The Foreign Service Journal, June 2008

HR is working to speed up the time between place- ment on the register and the job offer; indeed, some can- didates are getting “the call” soon after being placed on the list. The entry process is complete when the candi- date joins an A-100 class and is officially employed by the Department of State. That is where the Foreign Service generalist career begins, as it always has. Preliminary Results It is too early to fully evaluate the new process, but Human Resources officials say that the quality of the applicants is, as it has always been, extremely high. The new written exam has been given just three times, and many of those who have taken the new test are still cycling through the application process. According to HR, the percentage of minority test-tak- ers has not changed significantly, holding steady at about 30 percent. However, there has been a decline in the per- centage of female applicants for the first three rounds of the new written exam. The percentage of women taking the FSWE in 2004 was 38; it was 39 in 2005 and 2006. The percentage of female candidates taking the FSOT was 29 for the September 2007 test, 30 for the December 2007 test and 34 for the March test. HR officials do not have an explanation for the decline, but they are concerned and are exploring ways to reverse it. The State Department has come a long way from the predominantly male Service of the past. In recent years, most A-100 classes have been about half female. A gen- der discrimination class-action suit, known as the Palmer case, that wound its way through the legal system for over a decade was resolved in 1989. The decision led to can- cellation of that year’s FS written exam because it had been found to be biased against women and minorities. At that point, the written exam was changed. HR officials tell the Journal that women do well on the exams, passing at high rates. It is entirely possible that the decline in the percentage of women applying does not represent a trend. And even if it does prove to be a pattern, it may have little or noth- ing to do with the new hiring process. If one were to make an educated guess at why fewer women might step up at this time to apply to the Foreign Service, one might cite the increasing number of unaccompanied and war zone postings required in today’s Service. No matter how equal-opportunity an unaccompanied war zone may be, the reality for many women is that they bear more of the responsibility for child care than do men. Another key parameter, processing time from test to job offer, appears to be improving, and should improve further as kinks in the new system are worked out. Anecdotal evidence supports this. “I am aware of at least one person who took the written exam in September 2007, passed the oral assessment in December, received his clearances by February, and will start A-100 in May,” says candidate Tom Duval. “There’s your poster child for the improvement in the test-to-offer time.” Candidate Mark Palermo comments positively on the speed of the new process, noting that he “registered in August, took the new written test in September and had my Oral Assessment in December. Because I already had security and medical clearances [from a prior try], I was on the register about a week after I passed.” HR officials note that two candidates who tested last September were in the April A-100 course, cutting hiring time in half from the previous average. The “Front-Loading” Issue Compared to the high-water mark for the number of people taking the FSWE — over 31,000 for the two test offerings in 2002 — today’s numbers do look low. Fewer than 5,000 people took the FSOT in 2007, during testing windows in September and December, though these were the first offerings of the new test and the numbers F O C U S 24 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 8 Year Number 1980 12,910 1981 13,618 1982 16,829 1983 15,074 1984 17,631 1985 15,850 1986 16,222 1987 13,903 1988 14,405 1989 No test 1990 10,759 1991 10,605 1992 10,949 1993 12,206 1994 11,345 1995 No test 1996 9,595 1997 No test Year Number 1998 9,618 1999 9,380 2000 8,047 2001 12,912 2002 (2x) 31,442 2003 20,342 2004 19,101 2005 18,699 2006 17,000 New FSOT 2007 Sept. 2,254 (U.S. only) 2007 Dec. 2,417 (U.S. and overseas) 2008 Mar. 3,200 (U.S. and overseas) Foreign Service Written Exam Test-Takers, 1980-2008