viagogo Interview and more FSOT

Well, finished my viagogo interview. I think it went pretty well, especially considering I'm one of the only non-Bay Area candidates they are interviewing for this job. It was pretty standard: areas of interest, long term goals, etc etc. I'll find out their decision in 1-1.5 weeks.

Also finished my registration for the Foreign Service Officer test today. I ended up choosing the Economic cone because Public Diplomacy is very competitive. Registration for a specific date and testing location will open up beginning in September. So I have 3 months to study. To that end, I ordered three books to start:

• The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know
• Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the US Foreign Service
• Inside a US Embassy: How the Foreign Service Works for America

I also ordered the official FSOT Study Guide, written by the Department of State. I'll take the practice exam first so I know my weak points and can prioritize my studying in the relatively short time I have. I'm also going to start practicing my Chinese again because it is a Super Critical Needs Language. This means [assuming I get past the FSOT, QEP, OA, etc etc etc] I get an extra 0.4 on my Oral Assessment score if I pass a speaking test. The scale is out of 7. That's the difference between 1xx/xxx on the register to 4x or 5x/xxx (where your number indicates your place in line). For reference: above a 6 is quite rare.

As I said before, my pursuit of the Foreign Service is a side project, something I'd like to do but realistically don't have various qualifications for it. Many of the applicants seem to be late-20s through 40s so I could be pursuing this for a while....

Mind the Gap

Apologies for the gap in my writing. It's been about a month even, so I thought I'd start this baby back up again. Updates will be coming more often, trust me.

News on the job front:

• Interviewed with Under Armour. It went OK but it was an "exploratory" interview and hence not for a particular position. Going to call them next week to see what's up.
• Interviewed (2x) with Teavana at the Towson mall. Didn't get it due to another employee transferring in. Oh well.
• I have an interview next week with viagogo for a Business Analyst position. Will report back on the other side.
• I have an interview with Bankers Life Insurance next week for.... not really sure what. I think it's for an insurance sales position but I'll wait to pass judgement.
• On Fri., 8 July, went to a CAPAL-sponsored career fair at JHU SAIS. Submitted resumes to the NSA, NGA, CIA, Deloitte, and spoke to a recruiter from the State Department. Which leads me to my next point:

I think I'm going to take the Foreign Service Officer Test in October. Here's a link to the process. Since I've made this decision so late (for context, some other folks have been studying since January for the Oct test), I'm going to study what I can but basically expect failure the first time around. It's free to take and it's administered/graded by the ACT folks (yes, that ACT). You can take it once per year. I'm not really expecting it to go anywhere unless by some miracle I pass it, pass the Qualifications Examination Panel, and get accepted for the Oral Assessment. Then it'll become serious. For now, it is merely a hobby, a nice thought, a distant way for me to get back to China.