PN, QEP, and more DoS FSOT alphabet soup
My friend and former room mate Joel introduced me over email to a friend of his who had passed the written portion of the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT), and was finalizing her Personal Narrative to send to the Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP). She wanted any advice I could give her on clearing this hurdle.
Things were a little bit different when I took the FSOT – they had us fill out the PN before registration (this included a structured resume and personal narrative essays). I really think that moving the PN to after passing the written was a good call on State’s part. People are much more motivated to jump through that hoop if they’ve already cleared another one first.
Since my experience differs from the current process, please keep in mind that this (like most things to do with the entire exam), is guesswork on my part. I have some idea of what I’m talking about, but don’t base your decisions on my opinion alone. Do your research, use your brain, and get a second opinion. For example, State has a pretty thorough guideline for what the QEP looks for. If you haven’t already, go read through it, because I’m not here to repeat their guidelines (at least not today).
Smart people will follow those guidelines and build their total PN around those six precepts State identifies: Leadership, Interpersonal Skills, Communication Skills (written and oral), Management Skills, Intellectual Skills, and Substantive Knowledge. The twenty people who read this blog will recognize those precepts because most of them come straight out of State’s Thirteen Dimensions, which I wrote about earlier in the week.
Here is my logic, let me know what you think about it, and remember that all of the numbers are completely made up. Let’s say State had 1000 candidates pass the written, but only has 500 slots for the Oral Assessment. 750 candidates submit beautifully crafted PN’s that include wonderfully written demonstrations of their Substantive Knowledge, Leadership, Interpersonal, Communication, Management, and Intellectual Skills. How does the QEP weed out the remaining 250 candidates?
I really don’t know. I’m not part of BEX and I’m not privy to the inner workings of the QEP – but I can make a pretty good guess. So my guess is that they look for the candidates who were also able to demonstrate composure, cultural adaptability, experience and motivation, judgment, integrity, organizational skills and resourcefulness – or, the remaining dimensions not specified in their six precepts. I think that these are the differentiators for the QEP (when they’re needed). What do you think?
I think that is a good assumption. Since those are specified as valued attributes, it could not hurt to incorporate them into the essay. Including them is therefore better than something else that could possibly be interpreted as negative.
By the way, i think more than 20 people read your blog. You ALWAYS pop up in my FSO web searches. :)
You pop up in mine as well! :)
Okay okay, maybe 30 people read it. ;-)
Ah well, my 3 years in Internet marketing would have been a complete waste if I couldn’t optimize my own website for search engines. It’s nice to know I’ve still got it!