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?
A: My family was very nervous when I went to Saudi Arabia, and, strangely enough, going around in an armored car becomes normal. My philosophy is that I could be walking down the street in my home town and get hit by a bus, but the likelihood that I'm targeted because I'm a diplomat is just something I live with; it comes with the job. ... I try to not go around waving the black passport that often, but it's the cost of doing my job and serving my country.
Q: Do you feel you're kind of a forerunner for this new administration seeing as you are a female diplomat serving in places like Saudi Arabia?
A: Oh man, I wish. Starting in the Bush administration, they made a huge push to include women and minorities. That's one thing I like to talk about, the changing face of the diplomatic Corps. It did used to be an all white male club, usually they had graduated from Yale and Harvard, but if we're going to tell America's message, it has to be in a way that reflects all of America.
Q: Were there many women serving in Saudi Arabia?
A: I worked with a large group of women. They take a certain amount of joy in sending blond women over there to serve. I never blend. It gave me a much different perspective being a female in Saudi Arabia.
Q: Now going back to a point you made earlier, even though the Foreign Service is typically seen as the "good old boys from Yale," is it becoming easier for a student from, say, Virginia Tech to get a job?
A: Absolutely. Alumni still go back to their alma maters to recruit, but we are making an effort to get the word out to more schools. I think we could be a little better at advertising ourselves. Most people don't really know what we do, which becomes a problem when they get in trouble overseas. I mean, there was one woman in my class who had an associate's degree and was a travel agent before she joined the service, and now she is in Jerusalem. If you took a good range of political classes in college and take the time to read different publications and read the news, you'll be right up there with them.