The Foreign Service Journal, June 2008

The QEP lens, says Board of Examiners Staff Director Steve Blake, is primarily focused on the six core compe- tencies (mentioned above) that help identify people who will make successful FSOs. Blake points out that these are the same criteria used to evaluate (and promote) offi- cers throughout their careers, and are proven measures of success. Each part of the candidate’s application is exam- ined: the structured resumé application form, especially educational and work background; the responses to the personal narrative mini-essay questions from registration; test and essay scores; and relevant Super Critical Needs Language scores. Candidates are ranked using a point system. Then management — not the examiners — sets the cutoff numbers according to hiring needs at that time; those above the cutoff line are invited to the Oral Assessment. Concerns have been raised, both by candidates and by FSOs, that there might be opportunities for bias or politi- cization of the QEP part of the process. But officers who serve on the Board of Examiners are well trained, says HR Adviser Christenson, who adds that the QEP is a “closed loop, an insular process” with no room for political influ- ence or outside interference. Candidates are not asked for their political affiliation, and never have been. No inquiries are accepted from outside, and a new level of security has been added: examiners are prohibited from entertaining any inquiries about a particular applicant, and they must report any such contacts to the director of the Board of Examiners. As another type of protection against any possible bias, “the sections of the application form that capture infor- mation about age, gender, race, ethnicity or other per- sonal traits that are not relevant to this review are elec- tronically purged before a candidate’s file reaches the QEP panelists,” says Marianne Myles, director of the Office of Recruitment, Examination and Employment. AFSA officials have been briefed regularly as the new test process has been developed and so far are satisfied that adequate precautions against bias and politicization have been taken. F O C U S J U N E 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 21