Starting Over

It's a strange place to still be blogging on this site. Two offers received; two offers rejected. I made the decision to say no, and I have to live with it. I guess I decided to gamble on something that was far more important to me. Sadly, I lost that gamble. And now I'm back to the FS process. I have stayed away from the A-100 boards, so I have no idea what the registers are like anymore. Given that the economy is still treading water, I can't imagine they are very short. When I take the exam again in February, I will sign up for the econ register again I imagine. Although, and this is somewhat funny, my experience as a professor has me leaning towards the consular register. Never thought I'd say that - but my feelings about consular have changed quite a bit. Maybe it's that I feel a need for service to my fellow man, and the consular track does seem like the most hands on with respect to helping others. But who knows - that is an impression of the outside looking in. Maybe it's completely different. One of my former study buddies, a PD track FSO, hated his consular posting and felt like it was all about getting through X hundred plus applicants a day and not about doing good work. Funny, I do feel like I'm following the bubbles. First, as a structured finance attorney. Second, as a law professor (apps have been declining tremendously). Now, I'll probably be applying for a job in the government just in time for some massive budget cutting/hiring freezes.

PNQs Done

So the PNQ's have been filled out and sent on their merry way to the QEP. I chose to re-use my previous narratives, because I had no new major stories that worked better than what I used two years ago. We'll see if that was a wise decision or not. Now the wait begins....

Confirmation

So the ineffable Ms. Walton at State shot me an email today confirming that all Econ offers for the September A-100 went out and have been accepted. It's not a surprise but it's hard not to be disappointed.

On another note, I've been thinking of analyzing the FSOT questions published by ACT (or State), and putting down a list of things that you should study. The trick is whether that's NDA compliant or not. Have to think about it.

Ah well, off to work on the PNQ's.

DNC'ing It?

So as a complete surprise, I am now on the Economic Affairs track register. As of this week, I was told by my DOS contact that I'm #32 out of 69 or so people on the list. That means I could get called soon. Real soon. Assuming everyone in front of me is not DNC-ing (DNC= Do Not Call), I could get an offer as soon as June/July for the August A-100. That's a heck of a lot sooner than I thought it would be.

After I passed the OA, I received my very first ever un-prompted email from my in-laws asking about when I might get a real offer. Sadly, not a congratulatory email as much as a how-soon-are-you-going-to-take-our-daughter-and-granddaughters-away-from-us-you-selfish-bastard email. Guesstimating on how things were at the time, I honestly thought it was a safe assumption that December of this year would be the earliest I could get called up. Apparently, the combination of my more boring than expected life with a more-efficient than expected DSS process resulted in my happy placement on the register.

But now, to paraphrase the greatest television show ever*, this is when the FSOWannabes stop being polite, and start getting real. As readers of this blog know, Mrs. FSOWannabe is supportive, but extremely conflicted with giving up her own career in this process, as well as what FS life will entail for her and the kids. She always regretted not spending time abroad, but now that it's literally within reach, it's a bit scary (and to be fair, her idea of living abroad was a year in Europe as a student, not living somewhere with a 30% differential and all the attendant issues that come with that).

And as helpful and supportive as all the FSOs, EFMs, trailing spouses/partners, MOHers have been in describing how life can be for a trailing spouse, it is not something Mrs. FSOWannabe is prepared to be. I fell in love with her ornery, feisty, red-headed drive to be the best, so her reluctance to give up her law gig is understandable and I can't say this is unexpected (and to be fair, she can't say that this situation is unexpected for her, either, since this has been something I've dreamed and thought about since my college days). Not that this is an immovable object/irresistible force situation - we're both lawyers after all, so we negotiate.

For now, the Mrs. and I are signing up for the June FSOT to see if we can be a tandem couple (and for me to open another career track to expand my options/timing). I have every confidence she'll pass. And then we'll see if she can get past the dreaded QEP (which held her up last June). In the interim, I'm seriously contemplating being a DNC until the end of this year in order to (1) see how the tandem thing goes, (2) give the in-laws some more adjustment time and (3) take care of some professional goals of my own. It's a gamble. State's budget could get curtailed. Other cones have been swamped with candidates so by the time December comes by I could be way back on the register. Even worse, Mrs. FSOWannabe could definitively decide that the FS life is not for her.

But I'm an optimist by nature. So let's see what happens.

*Not really. Everyone knows the greatest TV show ever was Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Interviewed!

So last Tuesday I made my way to mid-town Atlanta to visit the regional offices of the DSS for my formal security interview. It took under an hour, and according to my investigator, I brought more paperwork than most (must be the old attorney genes). The interview went something like this:

Investigator: "So I see you have [INSERT EMBARRASSING PAST INDISCRETION HERE], do you have any documentation to indicate that [INSERT EMBARRASSING PAST INDISCRETION HERE] has been resolved?"

Me: BAM! Slapping a phone book worth of docs on the table, "You'll see I have my paperwork in order."

Investigator: "I see...okay, all done here."

And that was pretty much it. Lot's of repetitive questions, the correct answers of which are:

I don't recommend bringing the duck and rhino to the interview, though. And yes, I do have 2 kids under the age of 4 at home. How did you know?

Is It Just Me

or does this video of "The Day My Job Mattered Most" seem like kind of a let down?

The real question I have is whether that's a State Department-issued bow tie.

Medical Documents Away!

In order to meet the "worldwide availability" requirements of the Foreign Service, FSO candidates must pass a medical screening. Last week, I spent a lovely day at my physician's office being poked, prodded and fondled (and not in a good way). They also took at least a pint of blood for various tests.

My physician, being a bit curmudgeonly, required convincing (several times) that he actually had to do all the tests required and that he did in fact have to fill out everything on the medical forms. Finally, after checking, double-checking and triple-checking that everything required was done (anal retentive? Yes, yes, I am), I emailed my documents to State's Office of Medical Services today. Given the Snowtorious B.I.G. going on in DC the last several days, I will be lucky to get confirmation that they have received my information by the end of next week. I can't imagine how backed up everything is getting. So I expect to wait a while to hear if I am cleared, or if I have to undergo any additional testing.

Hopefully, to distract me from waiting and to give me something else to obsess over, DSS will contact me soon so I can begin the security clearance process.

The Trailing Spouse

One of the potential challenges facing the FSOWannabe family is what to do about Mrs. FSOWannabe's career. She is a senior attorney at a major international law firm and over the years has developed friends, clients and regular work that she cherishes. Giving that up in order to become a trailing spouse, moving every couple of years to wherever State decides to send us, and leaving a career and profession behind that she has worked very hard for, would be a tremendous sacrifice.

Obviously, I'm not springing a FS life on her (she is, and has been, very supportive). But the potential and the reality of FS life are very different things. Given that her firm has offices in DC, as well as offices worldwide, there is a slight hope that she might be able to continue working for her firm either in different offices, if possible, or by telecommuting. The likelihood of that, not to mention the sustainability, is rather low.

The AAFSW website devotes serious attention to the work (or lack of work) issues that my wife may one day face. And a recent post by Diplopundit links to the State Department's Expanded Professional Associates Program, which is designed to provide Eligible Family Members with employment at post by filling unfilled positions (which, from the description, include FSO positions).

In our private discussions, we have talked about her continuing to apply for a FSO position; as well as to think about opportunities to either work with, or possibly start, a NGO. Alternatively, there is always the possibility of finding legal work in most countries, since American trained lawyers are valued (even in non-common law jurisdictions). Granted, these discussions might be worthless if I end up not receiving my clearances, failing final adjudication or dying on the register.

Regardless of our fortunes on the FSO trail, thinking of these issues makes me respect all the trailing spouses out there; particularly the ones that left careers behind. I think State should be providing annual awards to you men and women, too.

The Foreign Service Oral Assessment

Now that a little time has passed since I took the FSOA, I thought I might write a little bit about the FSOA and my experience (within the bounds of the non-disclosure agreement all candidates are required to sign). I took the Oral Assessment in Atlanta on January 26th (over six months after I took the FSOT). Luckily, the FSOA was held a mere five miles from my house, so there was no need to deal with flights, hotels, directions or jet lag. I felt really bad for all the people who flew in from other time zones and were obviously a bit jet-lagged.

I arrived at the testing place just before 7am. There were 8 other candidates, which meant we were broken into two groups; one with a Group Exercise with 5 people, and another (mine) with 4 people. Initially, we were all herded into a room and left to wait, which gave us all a chance to introduce ourselves. You could tell everyone, myself included, was nervous. Two of the candidates had taken the FSOA before, and they seemed a bit calmer. One thing I can't stress enough was how impressed I was by all the people there. One gentlemen had just come back from doing rescue work in Haiti. Another gentlewoman worked in the San Francisco prison system doing pro bono work. Another was a former Peace Corp member. And then there were a bunch of lawyers. Everyone seemed so talented and calm that I had a hard time reigning in some nerves/panic at the time (along the lines of, what am I doing here with all these wonderful people?).

The FSOA is broken into three parts- the Group Exercise, the Structured Interview and the Case Management. The Group Exercise is a timed session where the candidates are given various embassy sponsored projects to promote with limited resources. Reaching consensus is the name of the game. The Structured Interview is your typical hiring interview mixed with hypothetical questions to gauge your common sense, as well as questions for you to demonstrate how you fulfill the 13 Dimensions. And finally, the Case Management portion of the FSOA is a written exercise where you are presented with tons of information and a problem to resolve. How you determine what information is relevant (and even what the problem actually is) seems to be the key. For me, the FSOA itself was a blur. Once one component was done, it seemed like we were off to another. A short lunch, a short wait, and then off to the final portion of the FSOA. Check out the FSOA Wiki for more detailed info on the contents of the FSOA (sorry, I'm a NDA compliant paranoid).

At the end of the FSOA, my group was herded into a room to wait for our results. After such a stressful day, the waiting was the hardest. And I swear to God, the clock on the wall got louder and louder as time went by. TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK! The woman next to me clearly was starting to panic, when an FSO came in and called the first of us out. Minutes went by, and then another was called out. I was called second to last. I thought it would be good news once we walked by, and past, the elevators. Once we received the good news (and frankly, I was shocked I passed), it was time for paperwork and more paperwork. We had a good day, with 6 out of 9 candidates passing. I was probably the third person to be done for the day, leaving at 430pm or so.

For anyone looking to prepare for the FSOA, I suggest practice, practice and more practice. I had been meeting about twice a month since October with four other local candidates and practicing the FSOA. To date, four out of five of us have taken the FSOA and we have all passed. The last man in our group is scheduled to take his FSOA on February 8th, and we are all crossing fingers and lighting candles in the hope that he'll pass. Given our current record, I strongly recommend to anyone taking the FSOA to practice with other candidates using the various sample exercises on the Yahoo FSOA board. It's a good board for getting advice on the FSOA; it's also a good board to get completely overwhelmed by the volume of emails.

What's next? Well, once the medical clearance, security clearance and final adjudication are finished, you are put in a register for your track based on your score. It's a dynamic register, with subsequent FSOA passers with higher scores added in front of you for hiring, so obviously it's important to get the best score possible. I passed the FSOA with a score of 5.5 out of 7.0 (you need a 5.25 to pass). That doesn't sound too great, but I hear anything above a 6.0 is pretty rare. I'm on the Economic track, so I think my score puts me somewhere in the middle of the pack. Hopefully, I'll be able to add my Japanese language to the score and boost it to a 5.67. I have no idea how long the clearances, final adjudication and register will take before an invite to an A-100 (assuming that all happens). I'm guessing that if all goes smoothly and quickly, I might be invited to next year's January A-100 class. But who knows.

I guess it's time to show the 14th dimension of patience.

The Long March Begins

Welcome to FSO Wannabe, where I will detail anything and everything related to my quest to become a United States Foreign Service Officer. I am currently scheduled to take the November FSO test. Wish me luck, offer me advice, ask me a question!