The Foreign Service Journal, May 2011

M A Y 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 23 assist job-seekers by building net- works of potential local employers and providing coaching, work- shops and other career develop- ment services. The program has also sought to establish partner- ships with multinational corpora- tions, organizations and non- governmental organizations to pro- vide family members with jobs. Currently, State employs 17 advis- ers to assist family members at 65 posts. State could make improve- ments within its own employment processes, says Hirsch, “but there’s not that much they can do to help people work in the local environment beyond getting permission for them to do so, which they do.” But the State Department could better assist spouses, some employees said, by giving in- centives to posts with high rates of spousal employment, by opening more embassy jobs to spouses, and by taking into account their skills, as well as the employees’, in making assignments. Some added that the department could do a better job of informing employees before they bid on posts about what employment opportunities for spouses are available at the posts they are considering. And it should create a central fund, rather than one controlled by each post, to pay the salaries of spouses, so that posts have no financial incentive to slow hiring. All of those things could help. But the reality, most say, is that spouses will continue to make big sacrifices for their wife’s or husband’s Foreign Service career. “The F O C U S “The vast majority of Foreign Service officers — particularly those overseas — work long days, frequently go into the office on weekends and find very little time for themselves.” — AFSA State VP Daniel Hirsch