In Brief: Medical Provider Hiring Process
Updated: April 2024 This is a quick post to go over the hiring process for the U.S. Foreign Service, with some time references for each step in the process. There is a page here that goes over my personal timeline in the hiring process and everything thereafter. For the most part, specialists and generalists have
Slowing it down
Not much to write this week other than to say I will be moving the blog from a weekly publication to twice a week. I have been publishing a weekly post for a few years now, and as I get busier in my job, and there become fewer things to write about that are worth
A day in the life.
Back in Nouakchott I had a similar post about my day to day life running the Health Unit, so thought it would be a nice time to right down my routine here, and how it compares. The reality is every Embassy is run a little bit differently, and the same is true of each Health
AMA: Danger Pay.
Since I have been assigned to Rangoon, several readers have asked me about the Danger Pay differential, and how one gets it. Danger Pay is a percentage pay differential an employee gets for serving in locations where circumstances on the ground could threaten physical harm against employees. Typical reasons a post would get Danger Pay
AMA: How does paid time off work?
I answered this question a couple of years ago, but it still continues to be one of the top questions prospective hires ask me when they are going through the process, so figured it would be a good time for an update. Paid time off is also referred to as annual leave in the Foreign
Elections!
For the first time ever, I got to experience a U.S. Presidential Election overseas, which was a unique and fascinating experience. Particularly because of the country I currently am posted. It was also the first time I hadn’t voted in person since I first became eligible to vote in the 2003, being one of the
Two Days in Mandalay
One of the coolest parts of my job is easily the periodic travel I get to do. Last month had me heading to Las Vegas for continuing medical education, and this month had me heading to Mandalay in Upper Myanmar to do some hospital visits. Mandalay is the former imperial capital of Myanmar, until the
Missing Myanmar
Late September into Early October gave me a wonderful opportunity to visit the U.S. for work as well as take some time to see my family after being away for two months. To kick things off, I flew from Yangon to Las Vegas (via Seoul) for our annual continuing medical education conference. MED puts these
My Foreign Service Timeline
One of the most common questions I get is how long it took me to go from applying to hiring when I joined the Foreign Service. There is a headline page at the top of this blog where you can find that information, but based on the questions and page view totals, I know not
Can Foreign Service Employees Vote?
It’s election season and recently I got a very interesting question that asked if Foreign Service employees can vote. This apparently stemmed from an incorrect news report from a major U.S. news outlet that claimed State Department employees, specifically diplomats, not being allowed to vote. The answer is: yes, diplomats, State Department employees, and federal
Foreign Service Hiring Process
I still get frequent questions about the Foreign Service hiring process so thought I would post an update to one of my very first posts over 3 years ago, detailing that process. This has been updated slightly, but otherwise the government moves pretty slowly, so not much has changed. There is a page here that