"Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny; anything else is a waste of material." -- Mr. Spock, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan.
Being a contractor in my post-Army career is not bad, , but I have grown to wonder if it's the best use of my life experiences. For the past 20 years, I've thought (and pursued) being a diplomat, with mixed success.
Being a contractor in my post-Army career is not bad, , but I have grown to wonder if it's the best use of my life experiences. For the past 20 years, I've thought (and pursued) being a diplomat, with mixed success.
So now that I'm in charge of my own career path once again, I'm considering it again. I took the State Department's Foreign Service Officer TEST (FSOT) on June 6th.
The test has changed quite a bit since I took the fill-in-the-bubble version at the University of Hawaii Law School one Saturday in 1999. There's still the Job Knowledge part, of course, but thankfully there aren't any jazz questions anymore..
The English expression part remains pretty much the same, too. Fortunately, I know how to use a semicolon properly, so I have always done adequately well in this section.
The biggest difference is the Situational Awareness section -- a series of workplace situations where you have to pick the best -- and worst -- solutions.
The test has changed quite a bit since I took the fill-in-the-bubble version at the University of Hawaii Law School one Saturday in 1999. There's still the Job Knowledge part, of course, but thankfully there aren't any jazz questions anymore..
The English expression part remains pretty much the same, too. Fortunately, I know how to use a semicolon properly, so I have always done adequately well in this section.
The biggest difference is the Situational Awareness section -- a series of workplace situations where you have to pick the best -- and worst -- solutions.
For this part, I developed a "methodology" of sorts based on a series of values. It works like this:
1.) Communication/Listening/Open-mindedness. This was my most important value. If there was a solution that applied these qualities, I felt that was the best answer. Keeping people in the loop, listening to others' ideas, and not rushing to judgement seemed like best values.
2.) Working with others. It seems appropriate that a U.S. diplomat would be able to get along with people, so I prioritized solutions that displayed this. If a co-worker is doing something wrong, it's better to talk to them first than report them to security right away. And if a co-worker needed help, it was more important to lend a hand than lecture them.
3.) Standards/ethics. Insistence on professionalism is important,but not at the expense of working with others or consideration of different perspectives, unless it's *clearly* wrong. This may seem counter-intuitive, but I subordinated to the other two based on what I saw in the State Department website's practice test.
4.) "I'm not going to do that" Toward the other end of the spectrum, there's standoffishness. Being a jerk to your boss is not the way to do business. However, if it keeps you from doing something illegal, then that's the way to go.
5.) Break the law, embarrassing the U.S. or others. To me, the worst thing a person could do in any scenario was to take bribes, publicly disagree with your boss, embarrass the U.S., or undercut your co-workers.
3.) Standards/ethics. Insistence on professionalism is important,but not at the expense of working with others or consideration of different perspectives, unless it's *clearly* wrong. This may seem counter-intuitive, but I subordinated to the other two based on what I saw in the State Department website's practice test.
4.) "I'm not going to do that" Toward the other end of the spectrum, there's standoffishness. Being a jerk to your boss is not the way to do business. However, if it keeps you from doing something illegal, then that's the way to go.
5.) Break the law, embarrassing the U.S. or others. To me, the worst thing a person could do in any scenario was to take bribes, publicly disagree with your boss, embarrass the U.S., or undercut your co-workers.
We'll see how this turns out.
The fourth part was the essay question. I had seven minutes to choose one of three topics on which to write an essay within 25 minutes (2800 character maximum).
This was probably the biggest challenge for me, because I'm not as good at writing essays as I was when I worked for the UH student newspaper, but I felt had some good strategies.
First, I used the decision time to plan my essay, so that I could maximize my writing time. Second, I kept to the Introduction/Three Points/Conclusion framework. And I was sure to save some time to proofread my text before submission.
I pressed the "Submit" button with 10 seconds to spare. Not the greatest essay I've ever written, but I feel fairly happy with it.
At the end of the test, the examiner gave me a printout that said the results will be available in three weeks.
The fourth part was the essay question. I had seven minutes to choose one of three topics on which to write an essay within 25 minutes (2800 character maximum).
This was probably the biggest challenge for me, because I'm not as good at writing essays as I was when I worked for the UH student newspaper, but I felt had some good strategies.
First, I used the decision time to plan my essay, so that I could maximize my writing time. Second, I kept to the Introduction/Three Points/Conclusion framework. And I was sure to save some time to proofread my text before submission.
I pressed the "Submit" button with 10 seconds to spare. Not the greatest essay I've ever written, but I feel fairly happy with it.
At the end of the test, the examiner gave me a printout that said the results will be available in three weeks.
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