The Foreign Service Exam is Changing

Imagine applying for a prestigious position at a government agency, knowing that if you are hired, you won't begin working for another fourteen months. Suppose as well that you have offers from private sector companies who are willing to pay you more than the government, and right away.

Would you still hold out for the government job?

Competing with the Private Sector

For some aspiring diplomats, the answer is yes; the lure of diplomatic life in exotic corners of the world is enticing at any cost.

But, according to George Staples, Director General of the US State Department, many of the best and the brightest just can't wait that long: "we believe we are losing superb candidates to other employers who make it a point to decisively offer jobs quickly to the best candidates."

To overcome this disadvantage, Mr. Staples hired management consultants from McKinsey and Company to review the current hiring process and recommend areas for improvement. Their assessment: the Foreign Service hiring process is good, but it can be improved.

The Current Process

Currently, the Foreign Service hiring gauntlet begins with a written exam, administered once yearly to roughly 20,000 hopefuls. The written exam takes about six hours to complete, and consists of a multiple choice job knowledge quiz, a biographical questionnaire, and a written essay.

Approximately four months after sitting for the written exam, candidates are notified of their results. Those who are successful on the written exam are invited to attend a session of the oral assessment - another all day pressure cooker consisting of a simulated group negotiation, interviews, and another essay.

Candidates whose cumulative scores on the oral assessment are high enough are extended an "Immediate Conditional Offer (ICO)" of employment. While this sounds promising, it is by no means equivalent to a "job offer" in the private sector sense of the term.

Upon receiving an ICO, prospective hires must pass a lengthy background investigation, after which their name is placed on a rank-ordered register of eligible candidates, where it sits until all preceding names on the list are hired - a process which could take as long as eighteen months. Sit on the list for more than eighteen months, and you go back to square one - the written exam.

Revising the Process

After analyzing the current process, the McKinsey consultants concluded that the written exam and oral assessment were best practices, and should be kept. However, they recommended that the Foreign Service switch to a "Total Candidate" approach, and that they speed things up by computer-automating parts of the process.

The "Total Candidate" Approach

The gist of the new "Total Candidate" approach seems to be that now the application process will include a "structured resume," which candidates will fill out online when they apply to sit for the exam.

While Mr. Staples has not indicated exactly what information will be required on the structured resume, he has stated that it will measure such variables as "scholastic and work experience," "leadership, tenacity in overcoming hardship," and "experience in jobs that require one to get out of the office and directly engage with people."

The Screening Panel and Elitism

As an integral part of the new "Total Candidate" approach, the applications of candidates who pass the written exam will be reviewed by a screening panel, which will judge from a number of criteria on whether to recommend the candidate for the oral assessment.

In the early days of the State Department, officers were recruited almost exclusively from Ivy League schools, and no exam was administered. The public perception soon developed that State was a good old boy club, corrupted by elitism and snobbery.

The department democratized the hiring process by instituting the written exam, which came to serve as a more egalitarian measure of merit than would a pedigree or an exclusive degree. The new merit was defined by a candidate's ability to pass the written exam, and then wow the hiring officers at the oral assessment.

However, under such a system, a candidate with a master's degree in International Relations and overseas experience with the Peace Corps was no more "qualified" than a high school graduate who paid attention in Civics.

The screening panel appears to be an attempt to change this by considering the "total candidate." By awarding additional hiring points to candidates with relevant experience, degrees, and language capabilities, the State Department hopes to enhance its merit-based hiring.

Certainly, some current officers who paid their dues under the current system will complain that the Foreign Service is returning to its elitist roots. But others are quick to point out that hard-won degrees, arduous language acquisition, and work experience are all signs of talent and dedication to international affairs, and should be rewarded.

Computer-based Test

While the previous written exam was a pencil-based finger-crimper, offered once per year, the new exam will be computer-based, and will be offered multiple times each year. The first computer-based exam will be offered in August, 2007, according to the State Department's web site.

The obvious advantage of this format is the amount of time that the State Department will save with instant access to computer-tabulated results. But it will also bring the testing procedure into the current, paperless century. In the past, candidates composed lengthy test essays with a number two pencil; the new exam will allow them to wordsmith the way diplomats around the world do - at a keyboard.

Speeding It Up

The screening panel is being touted as the most significant change in the Foreign Service hiring process, but the change that will be most welcomed by prospective hires is the new, accelerated time schedule.

In the past, a final job offer might have come well over a year after the day the candidate first sat for the written exam. Under the new process, it is expected to take about six months.

While still not as quick as the private sector to pounce on the best candidates, the State Department will greatly improve its ability to attract and acquire talent by implementing the newer, faster "Total Candidate" hiring process.