The Foreign Service Journal, December 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2022 21 Unlike the State Department, however, our TFA recruitment teamhad specific numeric goals andmetrics for every diversity category imaginable. top university campuses throughout the country. In contrast, the department cur- rently has just 14 Diplomats in Residence who receive minimal administrative support. One former DIR told me he spent “nearly half” of his time on administrative tasks related to travel (e.g., filling out mile- age reimbursement forms and fighting with the E2 travel system). Much like at State, our mission at TFA was to recruit the most talented, diverse group of public service–oriented appli- cants possible. Unlike the State Depart- ment, however, our TFA recruitment team had specific numeric goals and metrics for every diversity category imaginable. Our “fundamental framework” at TFA was straightforward: 1) find the right people; 2) get in front of them; 3) invest them in the organization’s mission; and 4) convince them to apply and then matriculate. Interns helped us find the most talented and diverse student leaders on campus; recruitment associates helped schedule meetings with those individuals and manage travel; and recruitment direc- tors met the prospective applicants, gave them the pitch, and remained their point of contact throughout the application and matriculation process. We used Salesforce software to build applicant profiles and track data on all our outreach and interactions. Colleagues who have worked recently as DIRs con- firm that the department keeps no such comprehensive data on prospective appli- cants, nor does it have a well-developed screening process for determining which potential applicants DIRs should meet. During my final year as a recruit- ment director, we increased applications to Teach For America from 18,000 to 24,000, and had the most ethnically and geographically diverse, gender-balanced group of corps members (4,000 applicants were ultimately admitted and accepted) in the organization’s history. At more than 120 colleges and univer- sities, including several historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), more than 5 percent of the senior classes applied, including 12 percent of all seniors at Ivy League schools, 7 percent of the graduat- ing class at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, and 6 percent at the University of California–Berkeley.The State Department could easily achieve comparable results, though with a greater focus on graduate students. Imagine a Different Kind of State I share this detailed background about my experience as a recruiter at TFA because, for too long, the department has taken for granted that it will continue to naturally generate tens of thousands of applications for the Foreign and Civil Service without doing or changing much of anything. The hard truth is we have not been nearly forward-leaning enough about finding the right people, getting in front of them, and convincing them to take the FSOT and Presidential Management Fel- low (PMF) exam and join the Foreign and Civil Service. Imagine, though, if we quadrupled the size of the DIR program from 14 to 56 officers and took a more systematic, data-driven approach to recruitment operations with a laser focus on increasing the diversity (ethnic, gender, geographic, and socioeconomic) and excellence of our applicant pool. We could have a critical mass of well- trained, mid-level diplomat recruiters (with proper administrative support) in every state and most major urban centers tasked with finding the next generation of talented, diverse Foreign Service officers and specialists and Civil Service staff. DIR positions are already highly sought after among FS-2 and FS-1 bidders, which would no doubt continue to be the case withmore positions available. Imagine, too, if the DIR launched a paid internship program for college and graduate students at top universities across the country to assist with identifying and recruiting the right applicants for the For- eign Service, including by scouring online professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Jobcase. From experience, I can tell you that having interns who were themselves stu- dents at the universities we are targeting and who knew (or could help us find out) who were the top diverse student leaders on campus and online was essential to our recruitment success at TFA. Alumni of those DIR internships would also, natu- rally, become an additional talent pipeline for the Foreign Service. Critics of the idea of expanding the DIR program will naturally question how the department could afford to commit to dozens of new domestic positions when we have staffing shortages overseas.