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MR. JASON PORTER
STROSS: All right.

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Hello and welcome to
this Facebook Live

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on the Office Management
Specialist career.

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My name is Jason
Porter Stross, and I'm

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the Diplomat in Residence for
Southern California, Hawaii,

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Nevada, American Samoa
Guam, and the Commonwealth

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of the Northern Mariana Islands.

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And I'm joined today by
Stacey, an Office Management

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Specialist in Hanoi, Vietnam.

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Hello, and thank you for
participating in this event.

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STACEY: Hi, Jason.

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Thank you for having
me on the event.

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MR. PORTER STROSS: Happy to have
the chance to chat with you.

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And my colleagues,
Mika and Terri

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are monitoring the
chat for this event.

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They will be posting
a tiny URL that

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will allow you to register
to receive information

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on Department of State careers
as well as some relevant links.

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Now, Stacey, to
kick things off, why

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did you apply to become an
office management specialist?

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STACEY: Jason, thank you
for having me on today.

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And thank you for the
questions and allowing

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me to give you some background
of my journey of getting--

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of applying and becoming an
office management specialist,

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or an [INAUDIBLE] for short.

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I had worked in the Department
as a student intern for one

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year before learning about
more careers in the department

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on the Foreign Service side.

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And, as an intern, I had
worked in the Executive

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Office of the European
and Eurasian affairs.

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And, there, I was working in
the human resources office

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and already working on
administration management

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preparing for the entire
recruitment process,

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hiring and onboarding
process as well.

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And so when the office
management specialist career

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came up, it became
a good fit in that

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I had been working for some
time in management of programs

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and management of an office.

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And so I wanted more
government experience,

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and I wanted to get out there.

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I wanted to see what the U.S.
Government was doing overseas.

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And so my second
reason to applying

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to become an OMS,
and specifically

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to the Foreign Service, is that
I really wanted to travel to--

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I wanted to work in an area
where it was new to me.

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I wanted to represent America.

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I wanted to have the
opportunity to explain America.

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And in my capacity,
I wanted to also help

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the administration of the
post embassy or consulate

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that we were--

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that we are located in.

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And it was just a good fit
for me in my past experience,

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what I wanted in my
future experience and work

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experience-wise, and also
what I wanted personally.

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MR. PORTER STROSS: OK, great.

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And you mentioned that you'd
been an intern before joining.

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Did you have other work
experience as well?

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STACEY: Yeah.

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So before becoming an intern
with a Department of State,

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I was an undergraduate
student at the University

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of Connecticut.

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And so there I had worked at
the Career Services Center

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helping students with a
job search, interviews,

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and resume writing.

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And while at the
University, I also

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worked in our Information
Technologies Department.

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And there I worked on support
for the university's IT

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infrastructure.

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MR. PORTER STROSS:
And what did you

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study at the University
of Connecticut?

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STACEY: At UConn I
was in liberal arts,

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and my degree is in sociology

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MR. PORTER STROSS: OK.

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And what have you done
in your assignments?

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STACEY: So in the
Foreign Service,

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I've been in between East Asian
and Pacific Affairs and Near

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East Asian Affair Bureau.

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So between these two
bureaus, ADA and EAP,

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I have worked in sections of
the embassies, the economic,

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and regional security
office sections.

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And I have worked as well
in the executive office,

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or the front office,
of the embassy where

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I support the Ambassador and
the Deputy Chief of Mission.

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And my assignments have been
in Tel Aviv, Shenyang China,

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Gang Cheng Laos, Baghdad,
Iraq, and then a little--

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I spent a little bit of
time in the operations

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center in the crisis
management strategy office

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before coming to Hanoi.

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MR. PORTER STROSS:
And right now, you're

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working in the front office
there at the embassy?

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STACEY: That's right.

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I am the office manager
for the ambassador.

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MR. PORTER STROSS: And what is
your most memorable experience

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as an office
management specialist?

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STACEY: There's been a lot
of interesting stories, fun,

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and really important,
and the opportunities

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that I've been a part of.

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But the most
memorable opportunity

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is when I had an amazing--

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I had a chance to bid on
and work at the U.S. Embassy

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in Gang Cheng Laos.

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Laos is my family's
heritage country of origin.

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And as a second-generation
law American,

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it was beyond my wildest
dreams to have that opportunity

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to work at the embassy,
at the American Embassy,

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in the country of which
my family is from.

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And while working
at the U.S. Embassy

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I was working for
the Ambassador there.

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I had the opportunity to
travel with the ambassador

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to the Provinces to
see where our U.S.

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government funds
and support goes

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to help the local people there.

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And I also had the opportunity
of working a very historical

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visit when the First
Sitting President visited

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the country ever, and
the experience was very--

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it meant a lot to me as
a government employee,

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but also as a person
of that origin.

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Working on the visits allowed me
to see what's our two countries

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do to build partnership,
build relationships.

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But it also got to tell a story,
a story about how, in the past,

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our two governments had
had some disagreements

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and some conflicts,
but in the presence.

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Now we have a partnership.

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We have a relationship.

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We're working to reconcile
things of the past.

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And so it was such a
memorable experience

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because as a person
of that origin

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I had the opportunity
to represent America

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to my parents'
country of origin.

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It was something I
could never imagine.

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MR. PORTER STROSS:
And what tips would

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you have for anyone interested
in becoming an office

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management specialist?

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STACEY: Applying to become an
office manager specialists is

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the first step, and
to prepare for that I

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recommend drawing
from all experiences,

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and that's how I did it.

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I was a new grad, undergrad.

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And so I drew from all
of my work experience

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in school, my volunteer
experience, and also

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my paraprofessional experience.

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So positions I held
throughout school, I

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drew from volunteer management
of volunteer programs,

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for example.

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I drew from a mix
of backgrounds.

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It didn't really have
to be a specific--

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working for principal,
for example.

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It was managing a program,
a recruitment program,

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for example.

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Think of your experiences
and draw from areas

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where you can see--

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can be applied into the
office management specialist

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track of the Foreign Service.

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And my next step is to
practice interviewing because

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throughout the entire process
of applying to become an OMS,

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being able to draw from
a situation that happens

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and being able to pick
out what did you do

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and how did you solve
the problem, what

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was the result is something
that requires practice

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and experience.

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And so it takes
some time to review

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some of these
accomplishments that you have

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and being able to draw from
them quickly when you're

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asked questions.

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And the recruitment on
careers.state.gov you

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can get email notices
from the job recruitment.

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So each time that it's
open for application,

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you could sign onto the lists
there, and it will let you

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know when the
announcement is open.

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That's very important
because the windows

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of these recruitment
cycles are--

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life happens, and it
can go by quickly.

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And so I, till this day, I
still have those recruitment

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announcements come
to me because I

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do want to know a way in which
I can get the word out there.

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And lastly, follow our
diplomats and residents

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because that's where you're
going to get the announcements,

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and that's how
you're going to know

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when the recruitment is open
and get your application in.

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MR. PORTER STROSS: Great, yeah,
and I appreciate you mentioning

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the diplomats and residents.

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Obviously, I'm one of them,
but I have my colleagues

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around the country, too.

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So if you're not from
the region that I cover,

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I would encourage you to
look on careers.state.gov,

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and you can find the diplomatic
residents for your area

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and reach out to that person.

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And they're there to
provide information

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about becoming an office
management specialist or any

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of the other
careers that we have

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at the Department of State.

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So I also would mention
Stacey alluded to the office

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management specialist
physician vacancy announcement

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is now open.

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We are accepting applications.

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It just opened on the second.

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That's one of the
reasons why we're

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doing this today, to be at
the beginning of the period

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because it will close
on the 15th of December.

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So it is a short
window here that you

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can get in your application.

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So I would certainly
encourage anyone

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who's interested in becoming
an office management

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specialist to go to
careers.state.gov,

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look at the requirements
there, and then,

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if you meet those
requirements, please go ahead

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and submit your application
before the deadline.

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But, Stacey, really
appreciate your time today.

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Thank you for answering
all of my questions

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and sharing information
for the viewers here.

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And then I'd also like
to thank Mika and Terri

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for sharing
information in the chat

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and answering the questions
that may have come up there.

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So I don't have another Facebook
Live scheduled at the moment,

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but we'll have probably
some in January.

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So please just follow
my Facebook page,

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and I'll be announcing
those as they come together.

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So, again, thanks
very much, Stacey.

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STACEY: Excellent.

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Thank you, Jason.

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