Yeah, but not only that, I have no desire to run my own business. I currently work for people that run their own small business, and they're constantly dealing with it with very little free time. It's literally a 24/7 job sometimes, and that's just not for me. My own father said it best when he told me: "I didn't want to run my own business because then you have to constantly monkey around with it" and it's certainly true.
It's for some people, but not for me.
If you're asking about my long term career goals, then the thing I absolutely know beyond a shadow of a doubt what I want to do is work in the U.S. Foreign Service. That kind of lifestyle is exactly what I want, but the application process is very lengthy and very annoying. It will be years probably before I get in, and a minimum of two years at this point before I could start working for them. One has to first pass the standardized test, the FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test). This test is extremely hard and only about 30% of applicants pass every year. If you don't pass, you have to wait an entire year before you can take it again. If you do pass, then you have to write five essays for the Review Panel to consider. After about four months after you took the exam/wrote the essays, you receive word from the Review Panel. They either reject you, or they invite you to the Oral Interview. The Oral Interview will take place about 5-6 months after you tested.
The Oral Interview is an intense, all day event in which you arrive around 7 AM and get out around 6 PM. You are run through a series of practice scenarios with a group, where you are tasked to come up with group solutions in a set time limit. After that, you're set through an intense series of questions from three FSOs and yourself. They ask you why you want to be in the Foreign Service, what you would do under certain situations, and about your personal background. Finally, the last part of the Oral Interview is the essay. You must compose an essay in a set time limit. Once you get through all of that, you FINALLY get the job offer at the end of the day, or you get sent home with nothing.
Sooooo... you passed the Oral Interview! What next? Well you don't get to work YET! Now you have to get a top secret security clearance which can take anywhere from 3-8 months depending on how many places you've lived in throughout your life. The State Department runs background checks on you and interviews everyone you know, trying to get a sense if you ever committed any major criminal acts and what sort of person you are. Once you get the clearance, you have to be medically cleared by a doctor, and after all THAT is done (usually about a year after you first tested), you finally get sent to basic training courses at their campus in Alexandria. You spend about 1-2 months in training classes, and then get to bid on which country you want to work in first from a list of current openings. Upon graduation, you get sent off to your first assignment and are FINALLY a Foreign Service Officer.
Lengthy process, right?
I don't mind waiting for it, as it'll be worth it to me once I finally get in, but the problem I currently have is that I no longer have health insurance, and my current job is dragging me down and making me no longer enjoy my life.
I've been looking into getting a job elsewhere, but so far, due to intense competition in the job market, my efforts have been failures. I'm looking for government work somewhere (which is over applied to now), or museum type work that would be a nice hold me over until I can get into the FS. Whatever job I pick up as a backup, I would like to get benefits too, to help my health insurance situation out.
