Off To Jordan

I don't have all of the details of my trip, but am heading back over to Jordan in two weeks. I will be working with an NGO in Amman to help a women's entrepreneurial group write a proposal to the European Union. Since most of my professional experience has been in start-ups and venture capital this should be an interesting experience. Especially, as a male working with women in the Middle East. I will be living and working in Amman for a month and will be doing something in Ajloun once a week as well.

Initially it looked like I would be in Ajloun the entire time which could have been interesting from a total immersion point of view, but am glad that the NGO was able to find a suitable opportunity in Amman. Ajloun is only about thirty miles from Amman, but can take almost two hours by bus. I have a few friends in Amman and I will be able to take a few Arabic classes at the school where I studied before.

I don't have all of the details on where I will be staying yet, but will be living with a family in Amman. My first order of business will be to eat at Hashim's downtown and I will probably fast on the trip over so I can also get a falafel sandwich at the Jerusalem Cafeteria on Rainbow Street, and maybe a Schwerma at Rheem's at the 2nd Circle. Then I will have to surprise my friend who runs a great restaurant in Abdoun near the US Embassy. So being in Amman is a definite plus.

The other cool aspect about this trip is that it is all tax deductible. So if you are looking for creative ways to learn Arabic or another CNL for the State Department this is a pretty cost effective way to do it. The program I am doing also includes some basic Arabic classes, but since I am beyond that not sure what that will entail. Having studied Arabic in both Amman and Cairo, I think Amman is the better place since you can actually speak Arabic. The most disappointing aspect of my time in Cairo was that you didn't really need to speak Arabic, and most people preferred to speak English if you were not fluent in Egyptian colloquial. That definitely was not my experience in Jordan.

Since I passed the SCNL for Arabic last year I am good for four more years if I am able to get back to the OA and pass it, but since I don't have any NGO experience this will be a great experience in a lot of different ways.

Beat Notre Dame

It is a big week for the Alma Mater. For the first time in a very long time Army is eligible for a bowl game after defeating mighty Kent State this past weekend and this coming Saturday will play Notre Dame in Yankee Stadium. It is going to be the first football game ever played in the new stadium and probably the best chance in a very long time to break the curse. Both Navy and Air Force have done it and hopefully this Saturday we'll do the same.

I received an invitation from West Point to attend the game and festivities in NYC so we are heading up to NY on Friday.

BEAT NOTRE DAME AND BEAT NAVY!

Veteran's Day

Want to say thanks to all of those have served and all of my good friends who are still in harm's way. Hooah!

General Services Officer

Something sort of strange happened two days ago. I received one of those automated emails from USA.jobs telling me that I had been referred for a General Services Officer position. I routinely check the careers section on the State web site to check out other opportunities, especially opportunities in either Iraq or Afghanistan. There have been quite a few opportunities with the Iraq Transition Team and in Afghanistan that seemed like perfect opportunities. I speak Arabic, ex-military with a stint in a Special Forces unit as the Civil Affairs Officer, civilian finance/start-up experience, but every time no referral to the selecting official.

So I see the GSO position and since I had applied to the FSO in the management cone it seemed like something worth examining. Having done all of the wonderful case management exercises and with Mitch and Sharon still somewhere in the back of mind I started to click the bubbles and fill in the information for the position. State asked for a lot of information and probably more writing than for the entire FSO process. I completed about 2/3 of it when I got side tracked with another project and when I got the automated email saying that the position was now closed just figured that I had screwed up and since I hadn't provided all of the information was just out of luck on this one.

I can't imagine that I have a chance of being invited to the OA, but then again I had never been referred when I had all of the requisite skills and experiences either so who knows.

Written Test Prep

I would never profess to know how best to prepare for the journey of becoming a foreign service officer since I am 0 for 1, but as I am beginning to gear up for round two here are my thoughts. My scores when I took the test were about 59 and 59 on the JK and BIO section and a whopping 48 on the EE and an 8 on the essay.

My impression is that most people spend a disproportionate time studying for the JK section at the expense of EE and BIO prep. The JK is the sexiest part of the test and if you have taken it once you know that it really isn't. I know that during my first prep cycle I probably spent too much time on that part as well.

I think you will find that while you can study for the JK section you could study for a year and not see one question from your prep session. I think you need to take more of a long term view in terms of how you obtain the type of knowledge to do well on the JK section. I absolutely had a few questions on my test that I ran across from several of the books that I read so studying can have its benefits, but this part of the test doesn't lend itself to cramming.

The one section that you absolutely can prepare for is the EE section. Going into the test the first time I knew this was a weakness and while I did put in some time it wasn't enough. It is the standard take an awkward sentence and make it less awkward. I can't recommend a particular book, but if you look at the sample questions that ACT provides you are in the ball park and any study materials with similar sorts of exercises would be helpful.

The BIO section is the wildcard with the biggest delta and is a mystery to just about everyone who has taken the test. The one thing I think I can say with absolute certainty is that how one typically views "experience" does not translate into a high BIO score. If I had holes in my volunteer portfolio, community service, multi-cultural experiences, etc, I would really think about what could I do to fill out my personal portfolio? The other thing that I think is important to remember is that you didn't have to cure cancer or save your platoon in Afghanistan for the experience to qualify as being noteworthy. Don't forget this is a generalist, entry-level position. We are not applying to be the next ambassador to Russia! So don't be over confident if you have a lot of experience and don't sell yourself short if you are still wet behind the ears.

While I would never discount the fill in the blank portion of the BIO section, if I were a betting man I would bet that is much more important which bubble you check rather than what you write. So before the test and the months leading up to it write down the broad categories and the free practice questions give you a decent list, and tick off examples. If you think you may be deficient in an area do something about it.

I know someone that just failed the most recent test(did not pass the essay) and he passed the OA before, but at the time decided not to go forward with State. I have seen his writing and he helped me edit my successful personal narratives during the QEP phase so I know that he can write well. Even if you are a strong EE person do not take the essay portion of the exam lightly. I did wait to cram for this portion. During the two weeks leading up the test I wrote 1-2 timed essays every day to get my brain and fingers prepared for test day. I used many of the prompts from the ACT/State material, the Yahoo board, and picked topics from the NY Times and Washington Post. I also thought about several controversial topics and believe it or not that is what I got on test day. It wasn't exactly what I had thought about, but close enough for government work.

Jordan Bound??

There hasn't been much to say as I continue to play the government waiting game with other agencies. It is always interesting to read the questions and comments after another round of test takers either moves on to the next stage or begins the long period of self-reflection.

In the meantime I have just been plugging away at maintaining and improving my Arabic proficiency and am moving ever so closely to becoming fluent. One of things that is a glaring hole in my personal resume is some sort of international volunteer work. With two almost teenage kids we can't pack up as a family and go on a Peace Corps tour so it looks like I am going to do some volunteer work for an NGO in Jordan in January.

I will be living with a Jordanian family and working in the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The program includes some survival Arabic instruction, but since I am beyond that I am going to try to squeeze in some lessons at the school I went to in Amman last year. If anyone ever needs a good recommendation for an Arabic School in Amman let me know.

Definitely ready for dinner at Hashim's!

The Government Waiting Game

There are quite a few really good FSO blogs that I followed this year as I went through the FSO process and the common theme no matter where you are is wait, wait, and wait. The only part that is quick and relatively painless is the hour or so you wait as the examiners call out names from the waiting room at the OA to tell you your fate.

If you walk in the room and see the lonely one envelope you know it isn't good news. I am guessing that some people know what did or didn't go well and are not too surprised when they walk in the room and are told to "take the hot seat." I think the flat, stale feeling that most of us feel that didn't achieve the 5.3 is after all of the waiting that goes on it is a quick double tap to the head, an escort out of the building and it is all over just that fast.

For all of the waiting I do have to give the State Department credit. I had several other government applications going in parallel that are still working themselves out, but rather than constantly teasing you at least with State when they put you down they do it as humanely as possible!

Great Language Purchase

I bought a satellite dish and had it installed today. I was under the impression that I would only be getting Arabic channels from around the world, but as I have scrolled through the 200+ stations I have seen Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Spanish, and several other Asian languages that I couldn't identify.

I only paid $200 for the dish and there is no monthly fee.

Time To Regroup

Honestly the biggest bummer about thinking about Plan B and C is figuring out how to maintain my Arabic proficiency. I don't live in a hot bed of Arabic instruction so I had to be very resourceful, yes one of the 13 dimensions, to become proficient in the language. I had a great tutor who really got me through the SCNL test, but he is moving and the local community college lost their instructor who was just OK, but better than nothing.

So I found two other possible options and will be meeting with them next week to see if one of them is a good fit and hopefully we can put together a program that will work. My wife who has been very gracious throughout this process also gave me the green light to go back to the Middle East for another cram session. Based upon when I can take the FSWE again I will probably try to find someplace in January.

For those of you who are about to start the process, LEARN a language. The rosters are getting long and it seems like the days of getting a 5.3 (easier said than done) and getting called are probably over. I only wish that I could auction off my Arabic and Veteran's preference points on EBay! You can get proficient in one of the SCNL's in under a year if you work hard at it so put together a long term plan and do it.

The other silver lining is that I still have two other interesting options where learning Arabic has really helped where I am still playing the waiting game. So all is not lost.

Further Reflection On Not Passing The OA

Well it has been two days, a great Goo Good Dolls concert at the Inner Harbor and a plane ride home to think about what happened on Monday. I have had a chance to hear from several of my fellow testers and from our GE group since then. We only had 3/12 pass and only one from our GE group.

I received an email from someone who's spouse is already an FSO and during his OA before his group walked into the room he reminded the group that this was a team effort and 80% of his group passed. That is probably really good advice. While our group didn't have any bad actors by a long stretch, we did have two people who were advocating very strongly for their project down to the wire. I am pretty sure that only two of us passed the GE portion.

The one person who passed overall did not get through her initial presentation so the myth that you have to do that and leave time for questions is probably false. My impression is that you can't win on the GE during the six minute presentation and that the discussion phase makes or breaks that section of the test. I was also surprised at the lack of organization of the projects. If you have been on the Yahoo boards follow the four quadrant method to stay organized and you can't go wrong.

Having missed by .05 I have thought about ways that I could have given myself more cushion throughout the day. Not knowing my actual scores other than I passed the GE and SI it is hard to say for sure. The one part I struggled with a bit during the GE was the fine line between letting others be heard and keeping the group on track. Because most of the initial presentations went poorly we used about the first five minutes to ask questions that should have been covered during the presentation phase.

That in conjunction with those that thought it was a competition to have their project win added interesting dimensions to the GE. If I had to do it over again I would have been more forceful at several points. I did stop them once or twice to give the two quieter members of our group the opportunity to add their two cents. The person who passed the GE while she probably could have been more concise during the presentation phase did an excellent job during the discussion phase which is why I am sure she passed that section.

Like the GE you need a little bit of good Karma on the SI in terms of who is evaluating you and which questions you get. Some of them will be a nice slow meatball right down the middle of the plate and others may not. I was not surprised by any of the questions and found the SI to be the most straight forward of the sections in terms of preparation being similar to the actual thing. I just didn't perform as well as I should have. It was luck of the draw, but I don't think I had the best examiners for the way that I tried to answer the questions.

If I had to guess I think I probably scored highest on the GE, then the SI and I must have tanked the CM pretty good. I must have gotten a 4.6-4.8 on it. I have certainly dealt with much more complex management issues in real life then the one presented on the CM so do not know what happened. I obviously didn't give the examiner what he/she wanted. I took a lot of time to read the material, wrote down every question I was asked to answer and made headings for each of those topics. So whatever I did, I guess I really stunk it up.

So you are not going to be an FSO now

Had the OA today and got the dreaded 5.2 so missed it by .05. I am still trying to process what that means and am mulling over what I can and can't say to help those of you who still have this in front of you.

I guess the first thing I would say is that there wasn't just about anyone who tested today that I would have been upset if they had made it and I did not. We wound up having a pretty low success rate with only 3/12 passing.

I think my gut reaction is that there are parts that are a little arbitrary and out of your control a bit and the parts that you can control, on the SI in particular, you really have to squeeze every point out of it.

We had some interesting group dynamics on the GE that really hurt one person in particular. He seemed like a very solid candidate and I think he took it in the chops the way things played out. Now he could have done something to try to redirect things, but we got in the weeds pretty fast and two people fought to almost the bitter end on their projects. We came to a consensus with about thirty seconds to go. It wasn't pretty and I hope that this isn't how State operates in the field, but I passed and thought it was my strongest part of the day.

I had the SI next. In my opinion this is the one section of the test that you have the most control over and really need to rack up the points. It was definitely the most straight forward of the three sections. There is probably an element of luck to some of the questions you are asked, but if you know the thirteen dimensions inside and out you should do well on this part of the test.

Looking back on it now and to have missed by .05 this is the part I blew it on despite passing this section. There is one section of the SI where you pick one of two questions and on one of the questions both choices gave me some trouble. It wasn't that I hadn't thought about it, but both questions were very personal and I wasn't sure how to handle the question. So I wound up giving a very mediocre answer at best. This section should have been a huge strength for me and I definitely did not have my A game for some reason. The assessors were fine and they didn't interrupt me so no excuses other than not performing up to my abilities.

The CM is what it is. This is the one section that I did not pass. Like everyone has said before it is a bear to get through in terms of time, but it didn't appear to be an overly complex set of issues. I didn't pass so what do I know. I am not sure what you can do to prepare for this other than trying to find case management examples and getting used to dealing with the time crunch.

Overall I think it was a pretty fair process. I guess I find it a bit surprising that you can get to the end of such a competitive process and for most people this is your first direct experience with State. I am not too sure what I would do different other than making the SI more in depth. That seems to be the less arbitrary of the three parts and having several experienced FSO's interviewing candidates would be a very useful thing to do. As fast as you fly through the SI I am not sure if candidates are getting the best opportunity to really show their depth.

That being said it is the same for everyone and the examiners do a great job of keeping a level playing field for everyone.

Off To D.C.

The bags are packed and am ready to head to Washington for the Oral Assessment. We are turning this into a little family vacation as well and will get to see some good friends who now live in the area.

Besides my Statement of Interest, I have all of the other forms completed to either turn in for the next phase if I pass or throw in the garbage can.

Less than 72 hours to go.

The QEP

After the BIO section on the written test, the QEP is probablythe least understood part of the Foreign Service process. It is a relatively new step and appears to be the one part of the process where the Board of Examiners (BEX) actively manages the accession process based upon the overall hiring needs of the State Department and within your future career track.

I was fortunate to get past the QEP on my first attempt, but it wasn't without some great advice. All candidates are told that the QEP looks at the total candidate and since none of us knows what really happens we can only assume that is in fact what happens behind closed doors. The BEX takes into account the initial registration/application, FSWE score, and your five personal narratives. There have been several attempts to look at self reported candidate data to find any correlations to predict success, but the bottom line is no one knows. The conventional wisdom seems to be that all things being equal, your personal narratives are the most closely scrutinized at this point. Also, if you have indicated proficiency in a Super Critical Needs Language, and if you passed the phone assessment, that will be factored into the decision as well. I took and passed the Arabic test, but based upon some of the self reported data speaking a SCNL is not a guaranteed trip to the Oral Assessment.

What do I think I learned from writing my personal narratives? The first thing is what makes a good essay on the written test may not be what makes a good personal narrative. When I first sat down to write my personal narratives I followed a similar structure that I used in writing my FWSE essay( I received an 8). Before I knew it I had a lot of background fluff and then didn't have enough words to answer the question. So for lack of a better word it seems you are better off just sort of throwing up on the page and geting right down to it. So the classic multi paragraph approach probably just doesn't work since you have so few characters to effectively answer the question in the prompt.

The other thing I struggled with was trying to find wow sorts of stories. There are several successful personal narratives floating around and after reading them and with some gentle prodding from a new friend, realized that I didn't have to cure cancer, or have rescued a baby from a burning building to write a successful narrative. There are lots of everyday experiences that we all have that can answer the question and when you first sit down to write them it is easy to think that you need a great tale to wow the BEX.

The last thing and it seems to be a common thread throughout the FSO process is follow directions and answer the question!

The FSO Written Test

The FSWE is one of those great mysteries since all applicants are required to sign a non disclosure agreement when they take the test. There is a lot of great information on the State Department web site and in their guide there are sample test questions for each section of the test.

For first-timers, the test takes approximately three hours and is divided into Job Knowledge(JK) , English Expression(EE), Biographical(BIO), and an essay. You will hear a lot of different opinions on the test, but in my opinion you can prepare for it. The JK section is very broad and not very deep and you could study for years and not see one question from your studies. That being said I found the Cliff Notes Quick Review Books on American History I and II, American History, and Management to be very useful for my preparation and I would consider myself to be a bit of a history buff and news junkie. My normal routine was to read the NY Times and the WSJ, but I added the Washington Post, the Economist and a Middle Eastern newspaper to my daily reading ritual.

The EE section will look familiar to you if you have taken college or graduate school level entrance exams. It is your typical take a really awkward sentence and make it less awkward. I have never done particularly well on those sorts of tests, but did brush up on my grammar rules and if I have to take the test again will spend more time on this section as a way to raise my overall score.

The BIO section is the section that mystifies most test takers and by far has the biggest delta in terms of test scores. For those long in the tooth like me don't be fooled that a good BIO score equals experience, and younger test takers do not let a lack of traditional experience hold you back from taking the test. The BIO section seems to be more about how you answer the questions in terms of how you fit a State Department profile rather how many languages you speak, have you lived abroad or not, etc. So don't fret if you do not have a lot of international experience. Remember you are being hired as a generalist.

Your essay will only be graded if the combination of your JK, EE, BIO scores reaches the passing mark. The current passing score is 154. I don't know if that number will ever change and it appears that the State Department does not change the pass/fail mark as a means to adjust people moving through the pipeline.

The essay is graded on a scale of 1-6 by two graders and the individual scores are combined to give you an overall score. Currently you need a score of 6 to pass and from most of the self-reported scores on the yahoo group, 6 seems to be the most common result. The essay is definitely a time crunch and I know that I was editing it down to the final seconds. My best advice for the essay is to sit down at your computer with the prompts, turn off your spell checker, set your watch for thirty minutes and just practice. I think I practiced 4-5 essays in my last two weeks before the test and did fine.

Now the score you receive is based on a T Score and most people want to know what the max and min is and what the score itself means. From what I remember from my time taking statistics in college and in grad school is that you can not read too much into your score since you are being compared against your testing cohort and it will depend on who got certain questions right or wrong.

Going into the test I felt that I would do much better than most on the BIO section, as good or slightly better than most on the JK section, and slightly below average on the EE section. I just about got it right except for the BIO section. While I did pretty well on it I was under the impression that traditional experience was what mattered most and I don't think that's the case.

My last bit of advice is not to listen to too much advice! Whether you pass or fail no one really knows why, so take all of the advice(most of it well intentioned) you find out there with a grain of salt.

The FSO Application

At first blush the application seems pretty straight forward and it probably is at the end of the day. The application essentially gets you a seat to take the Foreign Service Written Test. For those that are fortunate to pass the written test and go on to the relatively new step, the QEP, the initial application is part of your packet and is supposedly evaluated along with your test scores from the written test as well as your five personal narratives.

So while the application might not seem too important at first make sure you do take care filling it out since it will be part of the evaluation process.

The FSO Oral Assessment

The Oral Assessment is right around the corner and I am now putting the finishing touches on my preparation for the trip to Washington. I made the salespersons day at Men's Warehouses when I walked in and bought two new suits. They had that great 2 for 1 sale, but since I am in shape I pretty much blew through the cost savings on the suits because they basically had to make new pants to fit me. So I am now in possession of two standard issue federal government suits, four boring shirts, and I had two ties that still worked.

One of the great things about working for yourself, living in a laid back community, and being a house husband is that coat and ties are definitely not part of the dress code. So between the wardrobe upgrade and the trip to D.C. I have made a pretty healthy investment in this.

I am a pretty superstitious person by nature so will not get too far ahead of myself. This is my first attempt at this process and succeed or fail in two weeks I will do my best to share my experiences on the entire process from application to the big day in Annex 44.