The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2005

retarial, never professional, and mired in the 1950s view that a spouse has no professional track in mind other than a secretarial one.” Many family members believe that most of these USAID jobs are unofficially reserved for USAID spouses, some- thing a number of State family mem- bers point to as a source of great frus- tration. Under the Professional Associates Program, originally established to open vacant junior officer positions to EFMs, the focus has now shifted to unfilled mid-level Foreign Service positions in the “hard-to-fill” catego- ry. (HTF positions are those that lack sufficient qualified Foreign Service bidders.) Every year, State manage- ment sends out a bid list for HTF jobs open to EFMs and Civil Service employees. When hired under the PA program, the EFM is hired on an FMA and receives commensurate benefits and a salary based on his/her qualifications. This year’s list of State Depart- ment Hard-to-Fill Program positions was released in February, earlier than usual, in an effort to facilitate EFM participation. The 2005 list was par- ticularly long and included a number of fairly high-level (FS-1) jobs. Although the EFM applicant is limit- ed by the spouse’s post of assignment, the list does offer one more set of potential job opportunities. During the period of severe short- age of junior officers, before the State Department began hiring under the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative in 2000, State reached a maximum of 30 spouses hired under the Professional Associates Program. (FLO Director Faye Barnes indicates that the origi- nal target of 50 PA positions was not reached.) In the interim, Barnes says, the program almost disappeared until FLO picked it up again under the hard-to-fill category. Because family members are limited by the post of assignment of their spouses, few have been able to take advantage of the program. About Money Post budgets play a major role in determining EFM employment options inside the mission, because EFM positions other than those in the Professional Associates Program are paid for out of post funds. In the 1990s, the severe budget strains on the foreign affairs agencies that resulted in a hiring freeze at State for several years and a reduction-in-force at USAID led to a shortage of entry- level employees at embassies world- wide. This led to more job opportu- nities for family members, many of whom began filling vacant State Foreign Service positions in consular sections as consular associates and professional associates. During his tenure, Secretary of State Colin Powell brought budgets back to functional levels, and increased State Foreign Service hir- ing dramatically. More entry-level consular slots began to be filled by officers again. However, because the workload has grown substantially in recent years, the new influx of FS employees does not seem to have had a significant negative impact so far on the number of EFM jobs available. But foreign affairs agencies in 2005 are again facing tight budgets, and other types of EFM jobs at posts under severe budget strain may be affected. “FMA jobs are often the first cut when the budget is tight,” says EFM Patrick Fogarty from Nogales, Mexico. Now more than ever, EFMs repre- sent a highly skilled, though extreme- ly diverse, work force, seeking salaries matching their abilities. Overseas, these hopes are rarely met. Most family members surveyed noted that embassy jobs usually pay better than those in the local economy. Yet many expressed annoyance that mission salaries are lower than those of their Foreign Service colleagues in the embassy. As a general rule, an EFM who wants an FS-level salary for an embassy job would be best advised to try to join the Foreign Service. Although family members tend to view embassy jobs as more lucrative than outside jobs, salaries for jobs with international organizations such as the United Nations, international and U.S.-based NGOs and U.S. or multinational companies tend not to be based on the local economic norms. Thus, many of these jobs pay much better than embassy positions. When hired under the FMA, EFMs are eligible to receive salaries based on the “highest previous rate” calculation. Yet there are two major “ifs” at play: if the post budget allows, and if the position is not classified for a maximum salary below the HPR level. According to the survey respon- dents, the HPR is in fact often used for FMA hiring, but not always. Post budgets are a limiting factor, and may not allow for payment of a particular EFM’s rate. Even the HPR is often seen by EFMs as too low, because it only takes into account previous U.S. government employment, not all prior experience and salary history. Many spouses expressed frustra- tion at not receiving the salary level they felt they deserved. A typical com- ment, from an EFM in a Middle Eastern post, was that when she was hired for an embassy position the J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 69 There is no one uniform family member employment system at work in all missions.