Female representation has increased to 42%, but the diplomatic corps is still 6% black and 7% Hispanic.Ī spokesman says the State Department is moving toward a “more holistic” hiring approach that will “result in a more qualified pool of applicants.” But given that applications already vastly outnumber available jobs, why the imperative to consider candidates who flunk the exam? The spokesman said the department believes education and work experience are better predictors of job performance than the exam. Then director general of the Foreign Service, called for it to be scrapped for its negative effect on minority hiring.

The State Department made changes to the test in 1989, in response to decades of litigation by female applicants, and in 2006 after The test expires after 18 months I passed several times before I was offered a job in 2001. In a typical year, 10,000 to 20,000 people take the exam and 2% to 3% of those are hired. When I started taking it in the 1990s, it took three hours and consisted of a job knowledge section along with the kind of general questions contestants answer on “Jeopardy!,” an English grammar and usage section, and an essay, which wasn’t graded unless you met the cut-off score. Recalled that in 1953 the test took 3½ days and covered everything from astronomy to zoology. The exam has long been regarded as difficult.