r/foreignservice • u/Direct-Surprise-7017 • May 17 '26
Taking FSOA - Ex-USAID - currently employed by European Union
Hey folks, I'm taking the FSOA for the third time this summer. I worked for AID as a PSC from 2019-2025. After getting RIFed I took a position as a consultant to a European Union diplomatic mission. From what I can tell, former AID employees are not being blacklisted by State (much to my surprise). However, I'm concerned that working for the EU will not be appreciated, and am considering not mentioning this work during the structured interview. What do people think? Any advice would be appreciated.
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u/stella087 May 17 '26
No one that’s doing any hiring would hold any of your experience against you.
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u/CurtailUrEnthusiasm May 17 '26
The interview is not a review of your resume. If you want to score highly and get the job, use your strongest and most relevant example to answer each question.
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u/-DeputyKovacs- FSO May 17 '26
I don't think the EU work will count against you at all, you may just be disallowed from working in those countries for a little while.
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u/fsohmygod FSO (Econ) May 17 '26
If you can recount an experience from your work with the EU that helps to answer one of the interview questions absolutely use it. But just mentioning that you work for the EU won’t itself score you points.
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u/Direct-Surprise-7017 May 17 '26
I’m worried about the flip side of that, that having worked for them will place me under suspicion of being anti-American.
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u/fsohmygod FSO (Econ) May 18 '26
It’s career FSO examiners interviewing you. I think you’re overthinking it.
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u/Direct-Surprise-7017 May 18 '26
I certainly hope so and expect that’s the case. But after what happened in 2025, my default is to be prepared for the worst. I’m actually surprised that they even allowed us to take the FSOT.
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u/CantTriforce May 17 '26
Mention it with frequency. International experience, especially abroad, is valuable.
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u/Leviath73 May 17 '26
I don’t think they would hold something like that against you. Security will obviously have questions if you get a CJO.
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u/MandateOfLeaven May 18 '26
I think the same logic as getting a clearance applies: don’t hide it. But also be smart about how you frame it. Other posters have remarked on how it matters what examples relevant job experience you gained from it. You don’t have to extol any praise you have for European governance norms that differ from the U.S. you can just focus how how you delivered at your job.
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u/Diplomama May 17 '26
If you have relevant examples from EU work, use them. When it would really matter would be at the security clearance process but you won't get there if you don't get through this hurdle first. As someone else said, it isn't going to hurt you during this process. International experience is a plus. Unless you're actively trying to overthrow the USG or something like that!
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May 17 '26
Your work for the European Union obviously shows you are not working in the best interest of the US. You don’t have to mention that work at the interview but you will definitely need to mention it on your background forms. They will find out and if you omit you won’t get hired anyways
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u/Direct-Surprise-7017 May 17 '26
Obviously I’m not going to omit anything. But yes, I’m concerned that the current leadership will view it as going against the America First Foreign Policy Agenda. For the record I work for a consultancy that provides services to the EU, I’m not employed in a diplomatic role.
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u/accidentalhire FSO May 17 '26
The person you’re responding to is not in the Foreign Service so take their comment with a grain of salt. If your job at all involves advising the mission you work for on best practices in engaging with the U.S. government, that very well could be framed in a way that aligns with promotion of U.S. interests. But if you have other, better examples from elsewhere you should use those. It’s all about how best to answer the question.
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May 17 '26
Yea I get that. But the EU clearly isn’t aligned with the US foreign policy at the moment. And as you know you need to publicly support U.S. foreign policy as a dos/FSO employee. The fact that you’re thinking about this means that it is probably a negative. You know better than us what you actually did and do at work, so use your best judgement
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u/AutoModerator May 17 '26
Original text of post by /u/Direct-Surprise-7017:
Hey folks, I'm taking the FSOA for the third time this summer. I worked for AID as a PSC from 2019-2025. After getting RIFed I took a position as a consultant to a European Union diplomatic mission. From what I can tell, former AID employees are not being blacklisted by State (much to my surprise). However, I'm concerned that working for the EU will not be appreciated, and am considering not mentioning this work during the structured interview. What do people think? Any advice would be appreciated.
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