The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2005

a PSC. There is no standard set of benefits that come with a PSC, and much depends on local practice and host-country laws. Most agencies, aside from USAID, now prefer to use the State Department hiring mecha- nism called the Personal Services Agreement instead of the PSC. The PSA is not subject to Federal Acquisition Regulations, which pro- hibit performance of certain types of duties including cashiering. The PSA was originally created for local hiring of non-Americans. It has been expanded to include American hires, and for them, it is called the PSA- Plus Program. PSA and PSA-Plus are identical except that “plus” includes Americans. Non-AEFMs are eligible to apply for both PSA and PSC posi- tions. The creation of the Family Member Appointment hiring mecha- nism represents an effort to standard- ize what have to date been very local- ized and varied employment pro- grams for family members. There is no doubt that creation of the FMA— a result of about 20 years of advocacy by the FLO and AAFSW (now the Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide) — was a big step forward. The Family Member Appoint- ment is defined as a Department of State hiring mechanism used to employ appointment-eligible family members accompanying career employees on assignment abroad. The FMA, according to State materi- als, is “a five-year limited, non-career appointment,” that allows family members to earn benefits. The ben- efits include annual leave, sick leave, retirement (FERS), health benefits (FEHB), life insurance (FEGLI), Thrift Savings Plan participation and non-competitive eligibility status for U.S. government jobs. In 1999, a year after the creation of the FMA, 34 percent of family members working inside missions (of 150 posts surveyed by the FLO) were in FMA positions. By early 2005, the percentage had risen to 73. Clearly, the FMA hiring mechanism is taking hold. The standardization of hiring mechanisms could help with a long- standing problem of employees leav- ing post without receiving a written performance evaluation. An employ- ee with no performance record to carry to the next post or, more impor- tantly, back to Washington, where further U.S. government opportuni- ties may depend on adequate docu- mentation of previous work, is at a disadvantage when seeking onward employment. “Either CLO or Clerical” Foreign Service family members looking for upwardly-mobile career paths should probably not look to the embassy for employment. As one FS spouse put it, “It’s either CLO or clerical.” This is an exaggeration, but does describe the typical perception of mission jobs — that they are not “professional” jobs. While it may be possible to aim for similar types of jobs at different posts, usually a family member look- ing for mission work has to take what is available, which will at best be a continuation of a type of work done at another post, and almost certainly not be an advancement up a career ladder. Typical embassy jobs with the State Department include consular associ- ate, consular assistant, community liai- son office coordinator, information management assistant, general ser- vices assistant, office manager, admin- istrative assistant, housing coordinator, newsletter or Web-site editor, and security escort. The U.S. Agency for International Development has non- Foreign Service positions, which tend to be highly coveted development jobs. Consular associates — family members working in consular sections around the world who have complet- ed the full ConGen Rosslyn course — have helped embassies and consulates with the heavy workload, particulary visa adjudication. There are currently between 150 and 160 CAs at work around the world, who have had wide- ranging responsibilities similar to those of consular officers. The authority of consular associ- ates to adjudicate visa applications is being phased out as part of the imple- mentation of new security measures. As of this September, CAs will no longer adjudicate visa applications. It is still unclear what impact this will have, but it is clearly a denigration of the authority that was invested in the position. Management has sent word to the field that post management should try to ensure that EFM con- sular positions are not eliminated in connection with the changes, and to try to minimize the impact on the CA jobs. Some of the best mission jobs are the USAID jobs, seen as more pro- fessional in nature than many State jobs open to family members. “USAID is far more amenable to hir- ing people as professionals, giving them work in their area of expertise, and paying them accordingly,” says an EFMworking for USAID. “State has jobs for spouses that are basically sec- 68 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 5 As a general rule, an EFM who wants an FS- level salary would be best advised to try to join the Foreign Service.