Foreign Service Officer - tell me about it!?

Question

Do you travel a lot? How difficult was the background check? My family and I immigrated and we're citizens now but do you think that will affect my eligibility? How's the pay? How long was the hiring process?

Answer 1

Since nobody's answered it yet, I'll give it my best shot. From my best guess (I'm considering the field), I have no idea how much travel there is but you would be moving countries every three years or so. I think the background check is very extensive, but not sure exactly what that means. I believe that as long as you're a U.S. citizen, you're okay. I'm actually researching the pay right now, so let me research it some more before I continue this answer

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Okay, pay is mid- to low-40s. And I think they include housing and many places you would live are extraordinarily cheap to live in. And the government takes care of moving all your stuff from place to play when you are reassigned to a different country.

The hiring process is pretty long. You need to sign up for a written test then, if you're in the top 20% or so, a verbal test (in about 5-10 locations, cost of traveling to it not reimbursed), of which about 10% pass. So about 2% of those who start the process pass both.

Hope that helped. Also, the below link is helpful.

http://www.careers.state.gov/officer/faq...