The Further Adventures...: A Little (or a Lot) on the FSOT

You can find much of this information on careers.state.gov, but I’ll give you a little background and then tell you (what I can) about my personal experience, and then at a later point I’ll write more about my trip to Washington, DC and Virginia. I took the written test (the first time) on July 14 in Casablanca. In August or so, I learned that I had passed and that I was on to the next step, the QEP (which I think is Qualifications Evaluation Panel). Basically, it’s a more detailed on-line application than the one I submitted to take the written test, including essays on why I want to be a Foreign Service Officer. I had to provide references too, but I don’t know if they were ever called.

In December (i.e. early on in my visit to Thailand – prompting my hostess and Linda’s friend Linda, both of whom deal with the embassy and/or consulate on a regular basis, to say, “the Foreign Service could use more smart people like you,” making me wonder – are the people there not smart? They then both told me there’s a mix; I think I’m okay with that) I found out that I was on to the next step, the Foreign Service Oral Assessment; I scheduled it for March 19. So that was the end date of my travels – well, really a little before was, since I wanted to get settled before I went to Washington. Without this date, would I have kept traveling? I don’t know – since I was hoping to get the invite, I kind of budgeted for it in my mind when I was thinking about the trip.

So, bright and early (7:00 am) on the 19th, I arrived at the State Department Annex (not all of the Oral Assessments are in Washington; mine just happened to be). The time I arrived was noted – had I known that I might not have stopped at Starbucks first! Was this part of the test? At least I wasn’t the last to arrive! The confirmation letter (or the web site?) said to wear a suit – well, I didn’t have one with me, and I didn’t buy one for it – I thought I looked professional enough in blazer, slacks and interview shoes, but if I get that far again, I would get a suit.

There are three parts of the day – the group of people is broken up and some people do the same things in a different order, but the order for me was group exercise, structured interview, writing exercise (that’s why it’s called the Oral Assessment and not an interview). Somewhere in there is a lunch break too, and another break while the people in the other groups are doing what they are doing, and then at the end of the day a break while everyone is discussed, and then you get either a short thank-you discussion or a longer conditional offer discussion.

In the group exercise, you are given background on a country and you are a Foreign Service Officer. The ambassador is coming, and each of you has a position to support; you have to come to a consensus as a group about what the ambassador should do – he or she has time for only one person’s agenda and maybe one other activity. I had been told don’t take over and don’t hang back but help keep the group moving. Someone else took over and I looked at him and thought, “I’m not sure I like these people; if I don’t get the job that’s okay.” I knew the moment I said it to myself (if not the moment I realized I should have worn a suit – even though the evaluators were more casually dressed) that I had sent that thought off to the universe and that that was that. I have no real idea of how I was perceived but I think I held my own in the exercise. I’m not sure anyone in my group got a conditional offer, but they do make a point of saying you’re not competing against the other group members – you could all get offers or none could. But I don’t know what we could have done differently.

The structured interview is called that because they ask the questions and you answer – you don’t get to ask questions, as you might in another job interview. They also don’t ask many questions that follow up on answers you might have given, so again, you have no feedback on how you might be doing. It turned out (in my short thank-you) that this was the part on which I had done the best, though I didn’t think so at the time. My structured interview was right before lunch, and even though we weren’t allowed to talk about the test, the other people I had lunch with were so anxious and/or fatalistic that I didn’t feel good about myself either.

The last part of the day was a writing exercise – we’re given a scenario and have to write a memo. We were asked to make a choice, and rather than make a choice I tried to find a creative solution, and in retrospect I should have just made a choice, even if I didn’t like the options. Head-slap – follow the directions! On the other hand, if that’s a real-life scenario and I don’t want to choose between two unpalatable options, maybe I wouldn’t be a good Foreign Service Officer?

There are five tracks; when you apply for the written test, you have to declare which track you want to be in. Management (the administrative work of the embassy) and Consular (processing visas and the like) are the two easier tracks to get in. I had applied for Management after meeting the Administrative Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Rabat (a friend of the Peace Corps Administrative Officer), who loved her job. But as I read more about it in preparation for the Oral Assessment, it sounded to me too much like fixing window screens – sure, it’s more than that, but facilities is part of it and that doesn’t excite me. The other tracks are Economic (working on getting business abroad for American businesses and on tracking/influencing economic policy), Politics (monitoring the politics of the country and again influencing policy – everything but economic, I guess) and Public Diplomacy (outreach to the locals to present America and American values). The last one might be more up my alley but the Administrative Officer mentioned that those people are at events all the time and she had a life – I too want a life outside of work! I took a survey on the careers.state.gov web site to determine which track is right for me – I scored high enough in all but Consular to pick any. But – lack of suit and group-taker-overer aside - I also couldn’t get past the window screens. For this round, I picked Economic. So if I don’t make it further, it could be my written test, but it could also be that there isn’t as much of a need.

In my short thank-you, the evaluators said they couldn’t tell me much, lest it be construed as coaching. They did hand me a letter with my score – which was close to the cutoff – and when I asked if based on the score they would tell me to try again, they told me that many people who don’t pass the first time do so on the second or third try and that with my background they think I would be a good Management Officer (but I couldn’t get them to say if they thought I would be good in one of the other tracks). In addition to your total score, the letter also tells you if you were above the cutoff in any of the three parts, and I was above the cutoff in the structured interview (which is how I know I did better than I thought there).

I was hoping for a conditional offer – though I still would have had to keep looking for a job, because a conditional offer just puts you on the list and you may never get a call (at least I think that’s what they tell you in the conditional-offer discussion) so I was a little bummed. The day ended earlier than I had told my friends it would, so I took a walk (not far, though, since the interview shoes aren’t that comfortable) to the White House (I haven’t talked about the Obama Stalker Tour yet, but I had been to Obama sites in Jakarta, Hawaii, Los Angeles, and Chicago, so I had to go by). When I got back to my friends’ house, I told them I had to feel sorry for myself for a little while, and I did, and then it was on to the next activity (without looking at my calendar I can guess it involved some games-playing). I decided that since I was close enough, I might as well try again. So I took the written test this week. In a month or so I should hear whether or not I go on to the QEP. If I get past that, maybe the Oral Assessment would be in February? And with it another end point to any travels after the Philippines? I should point out that two people in my group came from overseas just for the Oral Assessment; also one of the people in my Peace Corps stage had traveled home for it and come back. Bottom line – we shall see!