The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 29 Now Hiring Digital technology has its place in public diplomacy, but it also plays an important role in the Foreign Service agencies’ domestic outreach and recruitment operations. Recruitment, in particular, has been drastically transformed in recent years with expansion of the use of social media andmobile applications to reach a broad audience of potential candidates with information about the For- eign Service career and hiring process. The State Department’s DOS Careers mobile application is the only federal government careers-focused app and one of a kind in promoting Foreign Service careers. In a review of the app, Nextgov says it “offers everything a prospective Foreign Service officer could want, froman overview of the department’s roles and responsibili- ties to sample questions from the service’s entrance exam.” DOS Careers provides multimedia information about all of the State Foreign Service career tracks, including videos of current employees talking about their jobs. It offers case studies that famil- iarize users with the day-to-day challenges of Foreign Service work. The app is free (and quite large at 50MB) and available for both Apple and Android devices. (For more on the launch of this app, see the Talking Points item in the April 2013 FSJ . ) DOS Careers is a project of the Bureau of Human Resources’ Office of Recruitment, Examination and Employment.This office is also responsible for State’s careers pages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, which have greatly evolved since the office began its social media outreach in 2005. HR/REE’s Rachel Friedland stresses that social media represents only one of several communications channels the division utilizes to reach target audiences whomay be interested in employment with the State Department. Various age groups can be reached, especially younger ones, andmessages can be customized for spe- cific groups and organizations.The recruitment division is particu- larly committed to attracting a diverse set of potential candidates for employment. Diplomats in Residence, who serve under the HR/REE umbrella in universities around the country and are focused on conducting recruitment outreach, host their own regional Facebook pages.The DIRs engage with both those considering a Foreign Service career There are more than 200 Facebook pages and 120 Twitter accounts for U.S. embassies and consulates alone. Continued on page 32