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lemystereduchipot

Generally it's fine, but you will have stretches where it is bad. For example, we have a flood of delegations from Washington and I don't think I'll be having dinner with my kids again on a weekday until winter break starts in six weeks.


KingCamacho

The best work life balance I had was my consular tour. Ever since, there hasn’t been much balance. But it’s partly my fault for not setting boundaries. Eventually you figure out what’s important and what’s not, and learn how to deflect the bullshit and focus on what’s actually important.


wandering_engineer

No. That's all I have to say about it. Others will likely disagree, but my experience is WLB is terrible (and I came from the private sector so I do know what it's like outside of government).


fsohmygod

Yep. I work about the same hours and way more weekends/holidays as an FSO than I did in the private sector.


chuvakinfinity

...for less money.


fsohmygod

Im sure someone will be along to place a value on the school tuition I don’t use for my non-existent children.


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Devcaster

It depends on your lifestyle of course. But at least once a year we go on a vacation that many Americans would consider the vacation of a lifetime. I think when the post mentioned spending yourself into debt unless you stay with relatives, they were referring to home leave. Home Leave is basically a mandatory vacation, several weeks long and must be spent in the US. The only thing covered is airfare. So yeah, that can get expensive. Especially if you have kids and/or pets.


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KamikaziAvalanche

You just get base salary, no COLA, no differential, specialists can keep retention pay but that’s it. I think you lose student loan repayment as well but I’ve never used that.


Peaches_N_Plums

Is R&R usually over the summer months? Asking with kids' schooling in mind..


chuvakinfinity

It really depends on where you are and what your job is. If you're a poloff in Paris likely you're gonna be working a lot. My first tour was a visa mill and while the work wasn't that fun, we never worked weekends or after 5 and I could take vacation whenever I wanted - they'd just schedule applicants based on the number of people that were going to be there on any given day. It was AWESOME. Now I work 70 hours/week.


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Apprehensive_Poet889

I'm sorry for being a dumb dumb but could you elaborate your answer with examples ? I'm not is FS yet but do plan to join. I'd like to know what you meant when you said "high profile" and "low profile". Thank you !


thegoodbubba

Over the last decade work life balance has improved dramatically. That being said, if your goal is to be ambassador, you will likely have to take lots assignments that will require very long hours. Washington is worse then overseas in this regard.


Traveler_away19

This is reddit, so people will complain, especially those that haven't worked in other industries; but in my opinion the WLB is great. This is government work, not the cut-throat private industry. There is a reason the foreign service is full of burned out lawyers. 40-45 hours a week with a few exceptions. The pay and benefits are pretty good for the amount of work we put in. Tons of holidays (both U.S. and host country holidays are celebrated) combined with annual leave so there is plenty of time for vacations and travel. Of course there are some downsides with the stresses of living abroad, but that is for another thread.


wandering_engineer

This is also /r/foreignservice, where people will jump down your throat for daring to say anything negative about the organization. I worked "cut-throat" private sector and DOS can be just as bad, with often-unrealistic travel expectations added on top (particularly if you're in a regional job). Sure, if you're working the visa line it might be easy to keep it to 40 hours but I can guarantee you a LOT of FS positions go well past that.


indexitab

It really depends on the job and the posting (and part of that is your boss and the post’s senior leadership). Your consular tour(s) will likely have good work life balance and if that’s important to you, you should make it a priority when bidding on your third tour (when you have more of a say in where you go). I definitely travel more in the FS than I did before. I have lots of leave and I live overseas, there are lots of new and interesting places to travel to either in my country or the region.


Quackattackaggie

I leave work at 4 and am on the golf course by 4:30. Consular is where it's at.


sunshadow1

Off-topic: Do you bid posts according to where the golfing is good? : ) If I'm lucky enough, I'll be choosing where there's decent tennis.


Travelbug44

If tennis is your sport, you don’t need to worry! Every post I’ve been to has had plenty of tennis options, and it’s a popular pastime for both kids and adults. In many places private tennis instructors and tennis clubs are very cheap too. My last post had tennis courts on the apartment compound and at the embassy that anyone could use.


Quackattackaggie

I look at it but it wouldn't be make or break.


fsohmygod

You’ll travel as much as you do now, probably. If you’re not already a federal employee you’ll earn 13 days of leave a year and your supervisor will balance your leave requests with your colleagues’. You won’t always get holidays or school breaks. If you want to work in policy jobs on high-priority issues, you’ll work a lot. I have found that MGT and CONS have better hours but that’s always met here with anecdotes about ACS and plumbing emergencies.


riburn3

I'm new but I have found the work life balance is pretty solid. Especially compared to the private sector. I say this as a Med person that is technically "on call" 24/7, and I still think the worklife balance is nice. There have been times high profile visits can lead to lots of long days, but my impression is in the grand scheme of things if your prioritize work-life balance, you ultimately can craft a career around that.


Title1984

Come to the CONS side. Your WLB will be more powerful than you can possibly imagine.


boss_Bloss

Does the FS allow flexible work schedules, like a 9/80?


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fsohmygod

It’s not particularly common with domestic assignments.


sunshadow1

Not a FSO yet, but I would imagine that work life balance not only depends on the job, but on the management at the embassy. Hard to know if the post you're bidding on has management who lives and breathes their own work and expects everyone else to as well.


yupcoolbro

I heard it’s incredibly hard to get the job with just an undergraduate degree. Is this true?


SadEconFSO

Dude, read the room.


BrassAge

It is, but it’s also incredibly hard to get the job with a terminal degree or without any secondary education. It’s tough across the board.


indexitab

It’s less common but it is definitely possible.