Secretary of State Video Transcripts
Version 1
Hello,
I’m Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and I would like to welcome you to, and thank you for visiting, our careers web site.
This is your world. This is your America.
Choosing to become involved in diplomacy, and representing America to the world, offers untold rewards.
You have the ability to affect global change and impact people’s lives. You will be a vital part of history in the making — making a difference and contributing to our global communities.
You will have experiences to treasure for a lifetime, and an extraordinary sense of pride and accomplishment.
So I invite you to explore our site, and learn how you can show the world a side of America it has never seen.
Version 2
Welcome to careers.state.gov.I’m Condoleezza Rice, and I would like to thank you for visiting our site.
This is your world. This is your America.
Consider a career with the U.S. Department of State and join us in communicating to the world that America is truly diverse, represented by people with unique perspectives from every culture, race, religion, skill set, and educational background.
We’re part of the global community, united by our common values: democracy, liberty and the dignity of every life.
Help us affect global change and impact people’s lives by working for America; working for the U.S. Department of State. You can make a difference and contribute to our global society.
I invite you to explore our site, and learn how you can show the world a side of America it has never seen. You.
Video Transcripts
Foreign Service Officer | Foreign Service Specialist | Civil Service | Student Programs
Foreign Service Officer
- ALAN
I realized a lifelong dream when I was accepted into the State Department.
My name is Alan. I currently work in the operation center. We connect the department principals from embassies around the world. We brief them to news and information.
One of the reasons that I wanted to join the Foreign Service was my second grade teacher. One of the things she taught us was that there were people whose job it was to go and make friends in other countries and prevent wars and those people were called diplomats.
Wherever there is peace, there is diplomacy. So there is a great satisfaction in serving my country and maybe leave the world in a little bit better place than you found it.
There is no such thing as a slow day and the work itself is fascinating. There is no component of international relations that doesn' t depend on the State Department. So there's a weighty responsibility there. You are, for all intents and purposes, America, to them.
When I was in Algeria, I actually observed Ramadan as an act of solidarity with the people who worked in my section. At the end of each night of Ramadan, there is what's called an Iftar and an Iftar is a feast. I was actually invited to a number of iftars by my friends and it was pretty amazing to experience their culture.
The travel is tremendously exciting.
Algeria is a place that has tremendously under-explored Roman ruins. My experiences in Algeria really opened my eyes to the impact of the work that we do.
There is a great satisfaction in serving my country but there's also a great satisfaction in knowing that I am making the world a better place.
- HEIDI
My parents had a tremendous amount of personal pride when I was actually selected for the Foreign Service.
My name is Heidi and I'm a U.S. Foreign Service officer working at the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have also served in El Salvador, China and Malaysia.
I am a daughter of immigrants to the United States and my family in Honduras had a very rich civic participation ethic.
For me to represent their new country overseas was an extraordinary, extraordinary achievement.
Sometimes people have this perception that the United States is a very homogeneous society when in reality we are a fusion of cultures.
It's intellectually stimulating to be working on issues that show up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
In El Salvador I was able to help facilitate and moderate a public debate on their economy.
I certainly do my best to represent the United States overseas. I think in terms of contributing to changing peoples' perceptions, not just about the United States, but also about their own societies.
To empower people so that they themselves begin to demand more from their political leadership. What you are able to draw from this experience is so rewarding. It really does enrich you as a person.
- LINISSA
You won't start off stapling paper. You'll start off actually doing something important.
My name is Linissa. I work at the U.S. embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
As soon as I came in the Foreign Service, I went to Sudan. When I found out I was going to Sudan, my mom was in shock.
I think for her the issue was safety. But the more and more she learned about the country, the more and more she became comfortable.
One of the key things that foreign service officers need to do is to make friends with people that are from the country that you're in. They're your best source of information. They help you learn about the culture, they help you learn about thepolitical situation.
So often when you' re in the United States you see the world from one view. It's like you have a camera lens here. But when you go overseas, the camera lens sort of shifts and you see it in a whole different perspective, and so you have a more complete view of how the world really is.
One time…I visited Darfur with Sudanese government officials to look at the situation of violence against women.
And I said I understand your situation, and the United States, we care. We are doing everything we can to make the situation better for you.
That really made me love being in the Foreign Service, to actually give hope to people.
I would definitely recommend joining the Foreign Service. Because you represent America. You represent America and its diversity.
- MANU
I think this is about as challenging a time as any for a U.S. Foreign Service officer to be out in the field telling America's story.
My name is Manu. I'm a Foreign Service officer.
I'm currently working as a staff assistant in the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau.
I happen to be a first generation immigrant. I spent 12 years in the private sector before joining the department.
The State Department I think has done a wonderful job of getting newly recruited Foreign Service officers up and running. They realize that entering classes the Foreign Service officers come from a wide array of backgrounds. For many it's a mid-career jump.
Once your assignments are known, then they give you more detailed training in that particular job that you'll be doing as well.
I think part of our job is to understand the local psyche, the local thought processes, understand the nuances that are embedded in the culture and in the language. You really have to, to some extent, throw yourself in it.
But you have to find that happy balance between understanding the local culture and promoting U.S. views as well.
My first posting with the State Department was in Manila, in the Philippines. A lot of Filipino entertainers were victims of the sex trade in Japan. And with a lot of political pressure, a lot of discussion, negotiations, the Japanese government ended up changing its visa regulations and I saw that play out first hand.
It makes you feel very good when you're able to help somebody and you've done your job right. There's been a positive outcome, that's a great feeling.
- RICHARD
What appealed to me most about the Foreign Service was the ability to help people.
My name is Richard. I am a Foreign Service officer in the management track. I currently work in the office of the Secretary of State.
We advance the travel of the Secretary of State, going out 5 or 6 days in advance to prepare the program.
We negotiate with the host government on who she's going to meet.
The State Department has brought me to every corner of the globe and taught me a couple of languages.
They trained me from scratch on how to be an effective diplomat.
When I was first assigned to West Africa they taught me French.
I was a political officer first year. I reported on human rights abuses. I traveled up country reporting on child labor practices on cocoa plantations.
After that I went to Paris where I was a consular officer.
I interviewed applicants who wanted to travel to the United States.
I helped American citizens who were traveling to France.
We're the face of America to the world. We value differences. We value different cultures. We want to show how our diversity is our strength.
You can't help but feel pride for what you do.
It's filled with adventure and intrigue and a keen sense of mission. I can't wait until I have grandkids and tell them stories about what I used to do.
- STORM
The Foreign Service – it's an amazing career.
In Namibia and in Nigeria, I met friends who are still friends to this day.
I'm Storm. I'm a public diplomacy officer in the U.S. Department of State in the Foreign Service.
I work and live overseas and show the world what it is to be American.
You have great responsibilities but you also enjoy many, many different things.
You are representative of the president himself and so what you do overseas matters.
Everything you do is watched so you always have to rise to the occasion.
You need to actually be in the culture, live in the culture for some time to really understand it.
You can be challenged to do a number of different things while overseas: Preparing for a presidential visit, helping Americans who may be locked in jail. Forwarding the missions of the department, including democratization, making a difference.
In my second year in Nigeria some American children were discovered in a remote village in Nigeria living there in an orphanage and within 3 or 4 days we were able to get mechanisms in process to bring them back to the U.S.
I was invited into homes. My first week there I went to a wedding. They gave me Nigerian names.
With that kind of experience you kind of step back and say wow, I mean, things are different in different parts of the world and I want to see more of that.
Theress job diversity – you change jobs every one, two, three years.
It's a very dynamic career with great opportunities that allow you to travel and live overseas in many different countries and cultures.
That responsibility of being an American overseas, and saying that "This is me. This is what America is." That is very important to me.
If you want challenge and you want to be able to experience life to its fullest, put simply, I think that's why you should join the Foreign Service.
Foreign Service Specialist
- CATHERINE
It's a sense of adventure, and the sense of obligation and pride for the country that accepted my parents.
My name is Catherine, I'm a Foreign Service specialist, currently stationed in Washington, D.C. as a program analyst.
I'm originally from Miami, Florida. I am a child of Cuban refugees. I found out about the Foreign Service sitting one day in my graduate level class the professor started talking about this job and I thought wow, that sounds kind of interesting.
I always thought I would join the Foreign Service, do it for a couple of years, and then move on. And after a couple of years, it was infectious. I didn't want to leave.
I'm a CPA, I have a masters in accounting, and I had friends who joined the big accounting firms, and they were doing regular boring stuff. And I look at what I've done.
I've lived all around the world, I've traveled extensively. At the end of the day I have a richer experience of life than my colleagues who stayed behind in Miami. I come from a very close knit family, so the idea of leaving home was hard. Once they saw the black passport, the diplomatic passport, the sense of pride was just…out of this world.
Civil Service
- SALLY
We really stand for life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.
My name is Sally. I work in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking of Persons at the State Department and my job is to fight Trafficking of Persons world wide.
Trafficking persons is a global problem. We see forced prostitution, domestic servitude. That's maids, child maids, forced labor in agriculture, construction.
In five years in trafficking we've seen truly over a hundred countries improve their laws.
I'm proud of the fact that the work that I do everyday is making a difference at that smallest level.
As a civil servant you have to have that long term knowledge and memory of what's happening. We see the global trends.
I have the best of both worlds. I have my home here in Washington D.C. and I do travel frequently usually four or five times a year.
I've been to 56 countries. I've seen things I never thought I'd see. I've been to Madagascar, I've been to Zanzibar, I've seen Angkor Wat, I've seen wonderful things. I've been to Israel and I went on patrol with their border officials along the Sinai, I mean I've seen fascinating things.
I don't think there is any other place I could do that. I mean when I talk to my friends nobody who's my age has done things I've done. Nobody.
I love my job.
Student Programs
- APRIL
The state department just gives you so many career opportunities. Whether you are a psychology major, whether you’re a sociology major, an econ major or a political major.
My name’s April I’m an HR specialist and former intern for the department of state.
I see our mission as bringing peace and bringing the world together.
I’m supporting the people who have the opportunities to go overseas and to help our nation.
I graduated from Washington State University in Pullman Washington and I had first heard about the internship program from a career center there.
Because I’m a newly graduated University student, I feel that I’m bringing new ideas.
I get to see what’s behind the scenes; I get to be involved with everything that’s going on behind the scenes.
You have the training necessary in order for you to progress in your career.
There are so many career tracks that we can go into: there’s foreign affairs, there’s budget analysts, there are programs for just everything.
This is a very diverse agency we have people from many back grounds, from many different areas of the world.
Everyday I learn something new and I grow…and I see the positive things that the agency is involved in and that’s what gives you a sense of fulfillment. That you are making a difference.
