can validate that the biographical portion is hugely important. Don't sell yourself short, and while remaining honest, think very broadly about how your life experiences can be construed to give you the highest possible score on any question. This is not a modesty test. You're fighting for a position that is more competitive than Harvard admissions. If you try to be modest or humble you are setting yourself up to fail. This applies throughout all portions of the test, not just the FSWE.
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Oct 16, 2015 23:24
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Leif. posted:If you try to be modest or humble you are setting yourself up to fail. This applies throughout all portions of the test, not just the FSWE. Agree 100%. Wish I had someone to tell me that before my first time through the wringer, I would've saved myself a few years of waiting 
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Oct 16, 2015 23:27
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Leif. posted:That's a good guide. I took my FSOT when it was ACT, not Pearson, so I can't speak to changes. But I can validate that the biographical portion is hugely important. Don't sell yourself short, and while remaining honest, think very broadly about how your life experiences can be construed to give you the highest possible score on any question. This is not a modesty test. You're fighting for a position that is more competitive than Harvard admissions. If you try to be modest or humble you are setting yourself up to fail. This applies throughout all portions of the test, not just the FSWE. gently caress me. The last bit is really hard. Hmm.
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Oct 16, 2015 23:30
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Yeah, the writing portion is really what I was curious about; it was obvious that I need to study a few things on the knowledge section (no I don't know about economics  ). Is it something you think can be practiced ahead of time based on things like QuackAttackAggie's blog description or is there a different sort of prompt for the biographical section each time?
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Oct 16, 2015 23:31
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You know that job you see on the projected vacancy list back in May - the one that would be perfect... You talk to post, lobby the poo poo out of it and then on bid submission day, after you've already pursued a different post in the same bureau and are talking to post and bureau "TCD, do you have a job yet? Because we want you". Yup that job, the one that would be perfect. Pretty sure I screamed at the monitor. Sigh.
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Oct 16, 2015 23:44
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TCD posted:You know that job you see on the projected vacancy list back in May - the one that would be perfect... You talk to post, lobby the poo poo out of it and then on bid submission day, after you've already pursued a different post in the same bureau and are talking to post and bureau "TCD, do you have a job yet? Because we want you". Yup that job, the one that would be perfect. Pretty sure I screamed at the monitor. Take it. Nobody will remember in a year. But you will be where you want to be. In related news, I've been shortlisted for all of my top four bids. The process sure isn't making this decision any easier.
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Oct 17, 2015 04:10
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Hey there any goons in Tokyo or Paris? Next Saturday is Tokyo goon meat so come on out! And end of November I will be in Paris and Nuremberg.
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Oct 17, 2015 04:12
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Tendai posted:Yeah, the writing portion is really what I was curious about; it was obvious that I need to study a few things on the knowledge section (no I don't know about economics I took it at the beginning of this month (don't know if I passed yet). I don't know how you'd practice the biography section -- it's a bunch of questions about professional experience and your experience with people of other nationalities, some just a 1-5 or "none" "some" "average" "above average" "excellent" type selections, others with those and a field where you can explain your answer. I have a corporate/business-y background so I didn't feel awkward at all about answering, for instance, "my colleagues would rate me as very organized, for example I chaired over 5 meetings in the last month and have been personally commended by my company's CEO for my note-taking and meeting summarization skills," all of which is true (the meetings were minor; the commendation was more or less 'good job, I appreciate this'), but I could see someone who's fresh out of college or has more of an academic background or self-effacing personality struggling with those kinds of questions. Something that surprised me is the essay part is way more stressful than it looks on paper. It's only 30 minutes and by the time I had even organized my thoughts about the prompt well enough to write much of anything, I had wasted around 10 of them. I finished with maybe 20 seconds left and still think I did a terrible job.
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Oct 17, 2015 06:44
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Oh great, that's really along the lines of what I needed to know! My background is academic but also a fairly strong history in writing for business/tech so I think I'll be okay with that. Hopefully.
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Oct 17, 2015 07:22
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caberham posted:Hey there any goons in Tokyo or Paris? Next Saturday is Tokyo goon meat so come on out! Tokyo goon meat hehe
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Oct 17, 2015 09:18
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Slaan posted:Route 5 exists, too. I just got a State CS job last week thanks to my Peace Corps non-competitive eligibility. I'm just hoping that my security clearance doesn't take too long. Congratulations! FWIW, my clearance took about 6 months.
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Oct 17, 2015 12:08
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Oh god. They said an interim clearance was likely but I can't wait 6 months for pay  Thanks though!
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Oct 17, 2015 14:09
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Business of Ferrets posted:Take it. Nobody will remember in a year. But you will be where you want to be. Yup - I feel your pain. I made the top of now 4 posts. Still not going to take the latest one. My mentor has gone out of his way to get me to the other, upstretch, job in the same bureau. I'd have a year or so overlap with him as a supervisor again. His recommendation is what landed me at my current assignment, so I don't want to burn that bridge and the emails and convos he's had on my behalf.
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Oct 17, 2015 14:12
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Tendai posted:Did you study a lot before it? I did the practice test on the website and it gave me the whole "you have a 90-something percent chance of passing this part of the test if your performance here is standard to how it would be then etc etc" I did not study. I took the practice test, it told me I had an absurdly high chance of passing and so I said "okay" and played video games until test day. For the PNQ I just read advice in this thread and then maybe the best advice I got was from one of my career FSO colleagues who told me to just spell everything out. I had previously thought my stories showed enough of the dimensions, but my coworker advised me to just be stupidly loving explicit so I went back and edited in phrases like "and then I used my WORKING WELL WITH OTHERS powers to do this" or "because of how good I am at CULTURAL ADAPTABILITY I won the ring toss game". Now I'm waiting for the OA. Not sure how to approach that one yet. I've still got a month and a halfish to figure it out.
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Oct 17, 2015 14:53
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TCD posted:Still not going to take the latest one. Makes sense, as long as your mentor is going to be around for another three to five years. The trouble with all those cool senior officers I've been able to work with is that they go on to retire!
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Oct 17, 2015 15:16
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Bloodnose posted:I did not study. I took the practice test, it told me I had an absurdly high chance of passing and so I said "okay" and played video games until test day. I'm happy I asked here because yeah, it sounds like going in blind to the non-miscellaneous-knowledge part would probably be a really horrible idea. How long a time was it between when you took the test (or when your results were given in whatever form they're given) and the OA? EDIT: Oop, I see they have a range of months after the FSOT depending on when you took the test, but it's a 3-6 month range, was yours relatively soon or later in the period? It's strange because the more realistic answers I get the more excited I get. Even if I don't make it or it takes years, I'm pretty stoked because really, I thought for the longest time that for anything like this you had to have upper-level degrees and all kinds of language training. I never realized till I stumbled randomly on this thread that there were so many other dimensions to foreign service. Tendai fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Oct 17, 2015 |
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Oct 17, 2015 15:35
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I would brush up on economics, as you mention, both micro and macro. Things like what the stock market is, how stocks and bonds differ and relate to one another, what the Federal Reserve Bank does, the nature of trade relations, that sort of thing. I would also make sure you are very familiar with the constitution, its major amendments, the way that the federal government functions and the roles of various positions in the government (separation of powers, the office of the president, supreme court, cabinet members, congressional leadership, etc.). Also learn basic statistics--what is a standard deviation, how to calculate a median/mean/mode with a sample, etc. Being aware of history is important but you really can't study that aspect as it's far too broad. It's things you would have picked up either through your education or simply by being aware of current events. How many intifadas have there been? What is Radio Free Europe? What was the reason for the Berlin Airlift? Who was Chiang Kai-shek and why was he important? Some things could help you tangentially. For example, you can study the geography of Southeast Asia, then be able to answer a question about what country Nixon authorized US forces to invade from South Vietnam. You might not know the history of the invasion, but since you know that North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are the only countries that shared a border with Vietnam, and the choices are Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines...you get the idea.
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Oct 17, 2015 16:29
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Phil Moscowitz posted:I would brush up on economics, as you mention, both micro and macro. Things like what the stock market is, how stocks and bonds differ and relate to one another, what the Federal Reserve Bank does, the nature of trade relations, that sort of thing. I would also make sure you are very familiar with the constitution, its major amendments, the way that the federal government functions and the roles of various positions in the government (separation of powers, the office of the president, supreme court, cabinet members, congressional leadership, etc.). Also learn basic statistics--what is a standard deviation, how to calculate a median/mean/mode with a sample, etc. Phil Moscowitz posted:Being aware of history is important but you really can't study that aspect as it's far too broad. It's things you would have picked up either through your education or simply by being aware of current events. How many intifadas have there been? What is Radio Free Europe? What was the reason for the Berlin Airlift? Who was Chiang Kai-shek and why was he important?  But yeah, I see what you mean.
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Oct 17, 2015 16:38
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Business of Ferrets posted:In related news, I've been shortlisted for all of my top four bids. The process sure isn't making this decision any easier. Congrats! That's a wonderful problem to have. I don't bid until next year, but last weekend the Hubs and I put in a nontrivial amount of time ranking potential vacancies and discussing in which Middle Eastern and Balkan shitholes we'd most like to serve.
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Oct 17, 2015 18:07
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the_chavi posted:Congrats! That's a wonderful problem to have. I don't bid until next year, but last weekend the Hubs and I put in a nontrivial amount of time ranking potential vacancies and discussing in which Middle Eastern and Balkan shitholes we'd most like to serve. Balkan shithole??? It's not that bad is it!?
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Oct 17, 2015 20:20
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problematique posted:Balkan shithole??? It's not that bad is it!? Hey, I volunteered to serve in both Saudi Arabia and Libya. When I say shithole, it's usually not an insult. (I absolutely love Bulgaria and Macedonia, FYI.)
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Oct 17, 2015 22:52
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the_chavi posted:Hey, I volunteered to serve in both Saudi Arabia and Libya. When I say shithole, it's usually not an insult. My coworker was a Fulbright in Serbia and Montenegro and she loved it.
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Oct 18, 2015 04:55
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Bloodnose posted:
I'm confused. I thought you were in. My advice for the OA is first and foremost to relax and enjoy it. Stiffness and working hard on the OA don't seem to correlate with success. Practice some writing tests (I used sample materials from Yahoo group). I did some group work practice too that helped. Group work is more about how you work with others than how successful you are with the job assigned to you in the exercise. Know thyself for the interview.
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Oct 18, 2015 12:25
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I'm in as an LNA. So my job duties and basically everything is identical to a consular ELO, but I can never move up or work in other countries and I get kicked out after five years. To become a career officer I have to go through the same process as people on the outside.
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Oct 18, 2015 12:51
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Bloodnose posted:I'm in as an LNA. So my job duties and basically everything is identical to a consular ELO, but I can never move up or work in other countries and I get kicked out after five years. If you are an LNA, are you eligible for the Mustang program?
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Oct 18, 2015 14:47
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zzonkmiles posted:If you are an LNA, are you eligible for the Mustang program? Don't think so.
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Oct 18, 2015 14:49
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I don't know what that is but if it's a faster or easier way into the Foreign Service then the answer is absolutely not.
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Oct 18, 2015 15:10
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Bloodnose posted:I don't know what that is but if it's a faster or easier way into the Foreign Service then the answer is absolutely not. It's still a step in the right direction! You'll definitely get insight as to the types of people that become FSOs and what sort of qualities it takes to advance. When you find out these two things, please let me know, because I'm still trying to figure it out myself!
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Oct 18, 2015 16:25
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Nutrimentia posted:My advice for the OA is first and foremost to relax and enjoy it. Stiffness and working hard on the OA don't seem to correlate with success. Practice some writing tests (I used sample materials from Yahoo group). I did some group work practice too that helped. Group work is more about how you work with others than how successful you are with the job assigned to you in the exercise. Know thyself for the interview. Having just taken the OA, I would 100% endorse this advice. Do a couple of practice rounds for the group work and the case management section, more to figure out how you operate best under those time strictures than anything else. Join the Yahoo group and dig up some of the (in some cases, EXTREMELY detailed) sample questions for the interview, just so you can trigger your own memory about stories to tell. Then go in there, relax, and -- God, this sounds cliche -- enjoy it. I was more stressed by the situation itself (up really early, long day, etc.) than the actual exam, which is actually not that intimidating with some practice under your belt. The operative word being "some" -- I think it's definitely possible to overprepare.
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Oct 18, 2015 16:40
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Also. there should be a recent aldac that explains the Mustang process. It looks like there were a few changes that really make it worse compared to previous years.
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Oct 18, 2015 17:10
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Since everyone's sharing testing tips and strategies I'll give one that helped me a lot on the bio section of FSWE. They won't let you bring notes in, but you can brainstorm your professional activities (conferences attended, courses taken, leadership roles, etc) the night before. Then on test day, use the extra time you have during the computer tutorial to dump it all on the note paper they give you. When the bio section comes, you won't spend any extra time recalling details cause you'll have them all at a glance. Makes the bio section a lot less frantic if you have a lot to write.
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Oct 18, 2015 17:55
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Oh, good idea. Kind of a mental outline sort of thing does seem like it would be helpful.
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Oct 18, 2015 18:21
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