 Steps to becoming a Foreign Service Specialist
1. Submit Your Application
2. Initial Review
3. Qualifications Evaluation Panel
4. Oral Assessment
5. List of Eligible Hires
6. Medical Clearance
7. Background Investigation
8. Worldwide Availability
9. Candidates with Disabilities
10. Final Review
11. Placement on a Register
1. Submit Your Application
To apply, you must first complete the Application
for Federal Employment (DS-1950). In addition, depending upon which
of the nineteen different specialist job categories you are applying for,
you must refer to the specific vacancy announcement and complete all additional
required procedures. To be eligible, you must
be a U.S. citizen between the ages of 21 and 59 (hired before 60th birthday),
or between 21 and 37 for Diplomatic Security, and be available for worldwide
assignment.
2. Initial Review
A completed application package contains all of the material
listed in the specific Vacancy Announcement. Materials submitted for inclusion
in the package are reviewed as they are received and become the property
of the Department of State. An application can be terminated whenever
any materials do not meet the basic eligibility requirements for employment
in the Foreign Service.
3. Qualifications Evaluation Panel
Applicants who are successful in the initial review stage
by meeting the basic eligibility requirements for employment in the Foreign
Service and the minimum qualifications established for the specific position
will have their professional experience, job history, and motivation evaluated
by a panel of subject-matter experts — the Qualifications Evaluation
Panel. The panel will recommend the most competitive candidates for participation
in an oral assessment.
4. Oral Assessment
Applicants recommended by the Qualifications Evaluation
Panel are invited to participate in an oral assessment conducted at the
Assessment Center in Washington, D.C. Travel to Washington, D.C., and lodging
are at the candidate's expense. Details about the candidate's specific
assessment center exercises will be included in a mailing prior to the
oral assessment. The assessment includes an oral interview/scored examination
conducted by Foreign Service Examiners. The panel will assess the candidate's
demonstration of knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics
required not only for a successful career, but also to make an effective
representative of the United States. The panel informally explores the
candidate's background, experience, and motivation for wanting to join
the Foreign Service. Candidates will be informed of the decision of the
panel immediately following the session. Passing the oral assessment does
not, however, constitute an offer of employment.
5. List of Eligible Hires
Applicants who are successful in the oral assessment will
be placed on a List of Eligible Hires for a 24-month period in rank order
according to the score they received after the oral assessment. As Foreign
Service hiring needs are established, conditional offers of employment
will be made to a specified number of eligible candidates beginning at
the top of the rank-ordered list. Those candidates who accept a conditional
offer of employment will receive security and medical clearance authorization
forms to complete. The candidacy of those applicants who have not received
a conditional offer of employment within the 24-month period will be terminated.
6. Medical Clearance
 Worldwide availability is determined, in addition to the
candidate’s affirmed willingness to serve anywhere, by the medical
clearance process. Before appointment to the Foreign Service, a candidate’s
medical history and comprehensive physical examination must be thoroughly
evaluated to determine fitness to serve at any Department of State post
worldwide. Many of these posts are located in areas which are remote
and/or offer extremely limited medical support. Therefore, each candidate
must meet medical fitness standards that are of necessity more rigorous
than those of most other professions and that may exclude from employment
candidates who have medical conditions which they manage successfully
in their current environment.
Prior to any final offer of employment, the candidate must
undergo a thorough medical examination and be cleared for unlimited assignment
worldwide by the Department's Office of Medical Services. Candidates
who fail to receive an unlimited medical clearance will be ineligible
for appointment to the Foreign Service. All medical clearance determinations
are based on an individual assessment of the needs of each candidate
in light of his/her particular medical history and condition.
All potential candidates, especially those with known medical
conditions, should be aware of the possibility that they may not be granted
an unlimited medical clearance if the Office of Medical Services determines
that their condition requires monitoring or follow-up care that would
not be available at Foreign Service posts, that service in a particular
area would pose a significant medical risk, and/or that adequate medical
care would not be available for them at all posts should life-threatening
symptoms manifest or should the known medical condition require specialist
or health care provider intervention. Some characteristics of the most
isolated and limited posts include:
· Medically underserved in terms of inadequate medical
resources – both medical and/or nursing staff and/or physical resources;
· Unsanitary due to no public health infrastructure resulting in no potable
water or sewage system;
· Ridden with infectious and communicable diseases;
· Isolated with no reliable electricity or lines of communication (e.g.
transportation links, telecommunication services, postal and delivery systems,
etc.);
· Dangerous and insecure;
· Stressful
· Polluted environmentally via dust, dirt, and other air contaminants.
After receiving a conditional offer of employment, each
candidate is provided with instructions for the examining physician(s),
which outline the Department of State’s precise requirements. We
also provide an authorization for the Department of State to pay for
the exam. However, candidates living within a fifty-mile radius of Washington,
D.C. must have the medical exam performed by the Office of Medical Services’ Exam
Clinic.
While the candidate must be medically cleared for worldwide
duty, the Department of State does not consider the medical condition
of eligible family members for pre-employment purposes. However, the
Department does require medical clearances for family members before
they can travel overseas at U.S. Government expense to accompany an employee
on assignment. The consequence of this policy is that employees with
family members with limited medical clearances may be assigned to posts
where those family members could not accompany them. We strongly advise
candidates to consider this situation as they pursue employment with
the U.S. Department of State, especially those with a family member whose medical
condition might ultimately limit his/her clearance.
When requested by the candidate, the Director General of
the Foreign Service, or designee, will review the case of any candidate
who has been determined not to be worldwide available. This review will
determine whether or not it is in the best interests of the Service to
appoint the candidate despite not being worldwide available. Waivers
of the worldwide availability requirement are rare, however.
For more information on medical clearances please visit
the Frequently
Asked Questions page.
7. Background Investigation
Eligible candidates will be asked to submit forms required
for a security clearance and suitability determination for appointment
to the Foreign Service. The clearance process considers such factors as:
registration for the Selective Service; failure to repay a U.S. Government-guaranteed
student loan; past problems with credit or bankruptcy; failure to meet
tax obligations; unsatisfactory employment records; violations of the
law; drug or alcohol abuse; a criminal record; extensive travel; education;
residence and/or employment overseas; dual citizenship;
foreign contacts; immediate family or relatives who are not U.S. citizens
and/or a foreign born spouse; or less than honorable discharge from the
armed forces. Investigations, which usually take several months, include
current and previous contacts, supervisors, and coworkers. These investigations
are conducted by the Department of State in cooperation with other federal,
state and local agencies.
8. Worldwide Availability
Worldwide availability is both an affirmed willingness to
serve anywhere in the world and a matter of being medically qualified
to do so. Both the willingness and being medically qualified are essential
requirements for appointment to the Foreign Service. Regardless of who
administers the medical clearance exam, the Department’s Office
of Medical Services determines whether or not a candidate is medically
eligible for assignment to all Department of State posts worldwide.
While a candidate may effectively manage a chronic health
condition or limitation within the United States or in specific areas
outside of the U.S., the Office of Medical Services might well determine
that the same individual is not eligible for a worldwide (“Class
One”) medical clearance. Such clearances may only be issued to
candidates whom the Office of Medical Services deems able to serve at
the most isolated and restricted overseas posts.
Such a post could feature extreme isolation in terms of
limitations on reliable air service in and out of the country, unreliable
Internet and telecommunication connections, and/or unreliable postal
and delivery systems. Any of these limited services can have a severe
adverse impact in terms of both bringing in required medical services
and/or supplies, and/or permitting timely medical evacuations. Other
infrastructure at such a post might also be inadequate. There might be
a poor or negligible public health system, poor sanitation, unreliable
electricity and a lack of potable water. There might also be infectious
and communicable diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever, typhoid, tuberculosis,
rabies, encephalitis and gastrointestinal diseases. There might be no
health unit at post and next to no local medical facilities. The emergency
room, for example, might be completely inadequate, without ventilators,
defibrillators, x-ray capabilities, etc. There often would be no blood
bank or medical supplies or medications available locally. Because of
political instability, security could be a concern.
Candidates should be aware that these posts are not few
in number nor confined to a specific geographic region. Also, there are
numerous other posts — in Asia and Europe for example — where
conditions appear similar to that of the U.S. but which also feature
some of these prohibitive characteristics.
As a result of these characteristics of a post, the stress
level among employees might be very high. Given these concerns, the Department
of State would only assign employees with unrestricted medical clearances
to such posts (of which there are many), and is unable to hire new employees
without such clearances.
9. Candidates with Disabilities
The Department of State provides reasonable accommodation
to Foreign Service candidates with disabilities throughout the pre-employment
process. For qualified candidates who will require accommodation upon
appointment, the Office of Employee Relations is responsible for determining
reasonable accommodations. In order to be considered qualified, a candidate
must meet all requirements for appointment to the Foreign Service. This
includes having received an unlimited medical clearance from the Office
of Medical Services or a waiver of the worldwide availability requirement
from the Employment Review Committee.
10. Final Review
Upon completion of the background investigation, a Final
Review Panel will review the completed file to determine the candidate's
suitability for employment with the Foreign Service. Issues that can affect
a candidate's suitability may include a history of alcohol or drug abuse,
financial improprieties, or a police record.
11. Placement on a Register
Candidates who have received a conditional offer of employment
and who have successfully completed the security, medical and suitability
stages but who, for reasons beyond their control, are unable to accept
a final offer of employment will be placed in rank-order by their relative
competitiveness on a register for an eighteen-month period. Final offers
of employment are made to the most competitive candidates from the top
of the register as openings become available. Candidates not appointed
within the eighteen-month period are removed from the register as their
eligibility expires.
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