U.S. Department of State Officer Kelly Landry came to speak to Virginia Tech students Monday night to recruit for employment in the Foreign Service. She brought with her the highs and lows of being a female diplomat in Saudi Arabia and the shift the Department of State will be making with the new administration.
Q: Are there a lot of job opportunities for students coming right out of college in the Foreign Service?
A: There are a lot of job opportunities; whether students coming right out of college are eligible is based off of their course of study, the type of activities they have done outside of class in order to gain more knowledge, not only of their own community but also of other communities. Whether that be in the United States through outreach to immigrant workers teaching English as a second language or traveling overseas, it really depends.
Q: Has there been a large turnover in job with the changing of the administrations?
A: It's more that the budget we requested during the final days of the Bush administration finally came through. And, actually, there was a supplemental passed during the Bush administration allowing us to hire more than we had previously. One thing that the State Department has really fought for is that we need more officers. The world has changed, and we can't serve in all the different places that we need to be if we don't have more officers. With this new budget, we will be hiring about 200 to 300 additional officers than we have in previous years.
Q: What type of role do you take in policy creation and implementation?
A: Policy is really created from the work done at the embassy and consulates. We are the eyes and ears of Washington, and they can't create policy if they don't know what are the personalities on the other side of the Atlantic or on any other continent. It's then our job to take these policies back and put them into action.
Q: Now with tensions heightening all over the world and multiple embassies being bombed, are you fearful at all in your line of work?
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