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by JR8 » Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:03 am
With ref: to Lynx's post.
An embassy is physically partitioned into two sections, one side for 'home based staff' (HBS), and the other for 'local based staff' [LBS]. The former are from the embassy's country and are security cleared (at a high level), the latter can be any nationality, but having knowledge of or an interest in the country in question is er, expected/assumed.
I've not heard of HBS being hired abroad, as usually they have worked their way up through that country's equivalent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at home, and then been identified/selected to rotate out for an offshore posting. Thus the staff are known quantities, trusted, and on a long-term career path.
Openings for LBS are advertised as other jobs in the open market would be. In newspapers, job-ad sites etc. Apparently the embassy in question does identify itself, it's not vague or anonymous as with many finance jobs ('Our client, a major Wall Street bank....[etc]').
I mentioned this question to a diplomat friend, and her reply was: 'With those qualifications why limit yourself to the Italian embassy? Does she speak any other languages?' I.e. consider it more broadly; Switzerland is the next obvious candidate. But the thinking was broader, consider all missions from the EU, or those from 'the West'. She said that at the last embassy she was posted, the LBS were about as diverse as the UN. Her other suggestion was drawing up a shortlist and contacting the missions (embassies/consulates) directly.
- Being 'LBS' for some people is a career in itself: Some might stay with one embassy for life. Others might work for a number of embassies during their careers (understanding the core of how an embassy functions is a transferable skill-set). But for plenty of others it is just a job like any other 'non-career' job, something you choose to do for a few years.
'Do it or do not do it: You will regret both' - Kierkegaard