Skobb

Thanks for the reply.

I read on your earlier posts that the quality of "Maverick-ness" is not well looked upon. Is this a hard and fast rule? My resume and background is very "Maverick-y".

I can't hide it. Deal killer?

I assume you mean during the oral assessment?

The oral assessment has a group exercise where the key is to walk that fine line between being a great team player, but also capable of leading if necessary.

Apart from that I don't really know what you mean.

Currently the most popular article on The New York Times is about the Foreign Service potentially hiring a lot more folks.

You can check it out here. (Free registration may be required.)

The blog "The Hegemonist" recently did a great round-up on the process of joining the Foreign Service. He breaks down the tests, strategies, and offers pretty good descriptions of the career tracks.

Read all about it here.

I just passed the written exam again, and am now torturing over the personal narratives. Hopefully, I'll be doing the orals again in summer or fall.

Good luck. It sounds like I'm fortunate that I got in before these personal narratives. From what I hear, they sound like a real pain.

The good news is that if you pass the orals, you shot at being hired is very good now. Hiring is up and the recent budget just passed supposedly allowed for a few hundred more positions this year. The current list of registers (those waiting to be hired) is very nearly depleted.

Do you have any foreign language skills? That helps a lot.

skobb wrote:Good luck. It sounds like I'm fortunate that I got in before these personal narratives. From what I hear, they sound like a real pain.

The good news is that if you pass the orals, you shot at being hired is very good now. Hiring is up and the recent budget just passed supposedly allowed for a few hundred more positions this year. The current list of registers (those waiting to be hired) is very nearly depleted.

Do you have any foreign language skills? That helps a lot.

I had to do them last year, my last time through the cycle too. They take about three-four hours - a hassle, but I don't mind writing. The orals were a bear, I remember. I passed the interview and case management modules last year, really bombing on the group exercise (enough to pull me just below the 5.25 threshold).

As for foreign languages, I have basic spoken and written Arabic (interviewed for that on the last cycle), basic written Farsi, fluent French and Spanish, intermediate Russian and Portuguese. They are interested in the first two again, of course.

I think you might be able to test Arabic before the oral, but I'm not sure. You probably know better. If you don't do well enough to get the bonus points in Arabic or Farsi then you'll definitely want to give Russian a shot (it is also worth a bunch of points) and French and Spanish as a back-up (since they're worth less.) The caveat to all of this is that if you really don't want to go to a part of the world that uses one of these languages then you shouldn't test in them. Once they know you speak Russian, they're going to want you to go to Russia (or at least a Russian-speaking country.)

For those interested, it has been announced that hiring is going to start ramping way up for the Foreign Service. There will be continuous A-100 (orientation) classes running throughout the rest of the year instead of the usual 4 to 5 a year. Starting in 2010 the numbers invited to each class is supposed to balloon to 150 (instead of the usual 50-70). Good time to get in if you're interested.

Sent in my narratives about a week ago, holding my breath again. I just started a capital-C Career job, so I'll be fine either way.

Now that you have other plans and a Career that you're happy with, you'll pass for sure.

Anyone on here who applied for the FS Construction Engineer position? Just wanting to see if anyone else is getting contacted.

Long time, no post.

I really must start the process again. Perfect opportunity. I'm moving back to America this fall. It's time to get back to work on what I'm really interested in doing with my life. ^_^

I just set my Oral Assessment date: September 11, in DC. Hopefully this one is better than 2001's.

Good luck! Big hiring going on now.