It was on this day in 2014 that I published my first post on the Collecting Postcards blog. I started the blog because I wanted to talk about my journey to the Foreign Service; little could I have known that only 22 days later I would receive the invitation to my dream job for which I’d tried so hard and waited so long. Collecting Postcards has been there through it all, and with 25,000 visitors from 165 different countries and 76,000+ unique page views to date, the blog is just getting started.
Tag: Becoming an FSO
Year in Review: 2015 Blog Stats
With each new year comes a period, however brief, of looking back and seeing where we’ve been.
I established the Collecting Postcards blog on WordPress in April 2014, and one year later I discussed blog stats in One Year in Blogging. Now that 2015 has ended, I have my first full calendar year to analyze. I’m always curious to know how readers find the blog, which posts get the most views, and from which countries do readers visit?
One Year On
One year ago today, the members of the 178th Generalist Class made their way to Main State in northwest Washington, DC for the first day of A-100. Arrival time requested: 07:45. That morning kind of felt like holding onto an electric fence with both hands, for so many reasons.
Goodbye, Virginia (Part I)
If someone would have told me back in the fall of 2006 when I moved to Washington, DC that I would stay there for almost nine years, I would have laughed in their face. Yet it happened just that way. Three years ago today I passed the FSOA, and yesterday I moved away.
Congratulations to the 180th A-100 Class
Yesterday morning, before the clock had even struck 7:00 a.m., I drove to the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington to help welcome a new group of diplomats from the 180th Generalist Class to their first day at FSI. In the Foreign Service, each class sponsors social and informational events for the group two classes behind…
Autumn Bleeds Towards Winter
In the last four weeks since my most recent post, it seems that a lot has happened, so this entry will probably be less thematic and more of a mixed bag.
Swearing In Recap
I opened my eyes on the morning of Friday, August 8. A big smile spread across my face as I thought, “Today is the day!”
Our last day had arrived, the day when we would get up and officially swear in as diplomats during a formal ceremony. For months and even years I’d wished to join an A-100 class. Now I was smiling because, incredibly, not only had I made it in, but I’d made it through. Those six weeks of A-100 were finally about to end. A-100: I’d laughed, I’d cried, I’d graduated.
Flag Day Recap
On August 1, I started counting down the hours until our Flag Day ceremony as soon as I arrived at the Foreign Service Institute. Eight and a half hours until 15:30. Just eight and a half more hours until I find out where my first assignment as a U.S. diplomat will be. Despite my best…
Flag Day Announcement
Today I learned the location where I’ll serve my first tour as a Foreign Service Officer…
Becoming an FSO Part IV: Clearances and The Register
After the euphoria of passing the Oral Assessment (FSOA) becomes a recent happy memory, it will be time to take a few more steps to keep your candidacy moving forward. The first step is reading all of the information you receive before skipping out of your OA. Some of the actions items are important and mandatory for you to complete within 30 days in order to not be terminated.
DISCLAIMER: These are my own observations about a process I began in 2011. I’m writing this series to pay forward some of the great information and insights I found online during my own candidacy. But the posts will eventually contain out-of-date information, and thus interested applicants should consult official instructions and sources when pursuing their own candidacies.
Becoming an FSO Part III: The FSOA
The Foreign Service Oral Assessment (FSOA) is probably the most anticipated, and some would say the most dreaded part of the candidacy to become a Foreign Service Officer (FSO). I would argue that whether or not you dread the orals, they are certainly the most challenging and high-performance part of the candidacy.
DISCLAIMER: These are my own observations about a process I began in 2011. I’m writing this series to pay forward some of the great information and insights I found online during my own candidacy. But the posts will eventually contain out-of-date information, and thus interested applicants should consult official instructions and sources when pursuing their own candidacies.
Becoming an FSO Part II: The QEP
Approximately three to five weeks after sitting for the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT), candidates are notified of their FSOT results. State Department’s Board of Examiners (BEX) reviews each candidate’s application materials, along with their FSOT scores, and emails candidates their results. Passing the FSOT is the step that enables candidates to proceed to the…
Becoming an FSO Part I: The FSOT
In the first post in my “Becoming an FSO” series, I will discuss the first step of a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) candidacy: registering for and passing the FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test). Please note that the process for becoming a Foreign Service Specialist (FSS) is slightly different; I’ll be talking about Generalist candidacies here.…
My Turn at Last: A-100 Offer
Over the last couple of years, I have spent what is cumulatively an embarrassing amount of time reading the blogs of Foreign Service Officers (FSOs). I admit that my interest – all right, let’s call it an obsession – was always geared towards whatever stage of the daunting hiring process that was ahead of me…
My First Inkling to Become a Diplomat
In this post, I’ll give some background on my aspirations and timeline for joining the U.S. Foreign Service.
For almost a decade, I have wanted to join the Foreign Service and become a U.S. diplomat, specifically doing consular work. At first this goal sounded pretty far-fetched, even to me. I used to think that only political appointees or other well-connected folks could become diplomats. (Not true.) People who have known me for many years, if given ten adjectives to describe me, would not be likely to include “diplomatic” on their list. And I would probably have been inclined to agree, up until about eleven or twelve years ago.
Collecting Postcards 