US Department of State Reviews

Pros

networking opportunities, sense of public service, job security, travel (as a FSO), lots of people with interesting international backgrounds and personal stories, encouraging work environment

Cons

lots of red tape (like any agency though), strong sense of office hierarchy, potential for office politics/conflict, security clearance process

Advice to Senior Management

It's incredibly important to really make the most out of the high-school and college age interns who work for State; we can do so much more, contribute so much more, and learn so much more!

Pros

I really do feel like I am able to influence policy decisions ad programmatic decisions (which organizations to fund). It's exciting to be a part of international events as they unfold. My colleagues are smart, fun and dedicated to their work.

Cons

Lots of competing priorities, so sometimes the "national interest"' takes precedence over the humanitarian issues I am working on. Also, while the pay is good compared to nonprofits doing humanitarian work, there are are not a lot of positions above the GS-13 level, so lots of people get stuck there. It's easier to advance up the GS chain in other federal agencies, but I don't think I'd like the work as much.

Advice to Senior Management

Create more high level positions so that people want to stick around long-term.

Pros

Hillary Clinton is a fantastic leader and has taken the Department in a very positive direction. Competence is recognized and rewarded... with more work!

Cons

Promotion speed is limited to a strict frame, slowing down fast risers, and sometimes frustrating employees that come in mid-career.

Advice to Senior Management

Cut the fat out of the bureaucracy. Being conservative and slow has some advantages, but seek to eliminate it whenever you can. It limits our ability to get ahead of a 24-7 world.

Be proactive and plan. FSOs are dedicated and hard working, but are served by management that thinks ahead and makes decisions early.

Pros

Great opportunity to contribute to your country. You'll get to have incredible responsibilities you'd never have, and do amazing things you'd never get to do, in civilian life. Lots of extremely smart, highly dedicated people. For most people, the pay is really good.

Cons

Senior leadership are professionals in politics, so "office politics" are taken to a whole new level. Knowledge is power; sharing knowledge is seen as throwing away your power. I've seen very senior leaders literally screaming at each other because of unbelievably minor issues. Senior personnel look down on the concept of "management", seeing "managing" as something that junior personnel do, not senior "leaders". Consequently, I found the career State people to be really good at shmoozing and terrible at actually getting things done.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn to value good leadership and management skills, and train your people in them at every level. Both the civilian and military worlds have plenty of training programs you can draw on.

Pros

For a government job, the benefits are fantastic. Excellent free housing overseas. Free education for under 18s. Great lifestyle and excellent pay.

The training is top notch. The State Department has its own "campus" and will give you plenty of training at government expense. Instruction can be a year or more if you are learing a foreign language.

I don't regret a second I spent in the Department.

Cons

Having to uproot every two or three years is a real challange. It's very hard on families, especially children.

Life can be tough in some Third World countries.

Advice to Senior Management

Generally competent management. I've never had many complaints

Pros

Ok place to start a career

Cons

Not enough flexibility for an organization attempting to attract a younger workforce

Advice to Senior Management

Give employees more opportunities to work cross-functionally

Pros

Travel. Colleagues with similar interests.

Cons

Compensation. Sometimes too rigid assignments systems. Big bureaucracy.

Advice to Senior Management

Upward mobility takes time. This can be frustrating.

Pros

Language training in over 60 languages to a level of professional proficiency;
An opportunity to work and travel all over the world;
A culture which is increasingly sensitive to work/life balance issues and family needs;
Improvements in management;
An increasing realization that resources are available when we articulate a plan and show (with actual numbers) what we will accomplish.

Cons

The ability to influence decisions and policy is usually limited;
Much management is not excellent;
There are sizable remnants of the long-time management strategy of, "Kiss up, kick down"
Long-term, strategic thinking? -- Only if you mean what's for dinner;
In far too many areas good work is marginalized by politics or by simply being out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

Advice to Senior Management

Strategic thinking about what we do and how we do it is essential. Diplomacy is the proverbial ounce of prevention, but no one will fund it if we can't describe what we plan to do and show how we will get it accomplished.

Pros

For a perceptive, intelligent, adaptable and motivated person there are few careers that provide as much opportunity to influence events on a global stage. Interns may find themselves organizing an international conference on human trafficking or observing and reporting back to Washington political trials overseas. Within one's first years with the Department of State, a Foreign Service Officer's work may range from being the first U.S. government official a foreign national has ever met as she or he explains why he wants to visit the U.S. or, in a smaller embassy, you may be the main point of contact with that country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mid- and senior-level officers who can make cogent cases for their positions have genuine opportunities to influence major policy decisions.

Cons

Few people understand what it is that the State Department does or what the benefit of diplomacy is over military action, so we face the demoralizing hurdle of justifying our existence to the public and the media, as well as to Congress, our friends and our family -- if they're interested. The glamor of moving and living in exotic environments is often outweighed by the inability to establish roots, strains on the family or a spouse's inability to develop professionally in a regularly changing environment. It's a large organization with a diverse workforce made up not only of people from many nations and multiple generations, but also of civil servants, foreign service officers, locally engaged staff, private sector contractors, political appointees, interns, eligible family members, etc. Apart from the challenge of interpersonal relationships and drawing strength from this wealth of diversity, the structures in place to promote fairness and accountability can seem stifling.

Advice to Senior Management

Engagement between the leadership and the bulk of the employees is still very structured and uni-directional. Like NGOs and other smaller organizations, mid- and entry-level employees are increasingly using the opportunities offered by the current communications and networked environment to discuss things with each other in chat rooms, small video conferences and other discussion fora. Management is still uncomfortable with these fora and relies upon its authority coming from the "hard power" established hierarchy rather the "soft power" of active discussion and engagement.

Pros

Great benefits, smart people, interesting work

Cons

Bureaucracy, difficult management, lower pay than other fields

Advice to Senior Management

Trust employees more, less hierarchy