Yes. Eligible candidates who pass the Foreign Service Officer Assessment (FSOA) or Foreign Service Specialist Assessment (FSSA) and successfully obtain all required pre-employment qualifications and clearances will have 0.17 points added to their assessment score for ranking purposes on the register. Read more here.
The U.S. Department of State is announcing an additional innovation to the Foreign Service selection process to further advance the Secretary’s goals to modernize American diplomacy and win the competition for talent.
To improve the candidate experience and make application to the Foreign Service (FS) more accessible by reducing the financial and logistical barriers associated with travel for in-person assessments held in Washington, D.C., the Board of Examiners (BEX) will transition all Foreign Service assessments to virtual platforms. In Spring 2020, in response to the pandemic, BEX began hosting Foreign Service Specialist Assessments (FSSA) on a virtual platform, a change made permanent in February 2022. Now, candidates interested in 17 FS Specialist job categories (all non-DS Specialist job categories) can test from anywhere in the United States and from most parts of the world. In Fiscal Year 2023, BEX virtually assessed 800 candidates across 14 specialties. Survey respondents have consistently lauded this move.
BEX will now transition the Foreign Service Officer Assessment (FSOA) to a virtual platform as well. Beginning with candidates who took the February 2024 Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT), the Department will move to a fully virtual FSOA. The first of the three components, the Case Management Exercise (CME), will be offered separately and in advance of the remaining two components, the Group Exercise (GE) and Structured Interview (SI). Invited candidates may take the CME from home, a private location of their choice, or at one of 850 on-site locations offered through PearsonVUE around the world.
The Board of Examiners continuously reviews and evaluates examination procedures. The pandemic provided an opportunity to innovate. The temporary cessation of in-person assessments prompted exploration of alternatives, and extensive pilot tests demonstrated the utility of virtual assessments. As a result, the Department was able to continue assessment of Foreign Service Specialist candidates despite pandemic disruptions. Building on this experience, the Board of Examiners is pleased to offer the same rigorous assessments for the Foreign Service Officer Assessment (FSOA) in a virtual environment.
The move to virtual platforms for the three components of the FSOA – the Case Management Exercise (CME), Group Exercise (GE), and Structured Interview (SI) – will begin with candidates who took the February 2024 FSOT. Other candidates currently in the FSOA pipeline will continue with their already scheduled in-person assessments. It is important to note that the structure of the assessment is not changing. All candidates will continue to participate in all three segments of the FSOA (CME, GE, SI) with no additional performative requirements. By offering the assessment virtually, we will reduce travel and other costs which have discouraged qualified candidates from participating in the assessment in the past while improving the experience for candidates. These were concerns consistently identified in surveys of previous candidates.
The Department is implementing the move to a virtual platform for all three components of the FSOA beginning with candidates who took the FSOT in February 2024. The virtual assessments for candidates from that cohort are on track to begin in May 2024.
No. Beginning in May 2024, the Foreign Service Officer Assessment (FSOA) will be offered exclusively on a virtual platform.
The first of the three components, the Case Management Exercise (CME), will be offered separately and in advance of the remaining two components, the Group Exercise (GE) and Structured Interview (SI). Invited candidates may take the CME from home, a private location of their choice, or at one of 850 on-site locations offered through PearsonVUE around the world. The CME has been separated from the other two components to maximize scheduling flexibility and to increase the number of assessors who will evaluate each candidate, thereby improving the process.
The same rigorous standards and procedures will apply in the virtual context. Candidates will continue to be assessed according to the dimensions, which are based on job analyses, standards, and best practices employed by industrial and organizational psychologists. These dimensions were revised in 2023 to match current Foreign Service job skills and were developed to reflect the implementation of a virtual process.
Yes. Candidates with disabilities will be able to request a reasonable accommodations using the same process as they do now for the in-person assessment.