CHIMERE, FOREIGN SERVICE SPECIALIST: My name is Chimere.
I am a Foreign Service Specialist serving as a Security Engineering Officer.
A Security Engineering Officer, what do we do?
It can run the gamut of, oh my goodness gracious.
We can repair alarm systems, install alarm systems, install cameras.
We can travel as a part of the advanced team for the Secretary of State.
We can do inspections overseas. We can inspect the network at the Department-
various Department of State embassies overseas.
I was recruited directly out of college, out of Clemson University.
And actually, I went all the way to the other side of the country to actually be recruited.
I was a member of the National Society of Black Engineers
and we had our 2003 national convention in Anaheim, California.
And that’s where I saw the State Department table.
I knew absolutely nothing about the State Department.
I had never heard of the State Department. I did hear of, of course, the Secretary of State.
What got me excited about the job was the travel.
Granted, I was a little nervous at first
when they told me I would have to travel overseas and live overseas.
because I’d never been apart, well, that distance, from my family.
I am a country girl from South Carolina.
So, you know, I traveled distances maybe two or three states over.
Stayed for about a week or so.
Never two years, two to three years away from my family.
So, that was really nervous- well really made me nervous,
but I was willing to take that chance.
Well, when I served on Secretary’s detail,
where I served as a part of the advanced team for the Secretary of State,
I visited approximately sixteen different countries,
some of them being Kyrgyzstan; Luxembourg; Mexico City; Lima, Peru.
When I served in Dakar, Senegal,
I was actually covering seven other embassies in seven other countries,
ranging from Mali to Guinea, Conakry to Cape Verde.
So, I’ve seen a quite a bit of the world in my short tenure with the Department of State.
Social-wise, I made sure that I was involved in a lot of embassy activities.
In West Africa, we have WAIST, which is the West African Invitational Softball Tournament.
So, I ran the concession stand for that. And I found, you know, other little groups that
I could join and tried to do things actually locally,
you know, attend local concerts and things like that.
So you can make a social life for yourself overseas.
This is a very educational and challenging experience for me.
It gets me out of my comfort zone.
Definitely gets me out of my comfort zone,
as well as gives me the opportunity to serve my country
to represent my country overseas without carrying a gun.
So that’s what keeps me going,
being able to learn a new skill,
being able to learn how to wire up a panel or alarm system by myself.
You know, it really gets me out of my comfort zone and out of the box.
And I don’t have to worry about staying in a cube 24/7.
There’s always something exciting going on.
My advice that I give to a lot of the engineers that I may encounter at career fairs is
granted, you can do a lot with engineering. You can design. You can build.
But if you want an out-of-the-box experience and out-of-the-box engineering job,
I recommend that you go to careers.state.gov
or talk to me some more.