How To Work In The Foreign Service

This is the ultimate guide to help you become a U.South. Foreign Service Officer (FSO)/diplomat in 2022.

Along with a discussion on the process to become an FSO/diplomat, I will also share with you lot the steps you can take to best ready and study for the personal narratives, the FSOT, and the oral assessment.

Plus, if y'all are on the fence well-nigh joining, I'll tell yous why I think 2022 is the year yous need to submit your application.

So if you're looking to join the Strange Service and correspond your state as a diplomat, then y'all'll love this new guide.

Strange Service Officers

What does a Foreign Service Officeholder/diplomat do?

Diplomats are the official representatives of the United States authorities overseas. These public servants are on the front lines to building peace, improving trade relations, and protecting U.Due south. citizens abroad.

The official mission of the Foreign Service is "to promote peace, back up prosperity, and protect American citizens while advancing the interests of the U.Southward. abroad."

With more than 270 diplomatic missions around the globe, you accept the opportunity to represent your country globally, to learn new languages, and to collaborate with peoples and cultures that differ from your own.

What are the Foreign Service career tracks?

The "job" of a Foreign Service Officer can vary with each new post yous are stationed. On your first tour of duty, you could be processing visas. On your 2nd, you could exist writing policy briefs or negotiating contracts. Every mail service is different, and every location brings with it a unlike run a risk.

Though your tours of duty may vary, there are five career tracks that FSOs tin can choose from:

Consular
Economic
Management
Political
Public Diplomacy

A critical note for applicants. In one case you choose your career track, you cannot change it during the application process. Furthermore, in one case in the career, it is very challenging to modify your career rail.

That said, it is common to serve in more than ane career rail during your tenure. As a "correct of passage," most new FSOs serve as a consular for their first tour.

Consular Officer

For many U.Southward. citizens in overseas countries, the Foreign Service Consular Officer is the principal diplomat they will (e'er) interact with. Adjudicators of visas and primary support to U.South. citizens abroad, the Consular Officeholder must hold a broad range of skills. Different the other career tracks, acting as a Consular Officer for your first or two tours is a "rite of passage" for near entry-level officers. Learn more.

Economical Officer

The Strange Service Economical Officer helps strengthen (or minimize) ties betwixt the U.Southward. and the host country. By working with many dissimilar people in and out of government, the Economic Officer seeks out the information to do good U.S. business. This can exist as global as putting together a trans-continental ecology agreement to as local every bit determining human trafficking in your host country's primary port city. For this reason, the Economic Officeholder could work on a range of bug at smaller posts or on distinct ones in larger. Learn more.

Management Officer

The ones who proceed the embassy or consulate running, the Foreign Service Direction Officers are in charge of minor and big projects. Staff leaders, direction officers supervise (potentially several) local staff from the starting time. They are trained to manage real estate, man resources, logistics, structure, budgeting, and more than. Learn more.

Political Officeholder

When you think of the Strange Service, the political officer's duties are the ones that come to listen the nigh for people. These duties include: keeping up with national and international trends that affect the host country, speaking and networking with government officials and subject field affair experts on a topic, and writing numerous reports. The Political Officer's role is to exist in the know to provide advice. Learn more.

Public Affairs Officer

The cultural bridge betwixt the U.s.mission and the host land, the Public Diplomacy Strange Officer, is the gatekeeper and promoter of information concerning the United states of america. During your career, you may represent a post as the spokesperson, promote student and professional development exchange via the Fulbright Program, organize discussion groups with the local community to teach, or exist a resources on U.South. civilization. All in all, increasing the influence of the U.S. via "soft power". Learn more than.

How do you lot become a Foreign Service Officeholder/diplomat?

In that location are a few dissimilar ways to get a Foreign Service Officer/diplomat. Different routes include transitioning from the Ceremonious Service to the Foreign Service via the Mustang Program or joining the career through the Pickering Fellowship or other similar program. However, the most common arroyo for applicants is to complete the Foreign Service Officeholder selection procedure.

The FSO selection process is a "marathon, not a sprint" that nearly 15,000-20,000 aspiring FSOs attempt each year for only a handful of open slots.

There volition exist moments during the pick procedure that require your full attention and other points of time where you won't do anything for weeks or months. A condom bet is to consider the whole process, from your decision to apply to when you are offered the task, to take an average of one.5 years.

What do you practice during this time? The FSO option process consists of the:

Awarding
Personal narratives
Strange Service Officer Exam
QEP
Orals
Groundwork and health cheque
Final suitability review panel
Register

At almost every point listed above, in that location is the possibility of non moving forward to the side by side round.

The Foreign Service Officeholder application

Who is eligible to become an FSO/diplomat?

To be eligible, the U.South. Section of Country requires that each candidate be:

A U.South. citizen on the engagement the candidate submits the registration package
At least xx years erstwhile and no older than 59 years of age on the day the candidate submits the registration
At least 21 years old and not notwithstanding 60 on the day the candidate is appointed as a Strange Service Officer
Bachelor for worldwide assignments, including Washington, D.C.

When can I register for the FSOT?

The FSOT is offered three times a year, and each testing window comes with its own registration window, which opens about five weeks earlier each testing window. The FSOT is traditionally offered in February, June, and October.

The testing windows for 2022 are:

January 29 – February half dozen
June 4 – eleven
Oct 1 – 8

The FSO Application

The application is an important, nonetheless disregarded, office of the FSO choice procedure.

This is the first opportunity the Board of Examiners (BEX) has to learn who you are.

Many candidates care for the application as a resume formality and overlook that this is a crucial opportunity to notify BEX as to why y'all are qualified for your chosen career track.

The principal sections of the awarding are:

Almost you lot
Military service
Career track
Education
Language proficiency
Piece of work experience
Other personal information

If applicable, it is your responsibility to interweave what you know about the career track in the application.

The FSO Personal Narratives

What are the FSO personal narratives?

Candidates must complete six "mini-essays" that accost the following areas:

Noun Knowledge
Intellectual Skills
Interpersonal Skills
Communication Skills
Management Skills
Leadership Skills

Each of the half dozen narratives volition consist of no more than 1,300 characters, and their prompts follow:

Substantive Knowledge

The Foreign Service seeks a diverse workforce with wide job skills and a depth of experience to represent the United States overseas. Briefly draw why you chose the career track you selected and what y'all bring to that career track.

Intellectual Skills

In the Foreign Service, you will confront challenging situations that require identifying the problem, collecting relevant information, and formulating or advancing innovative solutions to resolve the problem. Depict a time when you lot responded innovatively to unanticipated circumstances to solve a problem. Include the following elements in your response: the situation, steps you took to call up through this situation, and how your actions addressed the situation. What were the results?

Interpersonal Skills

In the Foreign Service, yous will exist chosen upon to collaborate effectively and diplomatically with people in difficult situations. Describe how you accept used your interpersonal skills in a specific situation to resolve a problem or reach a goal. Include the post-obit elements in your response: place the goal or problem, and the specific steps you took. What was the consequence?

Advice skills

Advice skills are critical to successful affairs. Draw a situation in which yous used your communication skills (either in English or another linguistic communication) to further an aim or achieve a goal. Include the following elements in your response: the situation and the steps y'all took to bargain with this situation. What was the result?

Management Skills

Strange Service Officers are oft required to manage projects, demonstrating the ability to plan and organize, set priorities, employ a systematic arroyo, and allocate time and resources efficiently. Describe a projection you managed or helped to manage and how you sought to achieve the project'south goals. Include the post-obit elements in your response: the project and the steps you took to manage this project. What was the result?

Leadership Skills

Leadership can exist divers as motivating others, encouraging artistic solutions, establishing positive team relationships, or significantly influencing the direction of the work. Describe how you have demonstrated leadership, either on one particular occasion or over fourth dimension. Include the following elements in your response: the situation and the steps you took to show leadership. What was the result?

Two notes:

You must submit references for each story (except for the substantive knowledge) that can verify your narrative.
Do not list your spouse, other close relatives, or a person who is your direct subordinate. If you practice not want the BEX to contact your nowadays employer, practice non list your present employer or supervisor equally a verifier; instead, provide the name of another person who tin can verify your response.

Submitting your FSO application

Once you submit your awarding and personal narratives, it's time to select your date and seat.

Annotation that pick is kickoff come up start serve! So it is imperative that you submit your application every bit presently as possible.

Applications are only valid for the period you are planning to examination and the registration period closes iii days earlier the opening of the testing window. In one case an awarding for a test window is submitted, it cannot exist changed, and candidates may examination only once in 11 months.

Starting time with the Oct 2020 test, online proctoring of the FSOT is at present an choice. This means you may have the FSOT online, at domicile. This is a great opportunity if transportation is limited or if you live in a remote location. Annotation, seats are even so limited. Read more nigh my experience with online proctoring.

If you plan to accept the test in-person, I recommend reviewing alee of time where the test may be offered. This link includes overseas testing centers for those who crave but do notation that these are express and are more often than not located in the capital.

A special notation for overseas test takers: if you know 2-iii months earlier the test date that y'all will take the test, so check-in with the testing location to make sure they register to offer the examination. If they don't annals, or forget, then you will have to look until the next testing window.

The Strange Service Officer Test (FSOT)

The Foreign Service Officer Examination is a significant hurdle and the 1 most applicants associate with condign an Officer. This is because upwards of 60% of applicants do not pass the exam.

The test consists of the following four sections:

Job Knowledge
Situational Sentence
English language Expression
Written Essay

The first three sections of the examination are multiple-choice, and the last part is, every bit the championship describes, a written essay. All four are completed on a figurer and are timed.

Job Knowledge

The job knowledge section is nearly breadth, not depth. You are expected to be familiar with several dissimilar knowledge areas. As the State Department puts it:

The FSOT assesses knowledge and skills that the candidate has acquired from reading widely from many different sources, study or grade work in several related fields, and other career or life experiences.

On test day, y'all have forty minutes to respond threescore questions.

The job knowledge areas follow:

United States Government

This cognition area encompasses a general understanding of the composition and performance of the federal government, the Constitution and its history, the construction of Congress and its role in foreign affairs, besides every bit the United States political system and its role in governmental construction, formulation of government policies, and strange diplomacy.

United States History, Society, Customs, and Civilization

This cognition area encompasses an understanding of major events, institutions, and movements in national history, including political and economic history, as well every bit national community and culture, social issues and trends, and the influence of U.S. society and culture on strange policy and foreign diplomacy.

World History and Geography

This knowledge area encompasses a general understanding of significant world historical events, issues, and developments, including their touch on U.S. foreign policy, as well equally noesis of earth geography and its relationship to U.S. foreign policy.

Economics

This noesis area encompasses an agreement of bones economical principles, as well every bit a general understanding of economic issues and the economic organisation of the United States.

Mathematics and Statistics

This noesis expanse encompasses a general understanding of bones applied mathematical and statistical procedures. Items requiring calculations may be included.

Management and Leadership

This knowledge area encompasses a general understanding of basic management and supervisory techniques and methods. It includes knowledge of human psychology and behavior, leadership, motivational strategies, and training methodologies.

Communications

This knowledge area encompasses a general understanding of the principles of effective communication and public-speaking techniques, equally well as media literacy (how to be a critical consumer of media) and general knowledge of social media, including best practices related to content privacy and cybersecurity.

The all-time arroyo to prepare for the job noesis section is to read, read, and read.

The Country Department suggests the following reading list for the exam.

This is in addition to reading a regular journal, such as the New York Times, Washington Postal service, or The Economist (the latter being my recommendation).

Now, practise you accept to read EVERYTHING on the State Department list?

Absolutely not.

I recommend taking online do tests to determine the job knowledge areas y'all need comeback and so focusing your studies/reading in those areas.

You can observe online timed exercise tests on FSO Compass and the Country Department.

Situational Judgement

The Situational Judgment section is designed to assess an individual's ability to decide the most and least appropriate actions given a series of scenarios. The questions were written to assess precepts or competencies related to the job of a Foreign Service Officer, including adjustability, decision making and judgment, operational effectiveness, professional standards, squad edifice, and workplace perceptiveness.

This is done past providing you with different scenarios to which you must select the BEST response and the WORST response to a given situation. These scenarios are situations that you might encounter on the job as a Foreign Service Officer.

The section is all about determining your power to select the most and least advisable action. In short, the State Department wants to know if you lot tin interact professionally with others before they rent you.

For an in-depth guide to pass this section of the exam, I recommend reviewing the following strategies on how to laissez passer the Situational Sentence department of the FSOT.

The brusque version follows:

Your world is the prompt
You work in an organization with a hierarchy
Don't exist passive-aggressive
Accept activeness
Do your research
Don't punt your work

I highly recommend reviewing the guide, which contains examples to assist you practice.

On test day, you volition have 42 minutes to reply 28 scenarios.

English Expression

The English language Expression section of the FSOT will remind you lot of the English portion of the Sabbatum or GRE.

The questions in this section concern mini-essays and sentences that may have grammatical errors. Too, different prompts will ask you to garner the meaning of the passage.

To pass this section of the test, y'all must understand the following:

Correct grammer, system, writing strategy, judgement construction, and punctuation required for writing or editing reports: This knowledge surface area encompasses English expression and language usage skills required for preparing or editing written reports, including correct grammar and practiced writing at the sentence and paragraph level.

You will have l minutes to complete 65 questions.

Written Essay

The essay is simple in concept just challenging for many during the test. You are limited in both fourth dimension and the number of characters yous can utilise to write your response.

When y'all begin the essay portion of the test, yous will have vii minutes to read the screen and select one of three available prompts. If yous do non choose within seven minutes, then a topic volition be automatically selected for you.

You will and so take 25 minutes to write your essay, to which you are limited to 2,800 characters.

The essay section of the test consists of taking a position on a topic and developing a rationale for it. Your writing volition be evaluated on your ability to analyze an issue and the writing quality, not the opinions expressed.

The Department'south writing style is professional rather than literary. That ways that a well-written essay will be concise and well-organized. It will make a clear and compelling argument that is easily read and chop-chop understood. Other essential elements include word choice, spelling, grammer, syntax, and punctuation.

Every bit I wrote above, I recommend reading periodicals to provide you with arguments for or against a topic that you may use in your essay.

For the essay section, I recommend the expert-old v-paragraph approach:

Intro paragraph with thesis
Supporting paragraph
Supporting paragraph
Supporting paragraph
Determination

You tin can observe online timed practice tests on FSO Compass and I highly recommend checking out Grammarly.

FSOT Scoring

To pass the FSOT, you lot must score at to the lowest degree a combined total of 154 in the three multiple-choice sections of the examination.

With the October 2019 dominion modify, your essays are now scored every bit part of the QEP. This means that you lot will find out within 30 minutes to two days if you pass the FSOT.

Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP)

The Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP) is the first opportunity for the BEX to review your candidacy.

Under consideration are your application, your FSOT score, your essay, and your narratives. The goal of the QEP is to assess the whole of you lot and and then rank you amongst your career track cohort.

Those with a high score are invited to orals. The dividing line between being asked and not is a undercover and changes with each testing cycle.

Here is an example of the letter when you pass the QEP:

Congratulations! Based on a comprehensive review of your candidate file, you are being invited to participate in the next step of the Foreign Service Officer selection process, the Oral Assessment. You are guaranteed an Oral Assessment appointment but inside the dates associated with the Feb 2018 Strange Service Officer Exam, which are June 15, 2018 through Oct 25, 2018.

While almost all appointments are in Washington, DC, the Board of Examiners at present also offers the Oral Assessment in San Francisco, California, contingent on the availability of funds. Any available San Francisco dates volition be displayed if you search by that site.

That'south a pretty corking letter to receive.

Only what if but the top 20 can be invited in February, and you are ranked every bit number 21? So unfortunately, tough luck.

The best part, you volition receive the same rejection letter as everybody else, which doesn't assist yous to make up one's mind how well y'all faired next to the other applicants.

Hither is an example of the letter if y'all don't pass the QEP:

We regret to inform you that your QEP-determined relative ranking in your career track is not loftier enough to proceed your candidacy to the next step of the Foreign Service Officeholder selection procedure, the Oral Assessment.

Delight notation that QEP scoring is not a laissez passer/fail exercise nor is there a pre-set invitation score. Rather candidates receive a relative ranking in their corresponding career tracks. The near highly competitive candidates in each career track are invited to the Oral Assessment based on our predictable hiring needs. Foreign Service Officer hiring targets are adjusted regularly. At present, a large number of individuals are applying for a very limited number of Foreign Service Officer positions and the process is extremely competitive. There are numerous cases where individuals who received an invitation to the Oral Assessment in a previous year will not receive i in a current year.

The QEP is past far the near disheartening stage for those who are rejected, equally you receive no feedback or scores to help you sympathize why you were denied.

Just remember that the journey to becoming an FSO is a marathon and not a race. Try again side by side year. Many current FSOs had to go through the process multiple times before passing.

What is the FSO Oral Assessment?

If you're invited to the Oral Cess, and so congratulations! This is a massive success on its own. You are role of a small pct of applicants who get to this round.

So what takes place at the Oral Assessment?

A bunch!

The 24-hour interval kicks of at 7:00 am in the chosen city and doesn't end until v:00, perhaps 7:00 pm (so look the whole day). I say called because Chicago and San Francisco are sometimes options, merely for the well-nigh function, the Orals take identify in Washington, D.C.

During the assessment, your qualifications volition be assessed by four FSOs on the post-obit 13 dimensions of a Strange Service Officer:

Sophistication

To stay calm, poised, and effective in stressful or hard situations; to recollect on one's feet, adjusting chop-chop to changing situations; to maintain self-control.

Cultural Adaptability

To work and communicate effectively and harmoniously with persons of other cultures, value systems, political beliefs, and economic circumstances; to recognize and respect differences in new and different cultural environments.

Feel and Motivation

To demonstrate cognition, skills, or other attributes gained from previous feel of relevance to the Foreign Service; to articulate appropriate motivation for joining the Foreign Service.

Data Integration and Assay

To absorb and retain complex data drawn from a variety of sources; to describe reasoned conclusions from assay and synthesis of bachelor information; to evaluate the importance, reliability, and usefulness of data; to remember details of a meeting or an result without the benefit of notes.

Initiative and Leadership

To recognize and assume responsibleness for work that needs to be washed; to persist in the completion of a task; to influence significantly a group's activity, management or opinion; to motivate others to participate in the action ane is leading.

Judgment

To discern what is advisable, applied, and realistic in a given situation; to weigh relative merits of competing demands.

Objectivity and Integrity

To be fair and honest; to avoid deceit, favoritism, and discrimination; to nowadays issues frankly and fully, without injecting subjective bias; to work without letting personal bias prejudice actions.

Oral Advice

To speak fluently in a concise, grammatically correct, organized, precise, and persuasive manner; to convey nuances of meaning accurately; to use appropriate styles of communication to fit the audition and purpose.

Planning and Organizing

To prioritize and order tasks effectively, to employ a systematic arroyo to achieving objectives, to make appropriate use of express resources.

Quantitative Analysis

To identify, compile, analyze, and draw right conclusions from pertinent information; to recognize patterns or trends in numerical data; to perform simple mathematical operations.

Resourcefulness

To formulate creative alternatives or solutions to resolve problems, to show flexibility in response to unanticipated circumstances.

Working With Others

To collaborate in a effective, cooperative, and harmonious fashion; to work effectively as a team player; to plant positive relationships and proceeds the confidence of others; to use humour as appropriate.

Written Communication

To write concise, well organized, grammatically correct, effective, and persuasive English language in a limited amount of time.

The above is your rubric! Learn it, love it, hate it, know information technology.

The Group Exercise

For the first practice of the day, candidates are brought together in a group of three to six individuals to contain an Diplomatic mission task force charged with allocating resources to competing projects in their host state.

After a preparation period of 30 minutes, in which each candidate is reviewing their project in silence, four BEX assessors enter the room.

The lead assessor briefs the candidates and notifies them that they accept six minutes to nowadays their project. Time may exist left at the finish of each presentation for questions from other candidates.

Once the presentations are complete, the pb assessor will provide farther instructions to the candidates. In this xx-25 minute phase, candidates take two goals.

1 is to advocate the project they were given. The second goal is to aid the group reach a consensus inside the fourth dimension allotted on which project(s) or parts of projects to recommend to the Administrator.

It is acceptable to give up your projection in favor of some other candidate's plan after the merits and drawbacks of all the projects have been thoroughly reviewed by the grouping.

Think, the objective is to aid the Ambassador decide how best to allocate limited U.South. Government resources amid several worthy projects. Not to brand sure your project "wins".

Once the grouping has come to a decision, each candidate will have three to iv minutes privately to brief 2 assessors on the results of the group's deliberations. One of these assessors will play the role of the Administrator and ask the candidate several follow-up questions. In dissimilarity, the second assessor will escort the candidate from the group practise room to the interview.

The Structured Interview

The Structured Interview is the closest to a "job interview" you will receive at the oral cess. At that place are three parts to the structured interview.

Experience and Motivation Interview

For this portion, information technology is the "why" to your wanting to join and the skills you will bring to the job. Don't just describe your experience, but make sure you draw what you learned.

Hypothetical Scenarios

You are presented with several scenarios by the assessors that closely relate to real-life situations regularly encountered by Foreign Service Officers overseas. Candidates are asked to fashion a solution that employs skilful judgment and common sense.

You do not take to know how an Embassy operates.

Like to the situational judgment section of the FSOT, the assessors are looking for explicit action that y'all volition have. Practise not assign your duties to others.

Dimensions scored during this exercise include: Planning and Organizing, Working with Others, Cultural Adaptability, Initiative and Leadership, Judgment, Objectivity and Integrity, Information Integration and Assay, Resourcefulness, and Sophistication.

Past Beliefs Interview

In the final portion of the Structured Interview, you are asked targeted questions to extract your own experiences in specific areas.

Yous are given a question sheet containing the different dimensions being assessed during this portion of the interview, with ii questions listed under each aspect.

You will accept five minutes to select the questions they wish to discuss for each dimension (one particular for each aspect) and to prepare their responses.

Your examples should be detailed and drawn from your own experience.

Every bit with all aspects of the application process, make sure that you answer the question. Don't try and fit predetermined talking points into what they are asking if information technology does not directly respond the question. Yous volition not do well.

Dimensions scored during this do include: Planning and Organizing, Working with Others, Cultural Adaptability, Initiative and Leadership, Objectivity and Integrity, Sophistication, and Oral Advice.

A annotation for the interview section as a whole: you are allowed to use the same stories you wrote nigh for your narratives. The assessors will not have read them.

Case Management

The third function of the Oral Assessment is the 90-minute Case Management Exercise. The purpose is to evaluate your direction and writing skills.

Y'all are given a memo describing the tasks to complete, with data about the central outcome, a summary of ongoing problems, an organizational chart, email letters from different employees giving their perspectives on the bug, pertinent regulations, and details most the past performance of the staff.

A figurer is not needed in reviewing the quantitative data, but the assay and recommendations must show a clear understanding of these data.

A suggested arroyo for completing this section is to spend 30 minutes reading and analyzing the cloth, 45 minutes writing the required memo, and 15 minutes reviewing and revising.

The dimensions scored during this exercise include: Working with Others, Judgment, Objectivity and Integrity, Data Integration and Analysis, Resourcefulness, Written Advice, and Quantitative Skills. The candidate is expected to incorporate data and other numerical information in the analysis and recommended solutions.

Scoring the Oral Assessment

The minimum Oral Assessment score to continue a candidacy is 5.25 out of a possible seven. The Group Exercise, Structured Interview, and Case Direction Do, each count for one-3rd of the full score. Overall scoring is on a scale from 1 to 7, with 1 representing poor operation and seven representing an outstanding operation.

The Register

If yous pass the Oral Cess, and so the biggest of congratulations! That is quite the achievement. Withal, passing the Oral Assessment is non an automatic invitation to the Foreign Service.

If yous score at to the lowest degree a 5.25, you must still laissez passer security and medical clearances before undergoing a final suitability review. For the latter, they are looking at your history to brand certain at that place is aught that pops upward that is a reddish flag for employment, or an aspect of your life that may be used past foreign agents to blackmail or bribe you.

If you pass all of the above, and then you are placed on the Register.

The Register is rank-ordered by your chosen career runway. Your score is from the Oral Cess, plus any boosted credit for linguistic communication power or veterans' preference.

Placement on the Register does not guarantee employment.

A dynamic list, you are not called based on the length of fourth dimension on the Annals, but instead, you are selected based on your score and the needs of the State Department. A candidate may stay on the Register for a maximum of 18 months. If there is no engagement offered and accepted within that menses, y'all time out.

In short, the higher your score, the more likely you are to receive an invitation for employment.

I hope everybody reading this not just gets on the Register, but is also invited to join the Strange Service. Every bit you can encounter, it's quite the extensive procedure!

Why you lot should have the Foreign Service Officeholder Test in 2022

Offset and foremost, if you want to become a Foreign Service Officer, even if you are thinking about becoming an Officer. Then seriously consider taking the next test.

Information technology's that uncomplicated.

There is no fee to register, and and so long every bit you accept the test there is no accuse (if you do not show up, so there is a no show fee). The but "price" is your time to write the narratives, consummate the awarding, and so complete the exam.

These steps are a lot of upfront delivery. But information technology is worth it.

If you are still on the debate, then here is a reason why I think 2022 is the year to apply.In short, anticipation of growth in the Land Department ranks.

In that location is a whisper in the air that Congress will increment the budget of the Land Section to increase hiring. This is exciting, but also something nosotros accept heard in the past. Withal, if more funds do arrive, wouldn't that be great?! And if they do, y ou desire to be part of the showtime wave of hires, and to be there, you need to utilize at present.

If you lot want to become an Officer, I highly recommend you take the exam this yr.

What do you have to lose?

Resources to assist you get a Strange Service Officer

We all study and practice for tests and assessments in our own way. Just nosotros as well like it when at that place are tools we can utilise to assistance us succeed.

And for the FSO selection procedure, there nigh certainly are!

Hither are a few resources that can really assistance you with the selection process:

FSO Compass

FSO Compass is your one-terminate membership resources with:

Study fabric and courses to help y'all prepare for the FSOT,
Exercise tests
A weekly challenge,
A grade on how to write compelling personal narratives,
The famous personal narrative challenge
A monthly live Q/A phone call with members,
Interviews with current and sometime FSOs,
and many more resources.

Land Section Practice Test

The Land Department Practice Test is a groovy manner to practice the three multiple-choice sections of the FSOT. There is no written essay department to practice. The do test does provide a "probability of passing" score, but I detect this score highly problematic, so take it with a grain of common salt.

U.S. Department of State Data Guide to the Foreign Service Officer Option Procedure

If you lot desire to read a thorough review of the Strange Service pick process, then the Data Guide to the Foreign Service Officer Selection Procedure is a swell resources.

State Department Suggested FSOT Reading List

The State Section has a large list of suggested reading material for aspiring Strange Service Officers. The suggested FSOT reading list is broken upwards by area of study. The array is quite varied and worth a look.

Reddit group

Started by a couple of Foreign Service Officers, the Reddit group is a great resource. It's also a treasure trove of data if you search the archive. Though all questions are welcome, I say it is more geared to those who pass the Orals.

Facebook grouping

The Facebook grouping (Future U.S. Foreign Service Officers) is another nifty online community. Members oft assist with reviewing personal narratives, create written report groups, and do for the oral assessment.

Archive of the Yahoo Grouping files

The Foreign Service Yahoo Group was the gold standard when it came to studying for the Foreign Service. With the decision by Yahoo to no longer support groups, this community has dispersed to other social networking sites (listed higher up). Nevertheless, the files were saved and with a little excavation you tin find fantastic items to help you practice for the test, write your narratives, and practice for the oral assessment.

Grammarly

I've already mentioned this tool a few times above, but it really is that good. An online tool to aid y'all improve your writing, spell bank check, cheque for plagiarism, and much, much more. Grammarly has a free version that is good and a premium version that really takes the cake.

Now it's your plow

So that'due south how to go a Strange Service Officer in 2022.

Now I want to turn information technology over to you lot: Are yous going to utilise?

Are you going to start your marathon? Your path to the Foreign Service?

Allow me know by leaving a quick comment beneath right now.