The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2016 55 ian water cooperation—and because I’d also studied Mandarin in Taiwan, and then worked in Beijing and Chengdu, The Nature Conservancy hired me in early 2010. I started in Beijing but am now at TNC’s world office in Arlington, Virginia, supporting our China program from here and engaging with policy innovation teams across the organization’s major goal areas: land, water, oceans, sus- tainable cities and climate change. To me, it’s some of the best work in the world. Serving in almost all regions of the world was probably too eclectic from a Foreign Service careerist standpoint, but that mix is really paying off for me now in my global role with TNC. I tell friends still in the FS—includ- ing highly accomplished colleagues— to apply now for some things that by their nature involve long application and decision processes. That’s a safe way to start figuring out what your own future “dream job” might be— assuming you want to keep working. I still quote the great lines from coun- selors at the career transition course: “Go for the offers! You can turn down the offers you don’t want, but you can’t accept the offers you don’t have.” Bob Tansey was a career economic officer with the State Department from 1985 to 2009. He served in Guatemala, Canada, Taiwan, China, Turkmenistan, Israel and Nigeria, as well as inWashington, D.C. Do What You Didn’t Have Time to Do BY CRAIG OLSON M y response to your request to describe life after the Foreign Service has a twist. More than 80 percent of my working life occurred before I joined the Foreign Service. You see, I entered the Foreign Service as a political officer at the age of 58. And no, I was not an appointee; I took and passed the exam after several tries. (I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve been told I am the second-oldest person to have entered the Foreign Service in history.) I served in Colombia and Kenya, then spent the remaining two years of my FS career in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. My philosophy has always been that retirement is the stage in life when you do things you didn’t have time to do—or, for legal reasons, couldn’t do—while working. In my case, that has included political activism, travel, bridge, golf and spending lots of time with our six grandchildren. Craig Olson spent seven years in the Foreign Service, serving in Colombia, Kenya and Washington, D.C. Before joining the Foreign Service he worked for a private consulting firm doing economic development work in developing countries, and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal. A pot-luck farewell reception for Bob Tansey, third from left, at his apartment in Beijing. COURTESYOFBOBTANSEY