The Foreign Service Journal, May 2006

M A Y 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 21 ntil recently, many Foreign Service specialists felt that the State Department viewed the concept of career development for them as an oxymoron. To the extent State offered specialists opportunities for advancement, its main focus was on rewarding them for sharpening their technical skills and acquiring new ones, not on teaching them leadership and management skills required to compete for entry into the Senior Foreign Service. Opportunities to take language training were few and far between, and the “glass ceiling” for some cohorts, F O C U S O N S P E C I A L I S T C A R E E R D E V E L O P M E N T S PECIALIST C AREERS : O NWARD AND U PWARD ? M EANINGFUL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES ARE NEEDED TO CONVINCE SPECIALISTS THAT CAREER DEVELOPMENT IS NO LONGER A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS . B Y S TEVEN A LAN H ONLEY U Yvetta Fedorova