Ever wonder what training and career steps are necessary to become a US Foreign Officer? David Van Cleve, Information Officer at the American Embassy in Paris, France, joins SIU to explain the steps he has taken to establish his career path as a US Foreign Officer. Many SIU students are currently studying international diplomacy and one day hope to maybe join foreign services in the future, so we are very fortunate to learn more from Mr. Van Cleve.
At SIU, we are intricately interwoven in the international landscape and are continuously involved in day-to-day occurrences both in terms of business news and the socioeconomic reality that surrounds us and how it affects our lives. We have therefore decided to launch聽SIU Talks.聽Led by聽renowned professionals聽in various sectors and by聽蝉辫别肠颈补濒颈蝉迟蝉听颈苍听international geopolitics, these talks explore in-depth topics and provide further insight into different areas.
This SIU Talk held a different format, as many students and various individuals were logged in for the presentation and were able to ask questions live at the end of the session.聽Van Cleve聽began his talk by giving a broad introduction of his past, including his聽educational path聽and his desire to 飞辞谤办听辞惫别谤蝉别补蝉听and also to work for France. He then delves into the process needed to become a diplomat in the聽American Foreign Services.
Van Cleve states that, in order to become a diplomat in the American Foreign Service, although the process is fairly open and straight-forward, it is long and arduous. The聽辫谤辞肠别蝉蝉听is a聽three step聽process consisting of a written exam, an oral exam and finally obtaining security clearance. The first written exam is聽highly difficult聽with only around a聽15% pass rate.聽If an individual manages to pass the written exam, he or she moves on to a full-day oral exam that consists of role play, written texts and individual and group interviews. He mentions that the interviewers are looking for people with a lot of聽varied skill sets.聽Once the written exam has been passed, the next step involves obtaining聽security clearance聽which takes a long time since it involves top secret clearance. He states that this process may take over a聽测别补谤听and then you are placed on a long list and are called depending on how many diplomats are needed at a given time. He also mentions that now it is common for an applicant to need to complete an additional written essay portion that is sent out for review.
Van Cleve then moves on to explain that one usually聽产别驳颈苍蝉听飞辞谤办听as a Generalist Officer聽and can be placed in a myriad of jobs. Early in a diplomatic career, Van Cleve says that an individual generally works in a consular area issuing tourist visas to those who want to travel to the US. There are also聽Political Specialists聽that analyze political issues across several countries that then report back to the US. Then, one generally moves into the聽Public Diplomacy sector聽which led Van Cleve to relocating to various countries. From Pakistan to France to Singapore to Budapest to Poland to the US,聽Van Cleve聽also worked with聽Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton聽in the past. He now concentrates primarily on press releases, working with a聽鈥渃lassic press鈥聽team (newspapers, etc.), a social media team that updates embassy networks, an investigation group and also a group that handles disinformation, tracking misinformation across various media.
The session finalizes with a聽Q&A Session聽during which various users were able to ask Van Cleve questions regarding his career. Some ask about the need to learn several languages, others ask him to expand upon the various tests and exams while others seek tips based on Van Cleve鈥檚 expertise.
Watch the full US Foreign Officer SIU Talk聽.
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