The Foreign Service Journal, June 2004

play a role in this generation’s com- mitment to the Service cannot be overstated. New hires from all groups expect their agencies to pay close attention to spousal employ- ment issues, and to actively support efforts to expand opportunities for spouses overseas. Today’s entering employees want to be recognized for their achieve- ments and promoted not on the basis of bureaucratic time-in-class restric- tions, but on merit. They support worldwide availability and believe everyone should enter the Service worldwide available, but this does not mean they are all willing to go anywhere at any time. They do not believe that joining the Foreign Service is necessarily a lifetime com- mitment, though most of them express a strong desire to stay in for a full career if things go well. How has the reality of joining the Foreign Service differed from your expectations? Most survey respondents wrote that the reality of joining the Foreign Service did not differ significantly from what they had expected. A first-tour officer doing consular work in Seoul notes diplomatically that, “The job may have been advertised as more glamorous than it is.” The key recurring concern raised by State generalists outside the consular cone is the requirement for most to serve for two or more years in consular positions before serving in their career cone. This is a sensitive issue, as everyone acknowledges that adju- dicating visa applications is critical national security work. But not everyone wants to do it. A public diplomacy officer serving in London points out, “I didn’t expect to wait up to five years to work in the job I signed up for.” Political officer Shannon Nagy — currently general services officer for Embassy Cotonou — will serve in every cone but her own during her first two tours, and she remains opti- mistic about the career. “The Foreign Service has largely fulfilled my expectations,” she says. “The work is exciting and challenging and there are many opportunities to explore different cultures and places that I would not normally experi- ence.” Patrick Wingate, a consular offi- cer, was pleasantly surprised by the reception he got coming in to the Service. “My partner and I have both received overwhelming social acceptance of our relationship,” he writes. “Unfortunately, the institu- tion and current regulations do make us feel like second-class members of the Foreign Service on issues like family security and family equality. The disparity in both is a real issue, and will damage the esprit de corps of the Service in the future if it is not addressed.” Two USAID officers serving in Egypt expressed serious disappoint- ment with their early tours with USAID. One explains that “a major disappointment for me and many of my junior officer colleagues has been the disconnect between the kinds of skills that USAID appeared to have sought during the selection process, and what is actually valued and used on the job.” Another notes, “I expected USAID to be more in tune with the needs of its staff serving overseas. The reality is that the Foreign Service is less caring than the consulting companies with which I worked prior to joining the FS. I have been surprised by the depth of bureaucracy and paperwork. … Often when a document is released it is nothing but pages of meaningless jargon; all meat has been stripped away.” Describe your impression of the Foreign Service culture. How does it differ from what you thought it would be? Impressions of the culture were highly varied. Some were positive, such as this one from a management officer in Kuwait: “I am pleasantly surprised by how well-adapted most FS employees are to dealing with both the culture of the State Department and to the culture of the country of their assignment.” But significant concerns were raised, as well. Three main issues arose: disap- pointment with an oppressive bureaucracy and conformist atti- tudes, concern from specialists at State about unequal status with gen- eralists, and the belief that the new hires will change the culture of the Service for the better. Justin Crevier, a management officer serving in Nouakchott, describes the Foreign Service cul- ture this way: “It seems like an unhappy marriage between the mili- tary (very planning- and procedure- oriented) and academia (very little organization, promotion based on intellectual ability rather than demonstrated leadership ability), with the added complication of hav- ing a need for consensus built into almost every decision.” Several respondents raised the 34 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 4 The degree to which spouse employment opportunities play a role in this generation’s commitment to the Service cannot be overstated.