Halfway...Well 3/7th's Of The Way Anyway...There!!

On Monday when we go back to FSI for class, we'll be entering our fourth week of orientation training. So far there has been a nice mix of 'practical' stuff like "here's how you bid on jobs" and "here's how you fill out your reimbursement vouchers", and 'cultural' stuff like "this is what we mean by protocol" and "an introduction to diplomatic history". The orientation staff and our session speakers have worked hard to keep the interest and energy levels high. Our task seems to be to absorb as much as possible as quickly as we can. There aren't exams (other than the language tests) but there is an expectation that we will fully learn all of the material, practical and cultural. Which is to say that there is an expectation that we will acquit ourselves professionally and begin to behave like diplomats. There is a 100% buy-in to this expectation from the 133rd A-100. During one session, we learned that one of our responsibilities when at post will be to handle visits from ranking VIPs. We were given a list of potential disasters that might occur and asked how we might anticipate and prevent them. We learned how the responsibilities are assigned and which positions are coveted and which are not. One person, for example, is always assigned to ride herd on the visiting party's baggage. The job of 'baggage handler' is extremely important and often competitively sought. Believe me, Diplomatic Immunity won't save your career if you lose the President's luggage!!

The 133rd A-100 is comprised of 23 women and 21 men with (for you statistic wonks) a mean age of 34, a median of 32 and a mode of 29. The range runs from 23 to 57, oh, and that would be me skewing the averages to the ancient side. We come from 25 different states or countries and count 4 PhDs, 5 JDs, 7 MBAs and a host of other degrees in our numbers. Apart from English we can speak 19 languages, with varying degrees of fluency, including Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, Guarani, Hindi, Norwegian and Turkish. Several of us have come to the Foreign Service after serving in the Peace Corps and several others came in from one branch or another of the military. This is a widely diverse group of people and I find that interesting because the rather rigid and formal entry process into the Foreign Service might suggest that it was designed to eliminate or at least control diversity.

In class, we sit in assigned seats and have little contact with those not seated in our immediate areas. At lunch or on breaks we are often scattering to attend to various chores and errands or to make phone calls or just to get some quiet time. Therefore, I had gotten to know some of the folks in my immediate area, but not many of those who sat in other parts of the room. FSI has now fixed that.

At the end of the third week, just as our energy levels began to wane, we were taken out to a retreat in West Virginia for three days. There we were divided into groups of eleven for a series of leadership, management, teambuilding exercises. I was put into a group made up of people I didn't know very well and had a ball. The activities were interesting and well run, but the opportunity to finally get to know each other outside of the classroom was especially valuable. I was speaking with two of my younger colleagues and they were telling me how impressed they were that someone my age would do this. For a minute I thought "Wow, I am really impressive, aren't I?", then I realized that I couldn't have possibly gotten into the Foreign Service when I was their age and that I'm only doing this "at my age" because this is the soonest I was able to qualify. The people who impress me are the people who have already worked in our embassy in Baghdad or served with an NGO in India providing HIV/Aids couseling or taught themselves Turkish. When I look at some of the things my colleagues have already accomplished, it's a bit intimidating. On the other hand, I have grown old....let's see them do that!!

Although they are roughly comparable in age, there are a few significant differences between my Foreign Service colleagues and my Peace Corps colleagues. In Peace Corps there were varying degrees of commitment to the service from 'not at all' to 'extremely dedicated', here the commitment level ranges from 'completely dedicated' to 'extremely dedicated'. That point was made apparent to me the morning after a late night party at the retreat. Every single member of the class was on time for breakfast and ready to participate fully in all the day's agenda. In Peace Corps we always lost a few happy souls on the days following late night 'voluntary' events. In Peace Corps a few folks eventually quit and went home because they didn't like their job or didn't like the town they were sent to; in the Foreign Service we all have preferences as to where we'd like to go and also where we would prefer not to go but no one has considered quitting over any assignment on the list. Finally, Peace Corps could never be a final destination for the volunteers but Foreign Service is the career goal for most of us which, I suppose, goes a long way towards explaining the behavioural differences. That, of course, and the fact that we get paid pretty well in the Foreign Service.

The die have been cast and our fates are sealed. Our CDOs (Career Development Officers) have sorted us all out and assigned us to our first posts. I'm delighted to say that I'll be going to .... Oh, that's right, they don't actually tell us where we're going until April 12th. Not that I'm counting, but that is still two weeks, five days and nine hours away. There are several good reasons for not letting us know right now where we've been assigned and the best of those reasons is that the minute we know we stop listening to anything that doesn't have to do with our future posts, the "Yes, this is interesting, but what does it have to do with Lagos?" syndrome. So on April 12th we'll gather in a large room and there will be a table with the country flags of all the posts in front of us. One at a time we'll be called up and handed a flag and given our first assignment. Weeping with joy is allowed, cursing is frowned upon.

In the meantime, we will continue to receive orientation training designed to give us a thorough indoctrination into the Foreign Service. Although I am anxious to know where I'm going, I don't necessarily want to rush through orientation to get there. I'm enjoying every bit of this and the best is yet to come, in the next week or so we'll receive our first paychecks!

At The FSI

I've been in the Foreign Service for two weeks now and the experience has been fascinating and intense. The seven week orientation program for newly hired Foreign Service Officers is held at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia. The first order of business on the first day was to swear us all in. The last order of business on the last day will be to swear us all in again. The first is for dough and the second for show. Until we're officially sworn in, we can't be put on the payroll but the 'official' swearing-in ceremony comes, naturally, at the end of the orientation program. So, we are quickly sworn in right off the bat on Monday morning so we can be entered into the system and then we are sworn in again in a very official ceremony in the Ben Franklin room at the State Department when we complete our initial training.

On the first day we were also given the list of posts to which we will be assigned. This is known as the bidlist and we are encouraged to research the various posts and to rank them, according to our own levels of interest, as High, Medium and Low. Each post lists the job, the required language level, the date of departure and any financial incentives associated with it. For example, A Management job in Bucharest requires a fluent level of Romanian, departs in March '08 (giving one time to learn Romanian) and carries a 15% 'hardship' differential. There are 44 positions for us to rank, but we must bid for them all. We have all made a commitment to the Department of State that we are 'worldwide available' and, therefore, we have agreed to accept any position on the list. In my case, I feel that I could rank them all high and be very very happy with any job they give me.

So I ranked all the Management positions High. I also ranked three Consular jobs in Chennai, India High and one Consular job in Islamabad, Pakistan High. I ranked a few of the Consular positions in a couple of Mexican cities Medium and stuck a couple of other South American posts on the Medium list too. Every time I research a new post I change my mind and want to go there. We had a job fair one afternoon. It was an opportunity for us to mill around and speak with people who had been to all of the various posts on our list. I had to stop talking to people because everyone I spoke with convinced me to rank their post as a High. As of today, I'm hoping to get assigned to the Consular position in Hermosillo, Mexico. Yesterday it was the Management spot in Jerusalem and tomorrow it may shift to an Econ job in Lagos, Nigeria.

Our final bidlists have to go in tomorrow and then our CDOs (Career Development Officers) will get together and assign us to our first posts. Stop me before I rearrange my preferences again!! We won't learn where we're going until April 12th. That makes a lot of sense because there is still a lot for us to learn and as soon as we know where we're headed, all we'll want to focus on is that future post.

Aside from the bidlist and all that it represents, we also had to go through the mundane things associated with any new job, badges, health plans, savings plans, credit unions, Human Resource stuff and protocol. All right, most new jobs don't really have a protocol section but we do. The United States Foreign Service is a very formal organization and is rightfully proud of its long and distinguished history. Part of that pride is manifested in the structured formality of the Service. For example, we wear suits and ties to the FSI every day. When a speaker of the rank of Ambassador or above enters our classroom, we stand and applaud and remain standing until the speaker indicates that we should be seated. Then we stand again when they leave the room. In an informal world this is somewhat old fashioned but I appreciate it and see it as a mark of respect for individuals who have given extraordinary service to the country.

The clock is ticking on tenure for all of us. The most immediate hurdle is getting off of language probation. You must test at a pre-determined level in some language in order to be tenured. If you don't get tenure within five years of joining, you are thanked for your service and are set free to seek employment elsewhere. The levels for passing language probation vary between languages, with world languages (Spanish, French, etc) requiring higher levels of fluency than hard languages (Arabic, Chinese etc). Our CDOs have assumed the responsibility for guiding us along paths most likely to lead us to succeed and language probation is right up on the top of their list. Therefore, someone like me who hasn't tested at the required level in a language will be urged to look at first posts in areas of the world that require a world language. The theory is that I could take an immersion course in Spanish, pass at the required fluency level and serve my first two years towards gaining tenure. If I take a first post that has no language requirement, then the pressure is greater for me to pass a language on my second tour.

There are a host of other rules, regulations, norms and considerations that come into play when looking at the bidlist. However, I can honestly say that I will be delighted with any job on the list. I have some relative degrees of interest in one city over another or one job over another but there just aren't any on the list that I'll be disappointed in receiving. My goal is to learn a language, get to post, master a new job and get tenured. Along the way I expect to have a ball. This week we're going to an 'offsite' meeting for a few days. We'll participate in a series of Leadership exercises, put on a Follies Night and spend some time with our CDOs. Heck, I'll even sit around the campfire and sing Kumbayah if they want me to.

So, The Foreign Service chapter of my life has begun and it's terrific!! I'm really hoping to be sent to Addis Ababa for my first post. No wait, make that Sao Paulo. Wait, wait I really want to go to Bogota. No, Kinshasa....... Well, you get the idea. In just a few hours I have to submit my Really Last Final Ultimate No Kidding Bidlist. Arrrgh, I want them all.

Good-bye Maine, Hello DC

There have been a million little details to take care of before I wander off into the wide wide world once again. Fill in forms from the State Department, assemble a 'business' wardrobe, register my Mustang in Maine, arrange for the pack-out of my belongings from the storage shed in St. Charles, fill in more forms, rent an apartment in Arlington, get a root canal, find a dentist in Arlington to complete the half-finished root canal, and fill in a few more forms. Well, as of today, I'm all set.

I'll be driving to Arlington, so I don't have to worry about plane tickets or excess baggage. Of course, I'll need to hire a team of Sherpas to get my stuff down to the car. I have managed to squeeze everything into two extra large LL Bean duffel bags, one extra large American Tourister foldover suitcase, two green overnight bags and my large backpack. The extra stuff will travel in an assortment of bags, folders, cases and miscellaneous bits of wrapping materials. Travel light, that's my motto!

So, on Saturday, after spending five very pleasant months at the beach in Maine, through one of the mildest Winters on record, I'll begin driving down to Washington. Actually, the Foreign Service Institute is in Arlington, VA and my apartment is about five minutes away by car. Many of my colleagues in the 133rd A-100 (our intake class) have elected to stay at the Oakwood apartments in Falls Church which is a little farther away. The State Department has a trial program underway with that property to provide housing for Foreign Service Officers while they're in training. You can opt to take an apartment there in lieu of receiving a housing allowance and finding a place on your own. The problem for me is that, as a single, I would only qualify for a studio apartment. I don't mind the small space at all, it's the 'murphy' bed that's a deal breaker. I'll be in training for anywhere from five months to a year and I don't want to have to put up and take down my bed every day for all that time. It also doesn't seem to make sense to me to go out and find a woman and marry her just to qualify for a one-bedroom apartment. So I'll stay at the other Oakwood and pay rent.



I had planned to buy a new Mac laptop before starting work, but I had a root canal instead. This was somewhat less than a voluntary choice. A root canal is generally preceeded by an enormous amount of substantial pain in your jaw. I realized that a root canal would help alleviate that pain while the new Mac would only sit there and not help my jaw at all. The new Mac would have cost about $2800 and, once the crown is made and set in place, the root canal will cost about $2800 too. The man at my health plan sounded absolutely chipper when he said that, "nope, you don't have any dental coverage and we can't cover any of the expenses. Bye now." So, while my new tooth does not have high speed internet access, a fifteen inch screen or 180 gigabytes of memory, it also does not have any pain.

The 131st A-100 is, by tradition, the group that mentors our class. They have been very helpful in answering questions, providing a wealth of information and setting up a welcoming get-together for the Sunday night before we begin work. This will give us an opportunity to get acquainted with each other in somewhat informal surroundings. I know that there are only forty of us in our group and that several of us are RPCVs (returned Peace Corps Volunteers). Beyond that, I'll just have to wait until next week to find out more.

Monday, March 5th, will be our first day at work. I'm told that we'll receive the 'bid list' that day and will be told to begin identifying the posts we're most interested in. For the next seven weeks we'll be in orientation training and, during that time, we'll learn where we're each headed and what our own jobs will be. After the seven week orientation program, each of us will be given further training based on the country and job we're assigned. Some folks will leave for post after relatively short training programs while others will stay in Washington for almost another year. We'll each know what's in store for us as soon as we're given our first posts.

Yesterday, my belongings were pulled out of a storage shed in Illinois and today they're on their way to the Federal storage warehouse in Maryland. Just prior to my departure overseas, I'll be allowed to visit the warehouse to designate which things I want left in storage and which I want shipped to me. I haven't seen any of this stuff in almost three years so I'm sort of curious about what's there.

That's about it for now. I'll try to update this journal periodically in the same way I kept the journal of my Peace Corps experience. The Peace Corps was the most fun I'd had in many years and I'm really excited about the opportunity I've just been given to live and work abroad once again!



These pictures, by the way, are of York Beach in the Winter. This place is always beautiful!!

I'm In!!

Things happened very quickly after more than a year of progress being measured in geologic-time. I was placed on the Management Register on January 18th and became number 12 of 54 candidates waiting for an invitation to begin work. I'd spoken to Pat (the controller of the Register) and Don (somebody who answered her phone one day) and had that information confirmed. I was also told that it was probable, but not guaranteed, that I would be invited to join the class beginning on April 30th. That suited me just fine. It would give me a couple of months to find a place to live and I could do a bit of traveling in the meantime. High on my list of plans were trips to NYC, Hawaii and Portland, OR. Joining the April 30th intake would also give me almost fifteen weeks in the gym and I could use the work!! By far and away, however, the most important aspect of being assured of a spot in the April 30th group was that I could stop sitting at my computer hitting the Get Mail button over and over, waiting impatiently for any word from the State Department. There was nothing left for me to do. After testing and interviewing and filling in forms and working through clearance processes, all that was left for me to do was wait.

It was relaxing and I felt some of the stress of the process melt away now that the ball was firmly in the State Department's court. I made a list of books I wanted to read and hit the local library. I began to put together a "to-do" list to prepare for an eventual move to Washington DC. I solved the New York Times crossword with a pen. Then, five days after I'd been put on the Register, I received an email inviting me to join the March 5th class! Enough people, who were on the Register ahead of me, opted to defer their invitations that Pat worked the list all the way down to my name.

I've accepted that invitation and will become a member of the 133rd A100 Foreign Service Officer Class. The classes are called "A100" classes after the room in which they were originally held. The group I'll become part of will be one of the smaller classes, having only eight representatives from each of the five career tracks.

Oh, and you can just rachet the stress level right back up, if you please. Now I had less than five weeks to get ready, find and rent a place to live, move my stuff out of Illinois, finalize my hiring details (salary determination), arrange to see my sons and get a haircut. I had seen a lot of advice on various living arrangements and mulled over my options. I could find a 'corporate' apartment which would be very expensive, but extremely convenient. They are close to the training center in Arlington, VA, are furnished and function much like hotels in that you don't need to sign a long term lease. A second option would be to rent an unfurnished apartment and then either rent furniture or move some of my own into it. This is a much less expensive option, but requires a lease. The problem with signing a lease is that I'll be in Washington for an indeterminate length of time. Orientation will last seven weeks. During that time I'll receive my first overseas appointment and that will determine the amount of training I'll need before departure. Typically, there will be from three to nine months of additional training required after Orientation. So, I'll be in Washington anywhere from five months to almost a year. Signing a lease, therefore, becomes a bit tricky. There are also private residences and properties available to rent and each is unique and so are the terms of rental.

I know nothing at all about the Washington DC area. Our training will take place in Arlington and it appears as though Foreign Service personnel live throughout the entire greater metropolitan area. People live in DC and Arlington and Ballston and Falls Church. There are pros and cons for each and in the end I decided to just go with the most convenient option to start. I've rented a furnished one-bedroom apartment in Arlington that is about a twenty minute walk to the training center. My plan is to settle into it with a minimum of fuss and then get focussed on the training and orientation without any outside distractions. After I learn where I'll be going I'll have a much better idea of how long I'll be in training, I'll know the area much better and will begin to look around for a less expensive place to sleep. The building has a secure garage so I've decided to take the Mustang down and leave the Volvo with my folks. I got a new suit and I've shined my shoes. All I need now is to get that haircut and I'm set.

My paperwork should arrive this week from the State Department. There are, apparently, a couple of forms I'll have to fill out and send in. So, until then, see you in Washington!!

The Waiting Game

When last we visited, I had passed the Oral Assessment and was waiting for my Medical, Security and Suitability clearances so I could be put on the Register and, eventually, be offered a job. That was last October and I'm still at the beach watching the ocean and waiting. However, progress has been made. I received my Class One medical clearance on December 12th and am now medically qualified to serve anywhere in the world. My Security file is in the works and was scheduled for completion yesterday. Several of my references have been contacted and I've been interviewed as well. I spoke to the customer service people in the Security Department and they said my file was being sent off for final 'adjudication'. So it looks as though it might be released to Pat Evans by the end of this week.

Pat is the woman at the State Department who manages the register list and sets up the incoming classes of new hires. I spoke to her on Friday and she told me that the March class has already been invited and the next opportunity for me to join will be the April 30th class. As of right now, I would be number twelve on the Management list and she feels that I should make the April group without any problem as long as I receive my final clearance.

So, that's where I stand at the moment. Just waiting. I did fly out to Las Vegas for New Year's Eve and had a great time. I rented a car and drove out to the Valley of Fire and Hoover Dam, saw a couple of shows, ate in some pretty good restaurants and welcomed in the New Year out in the street with 100,000 total strangers!! I gambled a little and won at poker but lost it at dice. Playing poker was a lot of fun because there is so much poker on tv now that everyone thinks they're pros. I got into a game with a bunch of college guys who had studied the look and the language but forgot to learn how to play. I felt like I was taking their lunch money. Oh well, someone should teach them to beware the bumbling old fellow who seems a bit slow.

January 12th

I've just learned that all of my clearances have been issued. This information has been forwarded to Pat over at the State Department and I'll probably learn sometime next week about my position on the Management list. I passed the Written Exam on April 8, 2006 and the Oral Assessment on October 16, 2006. I received my Class One medical clearance on December 12, 2006 and my Top Secret security clearance on January 11, 2007. From everything I can determine, this seems to be a fairly typical time line. Once I can contact Pat, I'll have a pretty good idea about if and when I can expect to be offered a slot in one of the start-up classes.

In the meantime, I joined a gym and hired a guy to help design a workout program for me. This is beginning to have all the earmarks of a colossal mistake. I was under the misguided impression that working out in a gym would make me stronger and fill me with energy. I find that I need more energy to play online poker until the wee small hours every night. Anyway, after one solid week of 'working out', I am sore beyond belief and too tired to play a hand. The guy who's responsible for this condition swears that it's temporary and that I will improve. Maybe if I pay him more, he'll do the exercises for me!

Hopefully, I'll have something more exciting to write about soon.

Step Two

Coming home after two years in the Peace Corps, I arrived at Logan Airport in Boston late in the evening on September 16th and took a limo up to the Beach House. I spent the next couple of weeks just relaxing and trying to prepare for the Foreign Service Oral Assessment that I was scheduled to take in Chicago on October 16th. By 'prepare' I mean, of course, that I would announce once a day that, "I had to begin to get ready for the Oral Assessment". I would then light a cigar, pour a cold drink and sit out on the porch and monitor the Atlantic Ocean for signs of tampering. I looked over the State Department website periodically to get an idea of what I was going to face, then took advantage of the beautiful Fall weather and spent hours each day walking on the beach smoking my cigars. It's not that I didn't care about the OA or that I didn't want to do well, it's just that I couldn't really think of any way to prepare for it. Fortunately, the baseball playoffs were in full swing and football season was under way, so I didn't have to just sit around wasting my time while I was 'preparing'.


I took my car out of the garage, changed the oil, washed and waxed it and headed off to Chicago about a week before my appointment. I drove across New Hampshire, Vermont and upstate New York on a day when the air was perfectly clear and the leaves were in full Fall color. I listened to book tapes and music and thoroughly enjoyed being back home. The boys and I used to make the 1,000 mile trip from Chicago to Maine in one long eighteen hour shot, but this time I meandered a bit and took three days to get from York Beach to St. Charles. I slept when I was tired and ate when I was hungry. I think it was either Buddha or Elvis who said that this was the mark of the truly free man.

Mari offered to let me sleep on her couch while I was in St. Charles and it was as comfortable as my old bed in Stara Zagora, so I was perfectly happy. On Thursday or so, I remembered that I needed a hotel room in Chicago for Sunday night so I could get to the Assessment bright and early on Monday morning. After spending several hours on the phone, I finally was able to book a room at the Holiday Inn for a mere $400. When I checked in on Sunday, I discovered that the room was on the second floor, directly across from a traffic signal, had no drapes or curtains and a non-flushing toilet. I have no idea what they would have charged me for a decent room! So I did my best to get some sleep in a room that went from red to green to yellow to red to green to yellow to.....all night long.

The Oral Assessment is a day-long, three-part evaluation of an individual's potential to become a successful Foreign Service Officer. Generally, between six and twelve candidates are evaluated on the same day and one of the first things the lead FS Assessor tells them is, "This is a highly competitive process, however, you are not competing against each other. Theoretically, all of you can pass and, unfortunately, it is also possible that none of you may pass". All present are then congratulated for having passed the Written Exam, made to feel quite special and then warned that "most people do not pass the Oral Assessment". You then sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement that prohibits you from discussing the contents (but not the format) of the day, are told to leave cell phones and electronic devices in a locked drawer and are wished "good luck".

All candidates are measured against thirteen 'dimensions' of personality and character identified by the SD as traits common to successful Foreign Service Officers. These are listed on the State Department website and, if you plan to enter the Foreign Service, you would do well to know them cold. The three different exercises that make up the Oral Assessment are designed to allow candidates to demonstrate as many of the thirteen dimensions as possible and it is the candidate's responsibility to do so. The exercises are the Group Exercise, the Structured Interview and the Case Management (or In Basket) Exercise.

On October 16th, there were, including me, twelve hopefuls ready to be assessed. There were eight men and four women, and at least half of us were over or around the age of fifty. We sat in a Candidate's Waiting Room waiting. While we waited, we went around the table and introduced ourselves to each other. There were only three or four of us who hadn't already taken the Oral Assessment and the veterans shared some of their experiences with us. When it was my turn to speak, I mentioned that I was an RPCV from Bulgaria and the man sitting next to me asked, "Koi grad zhiveyash?", or "Where did you live?". It turned out that he had also been in Peace Corps Bulgaria and had left in 2002. Before we had a chance to get too far into the "Do you know...? Were you ever in...?" questions we were split into two groups of six and led out to begin the Group Exercise.

Your group is a committee formed to evaluate several project proposals and offer the Ambassador your recommendations for funding. Each candidate is given a folder of papers, told to study the contents and warned not to discuss anything with the others. Each folder has some common generic country information and some specific project information. You are given thirty minutes to read through your information and to prepare a six minute presentation to the group on your specific project. The objective of the exercise is to reach a consensus on a funding recommendation. When the thirty minutes of prep time is up, four Assessors come into the room and you are told to begin your committee meeting. Each candidate gives his or her presentation and then you try, as a group, to agree on a funding recommendation. You have to advocate for your project but be prepared to withdraw it if it seems that another project has more merit. The Assessors observe the proceedings and grade each candidate according to their level of participation, grasp of the material, leadership, consensus building skills, etc. No extra credit is given for having your project selected for funding and no credit is lost for having your project withdrawn from consideration. When time is up, all materials are collected and the candidates return to the waiting room. The Assessors do not give any feedback to the candidates whatsoever.

I tried to prepare for this by remembering all the committees I've served on and all the groups I've worked with over the years. I'd walk along the beach, puff on my cigar and picture myself guiding the group towards an amicable and intelligent recommendation for our fictitious Ambassador. I wasn't too worried about this part of the day because of my experience. Coincidentally, I'd spent the past year serving on the Peace Corps SPA committee in Bulgaria doing exactly this sort of project evaluation and funding recommendation for real, so I felt that I could handle this role-play exercise without too many difficulties. Unfortunately, when the bell rang I forgot to come out of my corner. I'm not sure what happened but I didn't really participate very much. My six minute presentation was fine, I covered all the major points clearly and concisely in about five minutes and left a minute for questions. I took notes during the other five presentations and identified strengths and weaknesses. However, when it came time to begin choosing projects for funding, I didn't understand the line of reasoning being taken by the other five candidates and couldn't find a way to bring them back into a more realistic line. We ended up funding one project completely and extending partial funding to several others. The partial funding made no sense at all in that we funded things that were useless without the rest of the project. I think my real world experience was actually a handicap and that I came off as argumentative, condescending and uncooperative. Look as hard as you like, you just won't find those three 'dimensions' on the SD list!

After the Group Exercise we were taken back to the waiting room. The next two sections of the Assessment would be the Structured Interview and the Case Management exercise. We were each given an individual schedule for the rest of the day and I was set to take the Structured Interview next.

The Structured Interview was conducted in a small room containing not much more than the chair I sat on, the two Assessors' chairs facing it and a small table between them that they used for their paperwork. The Interview was divided into three twenty minute parts and began with a series of questions used to help determine the candidate's level of experience and motivation. This was my opportunity to explain why I want to join the Foreign Service and why I think I'm qualified to do so. During the second part of the Interview, I was given a series of hypothetical situations and asked to respond to them. This gave me a chance to demonstrate my ability to think quickly and rationally. In the third part of the Interview, I was asked to provide very specific examples from my own experiences to illustrate times when I displayed one or another of the thirteen dimensions. Finally, I was given an opportunity to add anything which I wanted the Assessors to consider that I felt might not have been covered. Again, I was given no feedback whatsoever and was taken back to the Candidate's Waiting Room.

The last exercise of the day was the Case Management exercise. Each candidate is given a binder full of papers, a computer and instructions to follow the written directions in the binder. You have ninety minutes to read through all the material, analyze the data, identify the problem and write a two page memo to your superior offering your summary, evaluations and recommended solution. I hadn't gotten much beyond the first couple of sheets of paper in my binder when the woman next to me and the man across from me began to hammer away at their keyboards. Another candidate had a timer on his watch set to beep every fifteen minutes. I wasted several precious minutes fantasizing doing them all physical harm and then read through the rest of my papers. I wrapped up my memo with a couple of minutes to spare, checked it for spelling and saved it. The Assessor asked us each to print out a copy and that was it. We were finished with the Oral Assessment.

Unlike the Written Exam, the results of the Oral Assessment are given to you that same day. After the last exercise we were given a break and told to return to the Waiting Room in about two hours. Most of us just sat in the Waiting Room and talked through the break. No one discussed the assessment or their feelings about their own chances. When the Assessors were ready, they began calling us out of the Waiting Room individually for our exit interviews. As each candidate returned, they put on a smile, said they'd probably try again next year and left. This pattern continued until there were only two of us left. The lead Assessor came in and asked us both to come with her. We walked into a nearby room and were greeted by the entire group of Assessors who all began shaking our hands and congratulating us! The two of us had passed.

We spent the next hour being fingerprinted and beginning our Security Clearance paperwork. Then we were advised to begin the Medical Clearance process as quickly as possible and given a packet of information on what needed to happen before we could actually be offered jobs. First, we'd need to receive a Class One medical clearance which would allow us to be assigned to any post worldwide. Second, we'd need to receive a Top Secret security clearance. Third, we'd need to receive a Suitability Clearance, which is a final evaluation of a candidate's overall suitability for the position. Failure to obtain any of these three clearances will terminate an applicant's candidacy.

After I receive my clearances, I'll be placed on a Register for the Management track. As the Foreign Service needs to hire people in the Management track, they draw from the Register list and if they get down to my name, I'll be offered a job. I can only stay on the list for eighteen months. If I haven't been offered a job by then, my name comes off the Register and I would have to begin all over again with the Written Exam.



I left Chicago the next day for Maine and made my doctor's appointment for the following Monday. Then it was back to my vigilance in monitoring the ocean. Someone has to make sure the tides are working!

Here We Go Again!

I have recently returned to the US after serving for two years in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria. It was dead smack in the middle of my time in Bulgaria, at our MidService Conference, that I happened to sit across from a friend at dinner who announced that she was leaving Bulgaria and the Peace Corps to take a job in the Foreign Service. I spent the rest of the evening asking her a million questions about her new job and how she had managed to land it. Because she had nothing better to do that night and because I had her trapped against a wall and the only way for her to get away would have been to crawl under the table, she graciously filled me in on the process. She also steered me towards the State Department website so I could learn a bit about the Foreign Service. Even after I realized that I wouldn't be serving at Fort Zinderneuf with Gary Cooper or wearing one of those cool white hats with the flap down the back, I was still interested. Foreign Service, Foreign Legion, I think it's a natural mistake.

The US Foreign Service is the branch of the State Department which provides the services offered by our embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions around the world. I read through the information on their website and decided that it would be as much fun as the Peace Corps, plus I'd get paid! So I began to look into signing up for the Foreign Service. My biggest concern was that I would be allowed to finish my Peace Corps service first. And, just like when I sent in my Peace Corps application, I didn't have a clue.





The process for joining the Peace Corps can stretch out for months, the process for joining the Foreign Service can run into years. If you visit their website (www.careers.state.gov/officer/index.html) you'll find some interactive programs to help you decide whether or not the FS is right for you and, if so, which career track might be most appropriate for you. They make it look so simple that you're tempted to look for a way to email them, "I'll take a career in Public Diplomacy. When may I expect my first paycheck?"

There are five career paths or tracks in the Foreign Service: Consular, Public Diplomacy, Political, Economic and Management. Anyone attempting to begin a career in the FS must select his or her track before beginning the application process. That's really all there is to it. Oh, and the FSWE (Foreign Service Written Exam). Uh, and the FSOA (Foreign Service Oral Assessment). Of course, there are also the clearance processes and the time on the register for your chosen track followed by beginning life all over again as a Junior Foreign Service Officer in a seven week training course in Washington DC. Yep, that's all there is to it.

So with encouragement from Lori and armed with all the info from the State Department website, I dove in, picked the Management track and registered for the Written Exam. The test was given worldwide on April 8, 2006 and I took it at the US Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria. The FSWE is a five part exam and prior to beginning it you have to declare which of the five FS career tracks you want to specialize in. It is stressed that this will be your last opportunity to change your selection. Part One of the exam is the job knowledge section consisting of multiple choice questions which test your knowledge in a wide range of subjects such as economics, history, geography, math, cultural events, political science, US legal system, management theory, etc. Upon finishing this section, you proceed immediately to a second multiple choice section specifically designed for your track. Then there is a 50 minute hand-written essay followed by an English multiple choice test and, finally, another multiple choice section that assesses your general life skills. A minimum score on the multiple choice tests is set by the SD and only exams scoring above that number have their essays graded. In order to move on to the next phase of the selection process, you must then score above the cutoff mark on your essay.

I had received a letter from the FS directing me to report no later than 8:00am to the Embassy and when I arrived at about 7:30am I found a small group of PCVs milling around in front of the entry/security point. They explained that we wouldn't be allowed in until precisely 8:00am. It was cold out and, even though it wasn't raining, it was damp. A nice gesture would have been for the Ambassador to send out coffee and doughnuts to us, but because it was Saturday he was probably at home warm in his bed. Hey, he could have left someone a note. "A bunch of cold Peace Corps Volunteers will be milling aimlessly around in front of the entry/security point. Send out some coffee and doughnuts to them, will you? Oh, and I have a feeling that at least one of them prefers Boston Creams." See, that's what successful diplomacy is all about.

Promptly at 8:00am they began to process us through security five at a time. Large men in black uniforms guided us through bulletproof rooms, metal detectors and heavy fortress-like doors. We were told to surrender our cell phones and any other electronic devices. Our names were checked and double-checked against a list and we were, finally, escorted into the Embassy itself. It took about half an hour for us to clear security, and they were expecting us. I don't think you'd stand much of a chance if you just wanted to drop by and see the place. Your tax dollars at work in a highly secure environment.

The room to be used for the exam was all set up and ready for us. Each of us was assigned a table and each table faced a set of windows with a magnificent view of Mt. Vitosha. Vitosha was still covered with snow and, with a bright blue sky behind it, was a very pleasant distraction. The two proctors said, "no talking", read the rules, distributed the first test booklets and we were off to the races.

Six hours later we were finished. Well, it wasn't a straight six hours, there was a fifteen minute break. On the front of each test booklet, there was a Non-Disclosure Agreement that had to be signed. This basically stated that if I reveal any of the questions I will be prosecuted, denied employment in the FS, called several naughty names and made to wait outside without doughnuts or coffee for some indeterminate amount of time. I can, however, tell you that I spent several months brushing up on various topics such as history, economics, management theory, geography, the US political system, the US legal system and the US Constitution complete with all 27 amendments. I bought a study guide that gave me a course of action and I took it. I don't think that anything I did could ever be confused with actually studying, but I did spend time reviewing these areas in a helter-skelter fashion. I can say with complete confidence that out of a total of 400 odd questions (some were very odd) I felt really good about my answers on four or five. By 'really good' I, of course, mean that there was a 50-50 chance that I'd guessed correctly on them. The other 395 questions were a crapshoot. I was assured that handwriting didn't add to or detract from the score on the hand-written essay. My handwriting started out at illegible and ended up being a series of squiggly lines that represented some truly insightful words and sentences.

The test results would not be available until the end of July so, although I thought I'd done fairly well, whether that was well enough to move on to the next step or not wouldn't be known until then. All in all it was a very interesting experience and I rode the bus home to Stara Zagora feeling very confident that I was the only one on board who could pick the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution out of a lineup. As the weeks passed, however, I became less and less confident about my chances and at the same time I became busier and busier with Peace Corps so I more or less forgot about the test and my results.

In July, my group (the B-16's) began to prepare to end our service and leave Bulgaria. We had arrived en masse in August 2004 and those of us who were left had many options for going home. Basically, we could select any date within a thirty day window of October 10th to choose to end our service. I was sitting at my desk in Stara Zagora hemming and hawing and trying to decide which particular day to pick for my departure when I received an email from the State Department. I'd stopped thinking about the test a month or so before and this email took me by surprise. By this time, I was fairly certain that I hadn't done well enough to pass and I opened the message just to see how they gave people the bad news. I imagined that there would be a message along the lines of, "For someone who didn't pass, you did really well. Lot's of people don't get past this step and you can try again next year."

However, the first word I saw on the page was, "Congratulations!". I immediately went out and bought a box of chocolates to pass around the office. This is a Bulgarian tradition for anyone having anything at all to celebrate. If you get a new car, get engaged, have a birthday or nameday, win the lotto or pass an exam you "cherpiya" or treat. This then requires everyone to ask what the occasion is as you hand out your chocolates and you then have the opportunity to modestly announce your good news. It's a great tradition!





After passing the Written Exam, I next had to undergo an Oral Assessment. My 'Congratulations' letter gave me instructions to go online and make an appointment for this step in the process. Unlike the Written Exam which is given worldwide, the Oral Assessment is only conducted in specific US cities on specific dates. Sign-ups for these appointments were on a first come-first served basis and once made, were carved in stone.

I selected October 16th in Chicago and received an immediate confirmation. Okay, now all I had to do was complete my service in Peace Corps, pack everything up, move back to the States and begin to prepare for the Oral Assessment. So far, so good.