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U.S. Office of Personnel Mgt.

United States Office of Personnel Management

Operating Manual

Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions

Individual Occupational Requirements for

GS-130:    Foreign Affairs Series


The text below is extracted verbatim from Section IV-B of the Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions (p.IV-B-28), but contains minor edits to conform to web-page requirements.

Use these individual occupational requirements in conjunction with the "Group Coverage Qualification Standard for Professional and Scientific Positions."

Basic Requirements:

  1. Degree: major or equivalent, or a combination of courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, in international law and international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; or 12 semester hours in one of the above disciplines and 12 semester hours in statistics/quantitative methods.

    OR

  2. Combination of education and experience--courses equivalent to a major, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

    OR

  3. Experience--four years of appropriate experience in one or more of the fields listed above in work associated with international organizations, problems, or other aspects of foreign affairs.

Evaluation of Experience: Qualifying work experience may have been gained through residence, study, teaching, business or commercial activities, military service, newspaper work, military or civil government activities, missionary or international relief work, or other experience in foreign countries.

For positions at grades GS-12 and above, this experience must have included either (a) responsibility for the direction and coordination of research, analysis, or other professional work in one or more of the fields listed in A above, or (b) specialized professional work of a high level of difficulty and responsibility in one or more of these fields. This high level experience must have been in such specialized activities as (1) formulation of instructions and policy guidance for United States representatives in international organizations; (2) transport and communication involving knowledge of economic, political, and technical aspects of international aviation, shipping, inland transport, or radio, telephone, and telegraph, etc.; (3) cultural affairs involving formulation and operation of policy on large-scale international cultural exchange programs; (4) occupied area affairs involving problems of occupation of conquered or liberated countries, regions, or zones; or (5) other specialized international affairs such as analyzing public opinion and attitudes, evaluating specific conditions, trends, or forces in a foreign country, formulating policy on problems of petroleum resources or fisheries, etc., representing foreign interests, protecting American property or interests, arranging for conferences, or similar activities.

Updated 06 November 1998