tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-103966072024-08-31T03:17:50.730-07:00A collection of thoughts, experiences, insights, and epiphanies gathered along the way, as I made my slow ascent toward the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service.Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-55719227596342118392012-11-20T05:27:00.000-08:002012-11-20T05:27:08.516-08:00

An associate of mine referenced an old movie about the State Department ("State Department: File 649") the other day, and I watched it out of curiosity.  Despite some glaring inaccuracies and artistic license with reality, it was still an entertaining piece of history, dedicated to the FSO's who have lost their lives in the service of the government.  As such, it got me thinking about

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-83573763527487954352011-08-17T14:10:00.000-07:002011-08-17T14:10:10.254-07:00

I received the offer just minutes before noon on a Friday. Offers had been going out for some time, and had slowed to a trickle.  Having a score that was on the cusp (5.6), receiving an email from HR was an tremendous shock to say the least.  I did not shout or scream or dance around the office.  I'm certain that if someone had watched me open the email, they may have assumed that

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-52899684790984159492011-05-27T17:54:00.000-07:002011-05-27T17:54:01.187-07:00

Being on the Register itself is possibly more excruciating than going through the clearances.  Being stuck at a certain rank, movement is uncertain and nerve wracking.  One week I'm at X out of 200+, and two weeks later I'm further down the list at X+6.  It's at this point that I need to leave it in the hands of fate.  Obsessively checking my email or refreshing the group when

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-19613178473042454532011-04-21T05:33:00.000-07:002011-04-21T05:33:00.618-07:00

Going through Security Clearances was the most enigmatic part of the whole process so far.  It's not so much for lack of transparency on the part of DSS, as they provide a lot of information in the FAQs and the Adjudicative Guidelines.  I say enigmatic because there is so much uncertainty about the interview and investigation itself. Many of us in this process are probably borderline

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-6354067267167086872011-04-19T06:53:00.000-07:002011-04-21T05:19:46.863-07:00

I made appointments with our physicians almost immediately following the OA, and filled out the requisite DS-1843 and DS-1622 forms.  It had been emphasized to me that the physician should make certain that all the tests were ordered and that everything was filled out correctly. Since my physician used to work at a government hospital, I did not think this would be much of an issue. 

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-70525663170608324632011-04-13T06:38:00.000-07:002011-04-13T07:56:33.395-07:00

The final piece of my preparations involved getting mentally tuned into the OA.  My 'new' job had helped me develop my people, negotiation, and case management skills, but I needed to channel these skills and experiences into a format that was practical for the OA. In the Yahoo! FSOA Group, there is a collection of practice exercises for each section of the OA.  I live in a somewhat

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-24622255812559651532011-03-18T21:07:00.000-07:002011-03-18T21:07:46.549-07:00

I found four books to be extremely useful as I was preparing for the Foreign Service Oral Assessment: the first is touted in the Yahoo Boards as being essential to preparing for the GE portion, the second and third books build on the first, and the fourth and final book was without a doubt the most useful of all to me.  Let's take a quick look at them: 1) Getting to Yes by Fisher is THE

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-52375593323231250152011-03-18T06:22:00.000-07:002011-03-18T08:58:08.999-07:00

After failing my previous OA in 2006, I spent a significant of time contemplating where I was in relation to where I was going and where I wanted to be.  In this regard, my experience failing the FSOA was critical, as it gave me a much better perspective on what was expected of a Foreign Service Officer, and what was required to pass the Oral Assessment.  Without that baseline, I would

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-33399864548126533182011-01-24T18:41:00.000-08:002011-01-24T18:41:13.518-08:00

How was I able to bring my FSOA score up one full point from an unimpressive 4.6 in 2006 to a much more acceptable (and competitive) 5.6 in 2010? I'll tell you, but not in the way you may be thinking (this blog is NDA-safe).  During the intervening years, I methodically prepared for the FSOA and for my career with the State Department.  I'm not quite there yet, but I am making

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-38812396901712337052010-12-09T05:25:00.000-08:002010-12-10T05:12:22.584-08:00

I arrived at the testing site about 30 minutes early; there were already about ten or so black suits milling about the lobby. As more continued to arrive, I estimated there to be about 30 or so altogether. Perhaps three-quarters of them were male. Very nice diversity among the tracks, professional backgrounds and experience. Everyone I spoke with knew at least one other language. Very few

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-47574542161358233832010-12-06T19:50:00.000-08:002010-12-06T19:56:50.608-08:00

Last year was my first attempt at the PNQs, and I did not pass.  This section sort of mystified me at first until I really sat down and read (and re-read) Step 4.  A quick review of the discussion in the Yahoo FSOA Group might lead one to erroneously believe that this step (QEP) is based solely upon the submitted Personal Narrative Questions themselves.  Do not fall into this trap!

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-90852332697945412312010-12-06T07:00:00.000-08:002010-12-10T05:10:53.002-08:00

Summer 2010. Back again for the FSOT as planned. Other than reading each issue of 'The Week', I did no real studying other than the routine basics and reviewing the essay scoring matrix from ACT.  My experience was very similar to last year:  JK section quickly completed and reviewed with about 15-20 minutes to spare.  The BIO again was close to the wire, but I completed it with

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-74347047542978417002010-11-27T16:39:00.000-08:002010-12-01T18:51:29.735-08:00

The FSOA and FSOT Yahoo Groups are back online. :D The FSOA and FSOT Yahoo Groups appear to have been deleted, and the moderators are working with Yahoo to get them restored as quickly as possible. Please check back here or at the temporary "FSOT-FSOA" Group for information updates.

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-61514190032829110312009-09-01T18:23:00.000-07:002010-12-01T18:39:26.789-08:00

After passing the FSOT, I began work on my Personal Narrative Questions. It's challenging to fit the narratives into such a limited space, but I worked at it until I was satisfied with my answers and submitted them. Each one requires that you include the contact information of someone who can verify your story, if necessary.After submitting, I received an email encouraging me to schedule a

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-37148620761648907242009-07-15T07:24:00.000-07:002010-11-26T05:15:30.586-08:00

FSOT 2009 was my first time to take it on the computer, and I felt it was a great improvement in many ways over the old paper version. There were only a handful of us testing, instead of the several score or several hundred that had tested previously. The ability to go at my own pace, and jump to the next section at my leisure instead of waiting on the proctor helped me to 'stay in the groove'.

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-30810540455840733532009-04-30T06:59:00.000-07:002010-11-26T04:24:39.107-08:00

After failing the Oral Assessment in December, 2006, I had asked the Assessors what they recommended I do to prepare for 'next time'. Obviously, they were unable to give me any direct feedback, but what they did tell me was very helpful: "think about your performance today, and how you might be able to improve" [paraphrased].Since I had not passed any of the three sections, I began by

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-57040628759106032232007-07-24T21:49:00.000-07:002007-07-24T19:40:48.977-07:00

The registration for the new and improved Foreign Service Officer's Test (formerly the FSWE) is now open! The basic changes are as outlined in my previous post, but once you register, available slots are offered on a first come first serve basis, with a total of 5000 slots being offered during each 'window'. Registration is on a continual basis, but the available testing windows will only be

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-52091989474082414432007-04-06T07:21:00.000-07:002007-04-06T08:06:59.076-07:00

As many of you know, the FSWE (and the process as a whole) has been largely reworked.The FSWE is now going to be computer-based, instead of the traditional pencil and paper format that we have come to know and love. It's rumored that it will be somewhat shorter than before, and will still include the beloved essay; the only omission will be the cone-specific sections that State had experimented

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-91153813599558682262007-03-23T07:46:00.000-07:002007-03-23T08:54:38.645-07:00

It's been an unexpected hiatus. Since my OA, I intended to lay low for a few weeks and commiserate, but my daughter (18 months at the time) injured her hip and ankle about Christmastime, and the doctors still are unable to make a diagnosis as of this posting.I've updated my blog (retroactively) to include my OA recap, which is posted below, and plan to comment on the upcoming changes to the FSWE

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-41558015639848532642006-12-15T22:30:00.000-08:002007-03-23T09:02:46.368-07:00

I was scheduled to test on Friday, December 1st, 2006, in Austin.We left Wednesday afternoon after picking up the kids from school, and ran into a snowstorm in Oklahoma City. Traffic slowed down to 30mph at times, with a steady stream of cars in both ditches and the median, but we made it as far as Gainesville, TX before calling it a night. Thursday morning, we drove the remaining four hours to

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-1159827610854736962006-09-23T21:25:00.000-07:002006-10-02T15:31:13.323-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to get together with a few (err, all) of our local Group Members to have a sort of stop-and-go OA prep session. This year's cycle marks the first time any of us will have been able to progress on to the OA, and, since we are about 600 miles from the nearest DIR, attending an official Prep Session would have been difficult, if not downright impossible.We used one

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-1156036849027279652006-08-19T17:47:00.000-07:002006-08-19T18:20:49.090-07:00

The required forms can be daunting, and will consume a significant amount of time, even if you do already have all of the necessary information readily available. Last year, I began organizing the relevant information, and entered it into downloadable, saveable SF forms from the GSA site (which is given as an alternate link from the SD page above) . There are two filetypes to choose from, .xpw

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-1154229365244591132006-07-29T20:10:00.000-07:002006-07-29T20:16:44.123-07:00

I've updated the FS related blogs links. If you wish to have yours added, or even de-listed, please drop me a line or comment below. Thank You!

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-1154027735814313022006-07-27T16:07:00.000-07:002006-07-27T14:33:53.810-07:00

In comparison to my results the first time around, I fared much better--an improvement of over twenty points. JK: 56.86 BIO: 60.67 EE: 56.95=============Total Score: 174.48Essay: 8.0The cutoff score was rather anticlimactic, however. The minimum cutoff this year for CON was 153; last year I scored 153.82. :/If you are curious how these scores

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396607.post-1153366270474941622006-07-19T20:25:00.000-07:002006-07-21T10:11:36.816-07:00

After a quiet and relaxing three months, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had passed this year's FSWE. I've requested my Score Breakdown, and will be interested to see in which areas I was able to improve over last year's.The interesting thing is that I didn't feel 'ecstatic' to have passed; I simply felt satisfied and relieved. It's really boosted my confidence in the first step of

Editfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00040515052003570748noreply@blogger.com0