The Student Room Group
Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>
Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>
Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>

Experience for FCO!

Hey there,

I've been reading through posts and it seems that many of us want to know what work experience, or experience full stop would be useful to get into the FCO.

We all know that the Fast Track Graduate Scheme is the entry point, but what do you do before?

Is volunteering for the ICS as good as working for the British Council? Is having no experience abroad OK?

If you've made it into the FCO, or have an insight through interviews etc., it would be great to hear from you! And, if you're applying too, hopefully some answers here will be of help.

Sloppy Jumpers.
General comment would be that of the many FCO people I know, very few fit any particular type of stereotype or model. The whole 'go to Oxbridge, get a 1st, work for 6 months educating under privileged orphans while sleeping in a yurt' type view I've seen expressed elsewhere is just not right.

The reality is that you can live overseas, spend time doing all manner of exciting things, but that doesnt make you an automatic fit for the foreign office. What they (and other CS depts) are interested in is your aptitude to be able to come in and work in a relatively high paced environment where you are having to prioritise information, provide advice, and use your best judgement to offer guidance to seniors to let them make decisions. If this experience has come from working overseas then thats great, but in reality it can just as easily be obtained back home in the UK.

What is well worth remembering is that Faststream is looking to appoint individuals who will be at a senior management (CS Grade 7) level within 3-4 years for most of the CS, and a bit longer for FCO. In other words, they are looking to your management skills, your ability to direct, offer guidance, manage problems and prioritise issues. They don't expect you to turn up as a fully formed G7 from the word go, but they are looking for you to have the potential to be a senior manager quickly - focus on the experience in any walk of life which gives you this sort of chance to demonstrate these skills. It won't necessarily come from a British Council internship, and I would always advise against coming up with a 'this will get me into the FCO' post uni career plan involving travel, volunteering and living in countries to learn languages, because my own experience is that those who say this will work for them then very very rarely end up in the FCO!

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you