The Foreign Service Journal, June 2004

leader and manager, promote them. Don’t tell them, ‘Hey, you’re great, but we can’t promote you because you haven’t been an FS-3 for X num- ber of years.’ Where I come from, that’s a sure recipe for losing good employees to competitors.” “Freedom of action and decision- making authority as a mid-level offi- cer,” is the main factor that will determine whether one consular officer serving in the Middle East will remain in the Foreign Service. He notes that he could return to mil- itary service, observing that “JOs these days have many options, some quite a bit more lucrative than State can offer, so eliminating a lot of the bad management and bureaucracy would go a long way in retaining people.” “All federal agencies need to have a realistic expectation of the mod- ern-day job market and the attitudes of the age 20-to-40 crowd,” says USAID Education Officer Grace Lang. “Most younger people nowa- days make a distinction between career and job, with job being a sub- set of career. … I think that benefits comparable to those found in the private sector would be the key to J U N E 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 49 Almost all of the single survey respondents say that they would be willing to serve in Iraq. It’s Still Better My spouse will probably teach wherever she can, and work on things like Web-site design and public affairs whenever possible. It's not easy on her, but we will in the long run do better in terms of benefits, pay and life experience with me in the FS than we would in the corporate rat race in the U.S. with both of us working (and I have an MBA from a decent school). I think that the whole “I could do so much better in the corporate world but am nobly sac- rificing myself for the good of American diplomacy” line of whin- ing doesn't hold much water, unless the whiner left a CEO job to join the FS. — Management officer Justin Crevier 2000 N. 14th Street Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Telephone (703) 797-3259 Fax (703) 524-7559 Tollfree (800) 424-9500