Making a career in the U.S. Foreign Service

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>If I were interested in taking the foreign service exam, what kind of books would I need to read? I'm not majoring in the traditional 'feeder' subjects for the diplomatic corps, such as history, poli sci, economics, or IR. Nor can I count on getting into some kind of grad school that will prepare me for this type of exam. I think my best chance is to educate myself. So, what should I be reading?</p>

<p>I'm starting to amass some books on areas that interested me to begin with such as American history and, in particular, diplomatic history (mostly ranging from the Treaty of Versailles to the Cold War). I've got a good book on colonialism in Africa (Thomas Pakenham's 'The Scramble for Africa') and a general survey history of India, but nothing at all on East Asia or Russia/Soviet Union. Maybe I'm ethnocentric after all....</p>

<p>I'm reading the first volume of William Manchester's biography of Winston Churchill ('The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932'), which gives some description of British colonial and foreign policy from the mid-19th century to the end of WWI. I own a copy of Edmund Morris' second part of his Theodore Roosevelt biography ('Theodore Rex') but haven't started reading it yet. It seems like it would also delve into American foreign policy and colonial ambitions. My dad read it and said it gives more information than he ever wanted to know about TR's mediation of the Russo-Japanese war, not that that means anything for my present situation.</p>

<p>I like political biographies and I think I learn a lot through them, so could anyone suggest similar titles that would help me pass what is supposed to be an extremely difficult exam? A couple years ago I saw a feature on C-SPAN's 'Booknotes' about a relatively new, one-volume biography of Stalin (written by an Englishman whose name escapes me). If anyone has read that and could recommend it, I would be much obliged.</p>

<p>My weakest point, I think, will be economics. I haven't taken any econ courses in college, and I'm pretty bad at math. I <em>do</em> have a subscription to The Economist, but the business and finance stories are way over my head so most of the time I don't even bother reading them. I know a knowledge of economics is important, especially now with a presidential election coming up, but I don't know where to get started...... maybe with a history of international trade, or tariff policies in the US? That sounds pretty boring to me. And if I know myself at all, I won't learn as effectively if I don't find it interesting. I know that isn't a good habit, and I'm trying to break myself of it but it will definitely take some time.</p>

<p>I'm afraid this is going to be a really tough exam. Not only will I have to remember who George Keenan is, but I'll have to know what his so-called 'Long Telegram' was about, what he said in it, and why he said it in the first place. There may even be questions about the period of American diplomatic history that is more nebulous in my mind than most, the inter-war period from 1918-1941. Similarly, I'll be up a creek if there are any questions about the Harding, Coolidge, or Taft administrations. Needless to say, I've got some serious gaps in my knowledge that need to be filled.</p>

<p>Someone, anyone, please offer some advice. I'll be eternally in your debt. Thanks very much!</p>

2

<p>You have a long road ahead of you if you want to have a shot. Reading lots of history books seems like a good place to start. A couple of suggestions-- "Essence of Decision," by Graham Allison and "Thinking in Time" by Neustadt and May. These are both about the Cold War and the policy making process and are pretty much standard reading for international relations students. Make sure you also have a good grasp of Western history, particularly the political-military aspects.</p>

<p>From what I've been told, the single best way to prepare for the test is to read periodicals. You should be reading one national newspaper and one weekly/biweekly periodical. The economist is far and away the best choice here. As for economics, the best thing to do short of taking an intro class might be to buy an introductory textbook and read it cover to cover.</p>

<p>Most people that take the test spend about a year preparing for it. So take your time preparing and keep in mind that most people don't pass on their first try.</p>

3

<p>I agree that reading the Economist religiously is the best thing you can do. Time and Newsweek do not come close to the quality of the Economist. Read the whole thing, even the more difficult articles. After a few weeks it will become easier, and you will find yourself with an impressive amount of knowledge on countries, peoples and issues that American popular media rarely cover and with only the most superficial treatment.</p>

<p>As good as the Economist is, you won't learn much economics from it. For economics, I recommend Erik Reinert's new book, How the Rich Got Rich and Why the Poor Stay Poor. It's about development economics and development policy as it has evolved since the days when the United States was a poor, developing country. Alexander Hamilton and his advocacy for the heavy protection of the American manufacturing sector toward the end of the 18th century is a key point of discussion, as this strategy was successful for the development of the United States into a first-world country and thus may still be relevant for other nations. The book goes on to compare and contrast the development policies used by governments from Latin America to Europe to Japan and the Asian Tigers. Yes tariff policy is necessarily included, but it is very accessible and certainly not boring. Since you are inclined toward history and not really into math, this book should be a good pick for you.</p>

<p>Ideally you should be reading a macro textbook like Macroeconomics by Abel Bernanke and King but I'm not sure what your attention span is like for this stuff at the moment.</p>

4

<p>Is this Abel Bernanke you speak of related to the current Fed chairman, by any chance? </p>

<p>And if either of you have actually taken the Foreign Service exam, I would be interested to know: do the geography/history/politics sections cover a fairly wide range of countries or regions? I think it would be odd if they didn't. And I think I'm definitely weighted more heavily toward the U.S. and Western Europe, and not at all toward East Asia. Is that a problem?</p>

5

<p>It's Macroeconomics by Abel, Bernanke, and King. And yes, that Bernanke is Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman. This book was being used in economics departments worldwide long before Bernanke got his new fancy title, so you can be sure it's not just some pop culture fluff. The neat thing about it is that it's a page-turner, which is more than I can say for most standard economics texts.</p>

6

<p>A new foreign service entrance exam is coming soon. BTW it's not always country/language specialists that are in demand. IT/communcations skills, diplomatic security and medical skills are other ways to get in.</p>

7

<p>^Really? That seems odd to me. I wouldn't think medical skills and IT knowledge would be necessary for a career in diplomacy. Unless one wanted to be the tech guy/girl or medic on staff at a given consulate or embassy... but that wouldn't be a career in diplomacy.</p>

8

<p>the state dept has specialists in medical skills or IT or others that are responsible for those duties at embassies. that's the limit to my knowledge of those. careers.state.gov has a bunch of info.</p>

9

<p>I’m just heading into college now and I’m considering a career into the Foreign Service.</p>

<p>Unlike you I’m going the more traditional IR-major route, btw keep reading history, and reading the Economist is a good tip too to keep abreast of issues.</p>

<p>Personally I’m a rabid anti-neoliberal, and I find the Economist extremely right-wing on economic issues, but they represent a neoliberal ideology which is one of the major ideas shaping this world, so ignoring something you may disagree with is just ignorance, its better to understand and critique it.</p>

10

<p>I read something about a new FS exam. The gist of the article, from what I remember, was that less stringent requirements would dilute the quality of the Foreign Service and undermine American diplomatic efforts in general. I don’t see what all the fuss is about, and neither do I see how it would affect what/how I should study…</p>

11

<p>That article is biased. There are two sides two the exam argument. The main change that’s being made to the selection process is that the written test is now only only one part of the application. They are going to start giving more weight to people’s resumes and experience. In a way, that opens the door for corruption and dilutes the meritocracy, but I think it could also help. According to a friend who is ex-state dept., many FSOs are like glorified trivial pursuit players, intelligent but unable to actually get things done. He thinks that this is a product of the test, which is essentially like a giant game of trivial pursuit. </p>

<p>I think theyre also changing some things content-wise, but I’m not really sure.</p>

12

<p>That seems like a good move to me— and if anything, it seems like it would be more difficult to get into the FS after the change since you can find information about Persian geography in the library, but not valuable life experience. As far as maintaining the democratic spirit, I’m conflicted. I naturally want the very ‘best and brightest’ people to be working for our interests abroad, but I also have to acknowledge the fact that I might not be one of those people. Are the critics worried that people coming from more affluent backgrounds would be able to engage in the requisite societal/governmental networking that could be used to circumvent plain old book smarts? I guess I don’t see what’s so undemocratic about the new system, besides the fact that it undermines the (mistaken) notion that knowledge is equally available to everyone all the time and judging someone by what they are able to spew out on exam is inherently democratic. In my own opinion, in the times in which we live, even the previously sacred bastion of objectively judging by exam results can be manipulated by expensive private tutors. Just look at the multi-million dollar SAT or ACT tutoring services such as Kaplan and Princeton review.</p>

<p>On another note, any idea of what kind of intangibles or work experience they might be looking for? Obviously, language fluency would help immensely but what else? Probably some kind of demonstration of leadership or interpersonal or managerial skills. I don’t even know…</p>