10. Home Leave
Congress has mandated that FSOs must take 4-6 weeks of leave in the U.S. between assignments. While it can be burdensome on large families, I love it!
9. Get Paid to learn Languages
Paid language training is a great perk. How much money did I spend on college Spanish courses? The Foreign Service will give you your full time salary for up to two years (depending on the language) to go to class for six hours a day.
8. Great Peers
The great thing about the intense Foreign Service selection process is that, well, it’s selective. There are a few know-it-alls and Ambitious Alberts, but the vast majority of FSOs are hardworking, intelligent, and intriguing individuals.
7. “Vice-Consul” Looks Great on a Resume
Maybe you’ll be one of the few people who decide that the Foreign Service isn’t for you. Honestly, I don’t know that I’ll do it my entire life; at some point I’ll have teenagers and I don’t know that the “global nomad” lifestyle is what I would want for them. In any case, having been a diplomat looks great on a resume, and it gives truly global experience that’s guaranteed to impress.
6. Free Housing
At least when you’re overseas, you’ll get great housing for free. When I joined the service, my pay was much less than that of many of peers, but once I factored in my housing, I earned more than many of my friends.
5. Economic Security
During these difficult economic times, nothing says “job security” like government. It is tough to fire a tenured Foreign Service Officer (and 97% of new hires get tenured), and if your company goes out of business, you’ve got bigger problems than unemployment.
4. Change the World
I used to work at an International Relations research library, and we were often gloomy. We watched impotently as the world went down the crapper. Entry-level Officers can’t do much, but my starting A-100 class was full of optimism. We knew that we were one step closer to participating in history.
3. Travel
You get a real sense for the people, food, and culture of a place by living and working among them. The Foreign Service is the best way to travel. You’re getting paid, you’re living in a house rather than an airport, and there’s a good support community wherever you go.
2. Privileges and Immunities
One of the reasons many people are fascinated by the Foreign Service is the prospect of diplomatic immunity (not to mention those speedy airport lines marked “diplomat”). Each parking ticket you get is one more reason to register for the Foreign Service Officer Test.
1. Serve your Country
I love America. The Foreign Service is a phenomenal way to do your patriotic duty. Call me naive, but I truly believe that making the world better for America also usually makes the world better.
There you go. If I missed one, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Tommorrow we’ll look at the flip side.
This post is part of my unofficial Guide to the Foreign Service Exam.
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Definitely has some rather nice positives.
That’s a great list.
I add to it leave in general. Besides home leave, we have more generous vacation time than most, plus all government holidays, plus if you’re overseas you get local holidays. I think I get about 20 holidays off right now.
That’s a great point, I have a friend who celebrates three independence days each year.
I love America. I truly believe that making the world better for America also usually makes the world better.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. It seems as though with the Bush administration, the FS has become very liberal recently, and being unabashedly pro American doesn’t come across as well at State as in other agencies. Here’s hoping that an Obama presidency will remind all the FSOs how awesome we are :)
This is especially surprising given that travel allows one to see the dysfunction, corruption, and racism in most other countries in comparison with the US.
Get Paid to learn Languages
I’d say this is a benefit, but language use is going to plummet in usefulness. Most world elites (at least in the next generation) will speak English, and the ones that don’t will at least be open to machine translation
I get alot of flack for bringing this topic up. But possibly that’s because alot of people have jobs invested in their language abilities being marketable.
Mark has a great point about living overseas (though not necessarily as an FSO) helps you to appreciate America better. It may be frustrating to be nearly hit by a car while crossing an intersection in DC, but at least you know you could go to the police, receive adequate medical care, receive compensation, etc. None of those things would happen where I currently live should you happen to be run down by one of the cars driving along the sidewalk (because traffic in the street is moving too slowly.)
It’s fun to say you’re a Diplomat! (even if all you ever do is sit behind a desk and never rub elbows with a single big-wig…)
My credit is a mess ie below 520. What can i do to get into FS despite a vey poor credit?
credit matters?! I thought only a large (and i mean Super Gi-huge, worth a hours or two) debt made a difference.
I am a graduate student unsatisfied with my current career-path and was wondering what the best education route would be in order to be an FSO. I absolutely love travel and I figured being a Foreign Service Officer would fit my personality and lifestyle extremely well. I also wanted to know if anyone had any advice or tips on what I should do before I begin an application.
“Congress has mandated that FSOs must take 4-6 weeks of leave in the U.S. between assignments”. Does this home leave have to be taken in the United States? I was born and raised primarily overseas (military brat) and being limited to taking leave stateside would be a bummer. Not a big enough bummer to diminish my desire to become an FSO, but still…
It is absurd that the US pays its diplomats to learn foreign languages when there is so much talent already available. The State Department has diplomats fluent in many languages but they are not allowed to serve under the Foreign Service personnel system. The “FSO” category represents the lucky privileged class of US diplomats. Only they are eligible to get paid for language learning. They get up to 2 years including a full year overseas with all expensed paid, on full salary, plus free tuition for children, and even a salary bonus if they pass the test at the end of 2 years.
What a waste of taxpayer money.
I have seen embassies with talented diplomats using languages that they learned on their own, without any pay. Those are the non FS types, who do the same work, under the same conditions, but receive inferior benefits. We truly have a caste system in our diplomatic service - Congress should look into this.
Tess,
I have to say, on the surface your comment doesn’t make much sense to me. Who makes up the plentiful talent of which you speak? The overwhelming majority of diplomats at any given embassy are “FS types”, either FSOs, FSSs, or agents from other U.S. agencies. There are also individuals who work for NGOs, or citizens of the host nation, known variously as Foreign Service Nationals or Locally Engaged Staff, but neither of those groups have been approved by the U.S. or the host nation to conduct official diplomacy under the Vienna Convention, so they’re not really diplomats, as such.
As to the benefit structure you described, there are incentives for new officers to learn languages before they join the FS, which they would do on their own dollar, but after that any FSOs learning languages for post are doing so expressly at the behest of the U.S. government — why should they not be paid for that? There is no “full year overseas” involved with any State language training, it’s all conducted through the Foreign Service Institute in Washington D.C. Some languages do take a significant amount of time to learn, but I’m unaware of any that require two full years. Tuition is of course free, as you’re being trained by the U.S. government for U.S. government work as an employee of the U.S. government. Any private company would be expected to provide complimentary training to their employees as well, were that training mandatory to the performance of their jobs.
I see no evidence of anything so drastic as a caste system. Perhaps there is room to better employ FSNs, who are all surely a great asset to the service, but as it stands currently they are ineligible to serve in the Foreign Service, as they are not U.S. citizens.