U.S. Department of State

Hi, Madeline,
Thanks for your posting and your interest in a career with the Department of State.
A background in linguistics may be one factor in making you a competitive candidate for a Department of State position. In regard to majors: For our Civil Service positions, there are specific educational and work experience requirements that vary, depending on the position. These requirements are found in the vacancy announcements. For Foreign Service Officer positions, there are no specific educational or work experience requirements. We recommend that individuals study what is of interest to them--studies that will serve them well should they not join the Foreign Service. For Foreign Service Specialist positions, the educational and work experience requirements vary with the specialty.
At our website, you can find information on FSO job responsibilities. Also, the Guide to the Foreign Service Officer Selection Process (also available at our website) provides a good deal of information that may be useful to you.
In regard to loneliness: let me quote from a colleague's posting on a different forum: "We make friends among the embassy, expat, and local community. Join whatever you can. We stay in touch with family and friends back home. Hardship posts tend to be the ones where you form the strongest connections. During my one danger post tour, when I was the only American in the entire quadrant of the country, I would come home and write little vignettes of life in my city (the farmers' market, the beggars, the officials I dealt with, the awful hotel where I stayed for six days, the salesgirl at the milk store, the Saudi-built Mosque opening, the three restaurants with good food and iffy bathrooms, and the first ATM as well as the first "adult" store in-country) and send them to people I thought would appreciate them, including my real estate agent:)! It gave me a chance to connect and share, and all those folks wrote back. Other than that, remember it is quite possible to feel lonely in the U.S., in your own home town. Much of this is your personality and need for human contact. If you're an introvert, it's not really a problem. If you're an extrovert, you'll find your own connections."
In regard to family. Many Foreign Service employees have families. Most adjust very well to Foreign Service life.
Besides Foreign Service Officer and Foreign Service Specialist opportunities, we have Civil Service opportunities. For a complete overview of the types of jobs available, please look under the "work" tab at our website.
Also, if you have specific questions that you would like answered, please feel free to send an email to: careers@state.gov

If you are interested in the workings of an embassy, I recommend reading the book "Inside a U.S. Embassy." If you are interested in learning about the lifestyle, I recommend reading the books "Realities of Foreign Service Life" Volumes 1 and 2.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my rather general questions.

And thank you for the book suggestions. I will definitely look into those.

I do have one more question, however. Is applying for the Foreign Service directly out of college a good idea? Will it hurt or help me? Or Is it better to wait a few years before applying?

Thanks again.

Thank you for your posting.
If you are considering Foreign Service Officer opportunities, you could certainly apply directly out of college. We have successful candidates who were recent graduates. We also have success candidates who are on second careers, or who entered the Foreign Service with a number of years of professional work experience. If you are not selected, you can reapply later. There is no limit to the number of times you can take the Foreign Service Officer Test (although you must wait about a year between testings).

Another good book is Career Diplomacy by Harry Kopp.

Thanks again.
I have another question.
I can't promise this will be my last question, however.

I have been considering spending a year in Spain prior to college or during college.

This website mentioned that security clearance would take longer due to the number of foreign contacts I would have.

How else would this effect my application?

Thanks again.
I have another question.
I can't promise this will be my last question, however.

I have been considering spending a year in Spain prior to college or during college.

This website mentioned that security clearance would take longer due to the number of foreign contacts I would have.

How else would this effect my application?

Hi, Madeline,
Yes, the security clearance may take longer to complete due to foreign contacts, police and residence checks, etc. This is nothing unusual--we have alot of applicants who have visited/lived/studied overseas. If you want to spend a year in Spain, by all means do so.