U.S. Department of State
U.S. Department of State Employee Reviews
Found 867 reviews matching the search See all 1,123 reviews
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Great Way to Serve
Deputy Chief, Mail Ground and Transportation (Current Employee) – Sterling, VA – November 11, 2018
Completely enjoy serving my country and being a mentor to young men and women who are also seeking to serve their country. Work days are filled with rewarding challenges; opportunity to break paradigms and institute new processes using new technologies. The DoS has a culture of commitment to teamwork and positively representing America to the world. The most difficult part of the job is ensuring products get to the end user in minimal time. The most enjoyable part is working with other and exceeding customer's expectations.
Great co-workers and Supervisors
Customer Service Representative (Current Employee) – Washington, DC – January 21, 2019
Busy and fast paced environment,The most enjoyable part of the day is the people that I work with. Hardest part of the day can be some of the customers we interact with through out the day.
Pros
Making people smile
Cons
Low Pay and lack of benefits
Great People
Quality Assurance Analyst (Current Employee) – Charleston, SC – January 21, 2019
Great people to work with
Cubicle farm in older buildings, but nice new building just opened
Decent cafeteria
Campus is good place to walk around
Jobs susceptible to US Govt Shut Downs
Cubicle farm in older buildings, but nice new building just opened
Decent cafeteria
Campus is good place to walk around
Jobs susceptible to US Govt Shut Downs
Wonderful experience as a public servant
U.S. Foreign Service Officer (Current Employee) – Washington, DC – January 8, 2019
Would highly recommend for those wishing to pursue a career in foreign affairs. Exciting opportunities for travel and work alongside passionate colleagues. Work within large bureaucratic system can be frustrating and management is uneven, but overall a wonderful experience.
Best place to work on diverse foreign policy issues
Foreign Service Officer (Current Employee) – Washington County, DC – January 8, 2019
The State Department is an interesting employer, with opportunities to work on diverse issues in diverse functions. As a mid-level foreign service officer, I have had the opportunity to explore the world while honing my leadership skills and judgment as a diplomat. That said, the foreign service life is not for everyone and employees are expected to make personal and professional sacrifices throughout their careers. I believe this is why it is difficult to retain young talent, because the HR and promotion systems are outdated and inflexible, pushing young and ambitious people to look for more impact and professional growth elsewhere.
Pros
Opportunities to work on diverse issues
Cons
Bad HR, too many white men, promotion system outdated and bureaucratic
A good place to work
Human Resources Specialist (Current Employee) – Washington, DC – January 7, 2019
Lots of opportunity. Allows you to have a stable career, with ability to travel and learn about the world. There is no such thing as a typical day, it is always exciting.
Great place to work
Records Manager (Current Employee) – Reston, VA – January 3, 2019
Great mission, and opportunity to help develop a fledgling records management program. Client is very appreciative and receptive of records management expertise of contractor staff.
Pros
Flexible work hours
Cons
n/a
Important issues daily and excellent work engagements
Ambassador (Former Employee) – DC - District Of Columbia – December 17, 2018
It was great travel and challenging experiences. I enjoyed the professional environment and working on issues that have a global focus. The environment was also very pleasant.
Pros
Issues of importance and travel
Cons
Overall management
Useful experience
FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER (Former Employee) – Washington, DC – December 11, 2018
The State Department was a useful launchpad for a long, private-sector career overseas. The Mandarin course at the Foreign Service Institute could have been better (for instance, by holding it in a Chinese-speaking country...), but it provided very solid grounding in the language.
Not a good place
Senior Security Consultant (Former Employee) – Washington, DC – December 9, 2018
No compensation/benefits. Very stressful workplace with little or no training. Not a good place for contractors. Overall supervision was not good, to much who you knew work environment.
Pros
Easy work
Cons
Poor supervision
I would not recommend it.
Diplomatic Security Officer (Current Employee) – Washington, DC – December 8, 2018
Working for State Department while it may be a decent stepping stone job giving you certain things to help progress your career later on is not a job for the long term nor will it feel like a satisfying experience in the short term. Management is deplorable. Working conditions are bad and it is a constantly hostile work environment where you show up every day worried you might just lose your job because the wrong person woke up in a bad mood and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Internship
Intern, U.S. Department of State (Former Employee) – Ontario – December 6, 2018
I was an intern so most of my work involved basic office work. The opportunity to work in another country as well as gain work experience as a college student was invaluable.
best for double dipping retired professionals
Architect (Former Employee) – Washington, DC – December 5, 2018
Professional life is very frustrating.Everybody, at all levels, know the problems, but nobody is willing to take necessary steps to solve them. Very poor moral. Civilian professionals, many I met were quite brilliant, quickly move back to private sector and most foreign service personnel are trapped. Foreign service colleagues must blindly follow supervisors. New and creative ideas are ignored and actively discouraged.
Review/evaluation process is meaningless. All evaluations are written by the individual and simply signed by the supervisor. So most go out of way to not rock the boat. Thus, most supervisors are temperamental prima donnas.
Promotion process is simply perverse. Most management & executive level personnel have frequent & gigantic failures (eg pick almost any construction project) in their portfolio, yet reward and promotion is all but guaranteed.
Current technologies are not used. The longer you stay the farther behind the tech times you will be.
This job is definitely more about living the diplomat lifestyle (which is definitely a blast) than practicing your profession...unless your profession is being a usg employee. It is like your job is a paid vacation.
Review/evaluation process is meaningless. All evaluations are written by the individual and simply signed by the supervisor. So most go out of way to not rock the boat. Thus, most supervisors are temperamental prima donnas.
Promotion process is simply perverse. Most management & executive level personnel have frequent & gigantic failures (eg pick almost any construction project) in their portfolio, yet reward and promotion is all but guaranteed.
Current technologies are not used. The longer you stay the farther behind the tech times you will be.
This job is definitely more about living the diplomat lifestyle (which is definitely a blast) than practicing your profession...unless your profession is being a usg employee. It is like your job is a paid vacation.
Pros
living abroad
Cons
depressing work culture
lots of travel
Contractor (Current Employee) – Arlington, VA – November 29, 2018
Traveled to over 140 countries. worked 9-10 months a year, able to take breaks at any destination in the world.
Could see that I made a difference. Learned about many cultures.
Could see that I made a difference. Learned about many cultures.
Pros
always learning
Cons
no vacation days and holidays while working
not a good life.
UNIFORM PROTECTION OFFICER (Current Employee) – DC - District of Columbia, DC – November 26, 2018
quality of life isnt the best working here. terrible company. am not fond of it at all. dont really feel like typing this. but it requires me to do so.
Pros
pay
Cons
everything else
Job Security/Advancement
Administrative Specialist (Current Employee) – Washington, DC – November 13, 2018
I really liked working for the Department of State and loved the job security plenty of opportunities to advanced. My co-workers were awesome people. I would like to relocate and get closer to home.
Overall rating
Based on 1,123 reviews
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Ratings from women
2.5InHerSight Score
2.6Personal Development
2.8Career Opportunities
2.3Family Support
Women rate the female-friendliness of their workplaces on InHerSight
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