Arnold A. Chacon—the director general of the Foreign Service at the State Department and former ambassador to Guatemala—will visit several Bay Area universities on May 23 and 24 in the hopes of recruiting for the Consular Fellows Program, which focuses on hiring people with exceptional language skills to serve in U.S. embassies and consulates overseas.
Chacon decided to come to the Bay Area because of its tradition of technological advancement.
“For the last 30 years, the Bay Area has been the incubator for cutting edge technology and creating entrepreneurs and leading innovators,” Chacon said. “My job as director general is to build a diverse and talented and agile workforce.”
Chacon, who studied international affairs at University of Colorado at Boulder, has served as a diplomat in many countries in Central and South America as well as Europe.
He initially studied medicine in hopes of making a difference through the field, but found himself on a new path after doing some volunteer work in Latin American countries.
“[People were] suffering from organized crime and poverty issues, food security, social inclusion issues with the large indigenous population,” Chacon said about being an ambassador in Guatemala. “[We] helped rebuild their institution and have indigenous justice, so that it would create opportunities so people don’t have to leave to make a living.”
Chacon served as U.S. ambassador to Guatemala in 2011 after former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt was brought to trial for genocide of indigenous people and crimes against humanity.
“You have to be a good generalist,” Chacon said about being an ambassador. “[Someone said] it’s like getting a master’s degree all the time, learning about each country and culture and history.”
Chacon is specifically visiting Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley in hopes of recruitment.
“The program started with a focus on Mandarin and Chinese speakers and Portuguese, because of the large demand of visas from China and Brazil,” Chacon said.
In 2008, the State Department saw a demand for Spanish speakers because of the high demand of visas from Mexico, according to Chacon.
About 10 million visas are requested a year for business, student or other purposes and one million of those visas come from Mexico, Chacon said.
Because of this high demand, the Consular Fellows Program has certain incentives for participants.
The program is three to five years and pays its workers 10 percent of the basic salary. It also offers students a repayment program where students get to pay off some of their student loans while they work in the program.
Among other qualifications needed in order to be eligible for the program, one must have a bachelor’s degree, speak a foreign language and be a U.S. citizen. The hiring process consists of an application, an evaluation panel, a telephone language test, an oral and language test and medical and security clearances.
The program is in the process of expanding to include other languages, like Russian, French and Arabic, according to Chacon.
Chacon says that working as an ambassador is more about seeing the world and how you can make an impact.
“We want the same things,” Chacon said. “Everybody wants the opportunity to make a decent living, do meaningful work, provide for their families, have our children do better than we did and have a responsive democratic government that can provide security and a leveled playing field that can provide opportunities. That doesn’t change in whatever country you are in.”