US Foreign Service & FSOT Megathread: Where Dreams Come True & Even Lawyers Get Jobs

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the_chavi: Mar 2, 2005; Toilet Rascal

atlas of bugs posted:

Is this pretty typical in terms of tone? Or is it just the stress of the loses and the politics and the campaign has folks trying to unwind whenever possible?

I think all press secretaries or spokesfolk who have regular, on-camera pressers end up developing a rapport with their press pool. You see Toria Nuland or Jay Carney also making personal comments to the people they know - maybe a comment on a new outfit, or welcoming them back after a press trip abroad. It's part of their schtick, and it's a patter you learn when you're being trained for high-pressure press work.

# ? Oct 24, 2012 16:47

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# ? May 10, 2024 20:12

nadocollin: Feb 14, 2012

Hi guys, passed my oral assessment about three weeks ago... Everyone I know is getting called for my background investigation, going for medical exam at State soon... So it all feels quite real all of a sudden. My score is high enough that I think once I hit the register I'll basically be called for whatever the next class is (I do plan on going Do Not Call for a little while first, though).

I have a few questions for our experts... My girlfriend is starting grad school in the fall and is therefore not going to come to DC with me, and, assuming I'm sent abroad in a timely fashion, not going wherever I end up going, at least initially. I have a few questions:

1. I know the term "geographic single" gets thrown around... But are there many others in the same boat? I'm a young guy (24) and am a little worried that the social scene at posts for folks my age (if it exists) will consist entirely of hitting the bars/clubs (if they exist) and picking up women. Not my game for obvious reasons. As a "single guy" with no interest in dating, am I going to find a place for myself socially?

2. Bidding for first post. I understand you work with your CDO to at least some extent on this and they get to hear your rationalizations for why you're ranking posts high and low. How much effect on the result do your justifications for your rankings ultimately have? I'm hoping to make a pitch for the Americas, particularly Mexico or a Caribbean country, because I have some Spanish and I'd realllyyy like to have pretty easy access to the US for the occasional trip to see the lady. I know ultimately there's a lot of luck involved, but do you think a CDO is going to buy the rationale of wanting a geographic region essentially for personal reasons?

Thanks in advance.

# ? Oct 24, 2012 23:36

Business of Ferrets: Mar 2, 2008; Good to see that everything is back to normal.

nadocollin posted:

Hi guys, passed my oral assessment about three weeks ago... Everyone I know is getting called for my background investigation, going for medical exam at State soon... So it all feels quite real all of a sudden. My score is high enough that I think once I hit the register I'll basically be called for whatever the next class is (I do plan on going Do Not Call for a little while first, though).

I have a few questions for our experts... My girlfriend is starting grad school in the fall and is therefore not going to come to DC with me, and, assuming I'm sent abroad in a timely fashion, not going wherever I end up going, at least initially. I have a few questions:

1. I know the term "geographic single" gets thrown around... But are there many others in the same boat? I'm a young guy (24) and am a little worried that the social scene at posts for folks my age (if it exists) will consist entirely of hitting the bars/clubs (if they exist) and picking up women. Not my game for obvious reasons. As a "single guy" with no interest in dating, am I going to find a place for myself socially?

2. Bidding for first post. I understand you work with your CDO to at least some extent on this and they get to hear your rationalizations for why you're ranking posts high and low. How much effect on the result do your justifications for your rankings ultimately have? I'm hoping to make a pitch for the Americas, particularly Mexico or a Caribbean country, because I have some Spanish and I'd realllyyy like to have pretty easy access to the US for the occasional trip to see the lady. I know ultimately there's a lot of luck involved, but do you think a CDO is going to buy the rationale of wanting a geographic region essentially for personal reasons?

Thanks in advance.

1. This completely depends on what post you go to, how big it is, and who is there while you are. If you are a reasonably well-balanced individual, you should do fine. No need to worry about problems that aren't actual problems yet.

2. If you want to go to Mexico or Haiti you should be able to do that. Just tell your CDO what your druthers are, and let them go from there.

# ? Oct 25, 2012 02:17

Leif.: Mar 27, 2005; Son of the Defender
Formerly Diplomaticus/SWATJester

Diplomaticus posted:

Matt is a special case. I don't actually know who he works for, but I read the press briefings every single day looking for his comments. They range from argumentative, incisive, to utterly gut-wrenchingly hilarious comedy. Don't get me wrong, he's not a clown, he's just got a really good sense of humor and the tenacity of an investigative journalist.

I'mma dig through some of them and find some of the highlights.

Here's an example of Matt's style. The context is a claim of responsibility for Benghazi, and how does that get factored into internal reports. Interesting parts of the exchange highlighted.

quote:

QUESTION: Sorry. So it was the Ops Center specifically that noticed this claim of responsibility?

MS. NULAND: I think the --

QUESTION: Or was it the Crisis � the Rapid Response Team or � I�m just looking for � or was it someone out in the field?

MS. NULAND: That particular piece was disseminated --

QUESTION: I know where it was disseminated from.

MS. NULAND: -- by our Operations Center. Whether it was --

QUESTION: Where did they get it from?

MS. NULAND: Whether they saw it themselves or whether it was highlighted by our people in the field, I can�t speak to that. I, frankly, don�t know. It can happen any of a number of ways.

QUESTION: In instances such as this, is it standard practice to relay all claims of responsibility sort of no matter --

MS. NULAND: Yes.

QUESTION: -- where they come from, who they might be?

MS. NULAND: Yes.

QUESTION: So I mean, it could be somebody waving a flag in the air and saying, �I�m responsible,� and that would also be reported?

MS. NULAND: Yes.

QUESTION: So there�s no sort of value judgment on the reliability of the claim implied by having it relayed through this system that you have?

MS. NULAND: And in fact, there are instances where the Ops Center might send out messages that three different groups are claiming responsibility for the same event. But it�s standard practice for them, when we have breaking news, for them to inform all of the principals in this building so that everybody knows what�s moving.

QUESTION: Well, fair enough. But I mean, if a claim is ludicrously unbelievable � I don�t know, I mean, like if someone forged the Quaker Church or something and said that they were � that would be passed on as well?

MS. NULAND: Well, they obviously use their judgment as to whether they think it�s important for principals in this building to be aware of what�s out there, particularly what�s out there in the public domain.

QUESTION: Okay. So it was deemed important enough � and I�m going to assume that important enough means that it was presumably credible to pass on to other � to pass on to the principals in other agencies, correct?

MS. NULAND: Again --

QUESTION: I�m just � I mean, if I had said that I take responsibility for this, would that have gone up the chain?

MS. NULAND: They definitely would not have passed on your personal claim of responsibility, Matt.

QUESTION: Okay. All right. Fine. So � because it wouldn�t have been credible. Now maybe � I mean, it wouldn�t � what I�m getting at is that if it wasn�t a claim that had the possibility of credibility, it wouldn�t have been passed on, correct?

<snip>

QUESTION: Well, but in fact, they are weighting � had there been a hundred claims of responsibility that night and 99 of them had been from a group or a person that couldn�t possibly have done it, they wouldn�t have passed those on, correct?

MS. NULAND: In all likelihood, if there had been a hundred claims of responsibility that night, they would have done a summary which said more than a hundred groups, including Matt Lee, have claimed responsibility for this attack, is what they would have reported.

QUESTION: And then said that --

MS. NULAND: And not evaluated them one way or the other.

QUESTION: Really? So they would have given my alleged claim of responsibility equal weight with that of a known terrorist group in Libya?

MS. NULAND: Again, Matt, you�re � we�re getting into crazy land here. My point is simply that if the environment is saturated with claims of responsibility, they�re going to make sure that principals know that we�ve got competing claims. That�s my only point here.

QUESTION: And again, just while we�re on this sort of procedure, while we�re in crazy land � (laughter) � what�s the --

QUESTION: Who�s the ambassador here?

QUESTION: Exactly. That�s what I was wondering. (Laughter.)

So as you can see, it's a sort of humorous but also very back and forth tone on some questions.

Different example:

quote:

QUESTION: Yeah, so Mark, in light of the fact that the debate � or the debate tonight, I�m wondering if you would do me a favor. How would you rate the � from the State Department point of view � the Obama Administration�s foreign policy? Would you say it was outstanding, the best country has ever seen in its history, or just merely excellent?

MR. TONER: Well, Matt, you�re right, there will be a debate tonight for both candidates to address issues of foreign policy. I think you know where we stand on the last four years and this Administration�s efforts around the world to increase the United States standing, to provide leadership on a range of issues, as well as address many issues of concern.

QUESTION: And you believe that�s been done? You would not agree with critics who say that the foreign � the Administration�s policies have been a dismal failure?

MR. TONER: I would not agree.

QUESTION: All right. No. Now I have a more serious question. (Laughter.)

MR. TONER: But thanks for asking, Matt.

QUESTION: Lebanon � well, I was going to give you a chance to wave the flag. (Laughter.) Lebanon. The situation there does not look good. How concerned are you that we�re looking at what could erupt into an all-out return to violence there?

As a note, Matt's quest to get someone at the podium to call the Administration's foreign policy "a dismal failure" is an ongoing thing. From a previous one:

quote:

QUESTION:

Would you be able to concede that this Administration, when it comes to Syria, utterly and completely failed on its promises?

QUESTION: Yes. (Laughter.) I�ll give you a dollar if you say the Administration�s policy was an abject failure. (Laughter.)

MS. NULAND: Only a dollar, Matt?

QUESTION: Only a dollar. (Laughter.) I�ll also look for a new job for you. How�s that? (Laughter.)

MS. NULAND: You will, huh? I don�t think a dollar is going to help me on the � perhaps a Turkish lira will help. (Laughter.)

Leif. fucked around with this message at 09:41 on Oct 25, 2012

# ? Oct 25, 2012 09:32

CherryCola: Apr 15, 2002; 'ahtaj alshifa

This Saturday marks three weeks since my FSOT! This means I could find out about my results pretty much any time! I also read that they've started automatically giving people their scores instead of making them send in for them separately. Is this true? I hope it is!

# ? Oct 25, 2012 13:28

Total Confusion: Oct 9, 2004

You'll get an e-mail about it telling you to go to this website: https://actapps.act.org/fsotresults/ to download your results letter.

You can also check your FSOT registration page. I found out I passed before I got the e-mail telling me I could go to the results page because the PNQs became available to fill out.

# ? Oct 25, 2012 14:35

d1rtbag: Sep 13, 2012; Eternal Man-Child

Gold and a Pager posted:

You'll get an e-mail about it telling you to go to this website: https://actapps.act.org/fsotresults/ to download your results letter.

You can also check your FSOT registration page. I found out I passed before I got the e-mail telling me I could go to the results page because the PNQs became available to fill out.

The Yahoo group was abuzz yesterday, and some posters are saying ACT told them we'll have results by the end of the week.

It's really hard to get anything done at work when you're constantly checking to see if the PNQ link has appeared . . .

Edit: Got my link!

d1rtbag fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Oct 25, 2012

# ? Oct 25, 2012 14:42

Azuth0667: Sep 20, 2011; By the word of Zoroaster, no business decision is poor when it involves Ahura Mazda.

d1rtbag posted:

I think the guide is totally worth it -- if you really want to pursue a lifelong career in diplomacy, $29 is a small price for a little help.

I took the test 10/2, and am ~patiently~ awaiting the results. The practice tests in the guide absolutely helped get me into the proper mindset which is half the battle with standardized testing.

Thanks I'm going to get the guide then

# ? Oct 25, 2012 15:59

Gin and Juche: Apr 3, 2008; The Highest Judge of Paradise
Shiki Eiki
YAMAXANADU

drat, missed the cut-off by 8 points. Still did much better than last time. Plenty of time to study in a year.

Good luck to the rest of y'all waiting for your scores.

# ? Oct 25, 2012 17:58

CherryCola: Apr 15, 2002; 'ahtaj alshifa

I passed!!!! I got pretty much the lowest passable essay score, which makes me a little sad...but still! Thank god

edit: I got 168.09 on multiple choice and 6 on my essay. Does this mean I pretty much have to ace everything after this to even have a chance? Is that actually an okay score for multiple choice? I'm guessing my essay was probably too short :\

CherryCola fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Oct 25, 2012

# ? Oct 25, 2012 18:37

echopapa: Jun 2, 2005; El Presidente smiles upon this thread.

Made it by thaaaaat much. Got a 154.53 on the multiple choice and a 10 on the essay. Now, on to the next round!

# ? Oct 25, 2012 18:37

Killing Flies: Jun 30, 2007; We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.

164.44 and an essay score of 8. Significantly worse than my first effort, which I know means absolutely jack poo poo considering the scoring methodology. I did focus more on my bio answers, and that certainly improved.

PN is where I washed out last time, so I'm definitely going to spend a lot more time on them this time around. Hopefully I'll be seeing some of you in Chicago for the oral.

# ? Oct 25, 2012 19:30

CherryCola: Apr 15, 2002; 'ahtaj alshifa

Would any of the FS peeps in this thread be open to glancing over PN answers?

# ? Oct 25, 2012 19:33

100 HOGS AGREE: Oct 13, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Killing Flies posted:

164.44 and an essay score of 8. Significantly worse than my first effort, which I know means absolutely jack poo poo considering the scoring methodology. I did focus more on my bio answers, and that certainly improved.

PN is where I washed out last time, so I'm definitely going to spend a lot more time on them this time around. Hopefully I'll be seeing some of you in Chicago for the oral.

I passed the fsot but it was like by the skin of my teeth, my score was 154.02. I also got an 8 on the essay.

I better really hammer on these PN responses something fierce.

Oh god I have to put in a person that can corroborate my answers. I have a hard enough time answering these things in the first place. Better get a hold of some of my old professors and scoutmasters. :suicide:

100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Oct 25, 2012

# ? Oct 25, 2012 19:39

I Love Topanga: Oct 3, 2003

I took it for the first time a few weeks ago and passed!

164.32 and an 8.

I've been lurking this thread for over a year. Thanks everyone for the incredible guidance. I didn't do much prep for the FSOT, but now that I've passed it's PN time for the next 3 weeks.

If anyone is willing to look at my PNQs over the next couple weeks I would really appreciate it. I'm going to buy PM's now to communicate.

# ? Oct 25, 2012 20:01

the_chavi: Mar 2, 2005; Toilet Rascal

CherryCola posted:

Would any of the FS peeps in this thread be open to glancing over PN answers?

Happy to do so for any/all of you, as long as you give me a few days' lead time. No comments on the night before it's due!

# ? Oct 25, 2012 20:42

dalliance: Oct 9, 2012

I got my results from the test. 3.05 points from passing it. :/

Job Knowledge - 53.80
Biographic Information - 37.61
English Expression - 59.54
Total: 150.95

I'm only a junior in college, but I was so hoping I'd at least pass it. >.>; Anyways, thanks for the incredible amounts of advice everyone. It's been super helpful.

# ? Oct 25, 2012 21:12

harperdc: Jul 24, 2007

got my results too. improvement on my time two years ago. 170 and a 10 on the essay (seriously almost did a "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase laugh when I saw my essay topic. Grooved fastball for me).

time to get cracking on the QEP. the_chavi, I may have to take you up on that offer

I promise it won't be right before the deadline!

# ? Oct 25, 2012 22:06

Huckleduck: May 20, 2007; giving you the hucklebuck

Ack, how did I pass last year and fail this year?! How does one request the score breakdown? I performed terribly on the biographic information section.

# ? Oct 25, 2012 22:15

hitension: Feb 14, 2005; Hey guys, I learned Chinese so that I can write shame in another language

Job Knowledge: 50.71
Biographic Knowledge: 72.21
English Expression: 57.72
Total - 180.64
Essay: 10

Holy cow, was not expecting this kind of result at all. I am pleased!!

the_chavi posted:

Happy to do so for any/all of you, as long as you give me a few days' lead time. No comments on the night before it's due!

Will strongly consider taking you up on this if it is allowed!

hitension fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Oct 25, 2012

# ? Oct 25, 2012 23:42

Killing Flies: Jun 30, 2007; We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.

hitension posted:

Job Knowledge: 50.71
Biographic Knowledge: 72.21
English Expression: 57.72
Total - 180.64
Essay: 10

Holy cow, was not expecting this kind of result at all. I am pleased!!

Will strongly consider taking you up on this if it is allowed!

drat, you pretty much nailed it. This is about what my score was last year. My only advice would be don't do what I did. I saw my results and pretty much got cocky. When the time came to submit the PN,I breezed through them thinking my test scores were so good that the PN wouldn't really matter. Turns out they do. So, just make sure you keep taking the process seriously. Don't know if you need it or not, but there's my little memento mori because I wish someone had done it for me last time.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 01:30

Spiderjelly: Aug 22, 2006; Sign of evil.

Passed!

166.53 and an 8 on the essay.

I tried following the link they gave me to the PN questions, but it just took me back to the application I filled out; what am I doing wrong?

# ? Oct 26, 2012 02:25

Vasudus: May 30, 2003

So uh, random question: For the medical component, does State send you off to an approved medical center to do their thing or are you expected to see your private doctor and have them fill out ye olde form?

I ask because I use the VA for my healthcare and appointment wait times are somewhere around 6-7 months. So I guess I better save a few shekels up and get a private doctor to do it otherwise.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 02:51

Kase Im Licht: Jan 26, 2001

Vasudus posted:

So uh, random question: For the medical component, does State send you off to an approved medical center to do their thing or are you expected to see your private doctor and have them fill out ye olde form?

I ask because I use the VA for my healthcare and appointment wait times are somewhere around 6-7 months. So I guess I better save a few shekels up and get a private doctor to do it otherwise.

Are you anywhere near DC? If you are you just go to their facility and they take care of it. Otherwise I think you have to go to your own doctor. They'll reimburse you wherever you go, so you can go to a private non-VA facility and pay upfront out of pocket.

Well, not totally sure how the VA thing will work. I had to do a couple things at non-State places, and they said they'd cover me as secondary insurance - i.e. whatever my insurance didn't cover, but I had to use my insurance first.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 04:23

tismondo: Dec 14, 2005; Take that, subspace!

An improvement over last time - Biographic section improved by ~20 points (thank you grad school and student government!)

I also improved my essay score thanks to better time management. Now to dig up my old PNQs and re-do them from last time. Fingers crossed for happy news a couple months from now.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 04:27

Business of Ferrets: Mar 2, 2008; Good to see that everything is back to normal.

the_chavi posted:

Happy to do so for any/all of you, as long as you give me a few days' lead time. No comments on the night before it's due!

Ditto.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 06:57

Leif.: Mar 27, 2005; Son of the Defender
Formerly Diplomaticus/SWATJester

CherryCola posted:

I passed!!!! I got pretty much the lowest passable essay score, which makes me a little sad...but still! Thank god

edit: I got 168.09 on multiple choice and 6 on my essay. Does this mean I pretty much have to ace everything after this to even have a chance? Is that actually an okay score for multiple choice? I'm guessing my essay was probably too short :\

The QEP is opaque, so it's hard to tell. But you basically have to ace that portion anyway, so just do your best.

the_chavi posted:

Happy to do so for any/all of you, as long as you give me a few days' lead time. No comments on the night before it's due!

Same for me, if anyone wants a look-over of PNQs.

Vasudus posted:

So uh, random question: For the medical component, does State send you off to an approved medical center to do their thing or are you expected to see your private doctor and have them fill out ye olde form?

I ask because I use the VA for my healthcare and appointment wait times are somewhere around 6-7 months. So I guess I better save a few shekels up and get a private doctor to do it otherwise.

You get two options. A) Go to DC, spend 2 days at MED, they take care of everything there, only thing is that if you need a chest x-ray for TB you might have to run over to GW hospital (you can get in and out for a chest x-ray in about 2-3 hours.)

B) There is a medical clearance packet you can get for your private doctor, they do it and it just gets sent in to MED.

I'd recommend A) if you can get out to DC and do it. Makes things so much less of a hassle, less things that can go wrong, etc.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 07:01

Fatewarns: Aug 10, 2003; Eater of third world virgins.

Hey, I'm planning to take the February FS exam. I know two of the Critical-Need languages (Persian, Arabic) and I am confident that I can achieve a passing score in either one.

Given that I can only pick one language to be tested in and that I'm guaranteed to go to a country where Persian is spoken for my first round if I pass, am I setting myself up to be sent to Afghanistan (or Tajikistan) for my very first job?

# ? Oct 26, 2012 12:03

Saho: Jun 9, 2012

Fatewarns posted:

Hey, I'm planning to take the February FS exam. I know two of the Critical-Need languages (Persian, Arabic) and I am confident that I can achieve a passing score in either one.

Given that I can only pick one language to be tested in and that I'm guaranteed to go to a country where Persian is spoken for my first round if I pass, am I setting myself up to be sent to Afghanistan (or Tajikistan) for my very first job?

I believe the requirement is that you go to a place where the language is spoken before tenure, not for your first tour. Also, from what I've been told, they generally don't do directed tours to Afghanistan, Iraq, or Pakistan.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 12:49

TCD: Nov 13, 2002; Every step, a fucking adventure.

Saho posted:

I believe the requirement is that you go to a place where the language is spoken before tenure, not for your first tour. Also, from what I've been told, they generally don't do directed tours to Afghanistan, Iraq, or Pakistan.

Actually it's possible to do a directed tour to AIP for generalists and most specialists.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 12:54

CherryCola: Apr 15, 2002; 'ahtaj alshifa

Oh man, so the most frustrating part of the PNs is the fact that they require references. There are things I've done that fit the questions, but I don't know anyone who witnessed them. Also, I have the kind of job where I can't talk in specifics about basically anything I do, and I have very few people that I can ask to be references there because I'm not exactly broadcasting that I'm doing this yet.

One thing I wanted to talk about for communication skills is that I was a speaker at Nerd Nite and basically gave a talk about my thesis topic in a way that was entertaining and easy to understand. Is that the right kind of example, or is that not something they'd really care about?

I'll definitely be using the assistance of one of you FS dudes, because I want to make sure I'm putting my best face forward.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 13:00

tismondo: Dec 14, 2005; Take that, subspace!

Fatewarns posted:

Given that I can only pick one language to be tested in and that I'm guaranteed to go to a country where Persian is spoken for my first round if I pass, am I setting myself up to be sent to Afghanistan (or Tajikistan) for my very first job?

Why not just take the Arabic exam?

edit- In case you weren't clear on the process: If you take and pass one of the language tests after the orals, you're meant to spend one of your first 2 tours in a country that speaks it. So if you take the Arabic test, you'll be in an Arabic-speaking country, not Farsi-speaking.

tismondo fucked around with this message at 13:24 on Oct 26, 2012

# ? Oct 26, 2012 13:18

CherryCola: Apr 15, 2002; 'ahtaj alshifa

tismondo posted:

Why not just take the Arabic exam?

edit- In case you weren't clear on the process: If you take and pass one of the language tests after the orals, you're meant to spend one of your first 2 tours in a country that speaks it. So if you take the Arabic test, you'll be in an Arabic-speaking country, not Farsi-speaking.

I'm wondering if Urdu could mean that I'd go to Pakistan OR India, because there are large populations of Urdu speakers in both countries.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 13:31

Barracuda Bang!: Oct 21, 2008; The first rule of No Avatar Club is: you do not talk about No Avatar Club. The second rule of No Avatar Club is: you DO NOT talk about No Avatar Club; Grimey Drawer

CherryCola posted:

I'm wondering if Urdu could mean that I'd go to Pakistan OR India, because there are large populations of Urdu speakers in both countries.

That's an interesting question. Are there language-designated positions for unofficial or minority languages at posts? I mean, obviously you'd have to cover official languages of countries that have more than one, but what about - for instance - Cantonese at the Guangzhou consulate?

# ? Oct 26, 2012 13:36

CherryCola: Apr 15, 2002; 'ahtaj alshifa

Barracuda Bang! posted:

That's an interesting question. Are there language-designated positions for unofficial or minority languages at posts? I mean, obviously you'd have to cover official languages of countries that have more than one, but what about - for instance - Cantonese at the Guangzhou consulate?

Well the thing is, I can speak and understand Hindi as well. Hindi and Urdu are almost mutually intelligible...so I don't know, there should totally be a "Pass One Get One Free" deal with those languages

# ? Oct 26, 2012 13:39

qwertyman: May 2, 2003; Congress gave me $3.1 trillion, which I already spent on extremely dangerous drugs. We had acid, cocaine, and a whole galaxy of uppers, downers, screamers, laughers, and amyls.

Newlywed wife and I both passed!

Now we're one step closer to being that couple of newlywed FSOs from Argo. That movie hit a bit too close to home...

qwertyman fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Oct 26, 2012

# ? Oct 26, 2012 13:42

Leif.: Mar 27, 2005; Son of the Defender
Formerly Diplomaticus/SWATJester

Barracuda Bang! posted:

That's an interesting question. Are there language-designated positions for unofficial or minority languages at posts? I mean, obviously you'd have to cover official languages of countries that have more than one, but what about - for instance - Cantonese at the Guangzhou consulate?

Usually things like that (for example Tigrinya, Oromiffa, Somali, etc. for Ethiopia) would be done by local hires. China may operate differently due to the size of posts.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 14:31

vulturesrow: Sep 25, 2011; _{Always gotta pay it forward.}

For you DS guys, a follow-up on my questions from much earlier in the thread. I am active duty as I said before and was told about DS based on that (RSO was mentioned specifically). How much a of negative, if at all, is the fact that my job in the military (Naval Flight Officer) really has nothing to do with LE or security stuff?

# ? Oct 26, 2012 15:08

Zoots: Apr 19, 2007; No passport for you.

Diplomaticus posted:

Usually things like that (for example Tigrinya, Oromiffa, Somali, etc. for Ethiopia) would be done by local hires. China may operate differently due to the size of posts.

Though FSI does offer Cantonese - an A-100 bud went to Hong Kong for his first tour and spent a good chunk of time in language for that.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 15:20

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# ? May 10, 2024 20:12

Tyro: Nov 10, 2009

Congrats to everyone who passed the FSOT this round and I hope it was at least a good learning experience for everyone else.

vulturesrow posted:

For you DS guys, a follow-up on my questions from much earlier in the thread. I am active duty as I said before and was told about DS based on that (RSO was mentioned specifically). How much a of negative, if at all, is the fact that my job in the military (Naval Flight Officer) really has nothing to do with LE or security stuff?

NFO is a pretty awesome job, and hard to get, I don't think that's a negative at all. Just focus on the responsibilities you've had.

# ? Oct 26, 2012 15:25

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > US Foreign Service & FSOT Megathread: Where Dreams Come True & Even Lawyers Get Jobs

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