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NARRATOR: You might love working for the Foreign Agricultural Service if …
Mayol: If you’re a hungry professional, if you need a learning environment and a multicultural
environment, you're in for a treat.
You’re going to love it.
Sage-El: You might love working for FAS if you like traveling and meeting people from
different cultures.
Snipes: You’d love working for FAS if you have a passion for US agriculture, if you
enjoy variety, if you like, every once in a while, flying by the seat of your pants.
Thomas: I've had the opportunity to travel to almost 20 countries throughout the world
and it has definitely improved my appreciation for foreign diplomacy, for cultural issues,
cultural differences, etc.
It has been a wonderful experience.
Kamau: Working for FAS is quite challenging, inspiring, and more importantly fulfilling.
NARRATOR: The US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service is the premier
foreign affairs agency focused on international agricultural trade and development issues.
FAS staff work at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at U.S. diplomatic
missions in more than 90 countries around the world.
If you have interests in economics, trade, foreign policy, international development,
marketing, law, or agriculture, a career at FAS could be for you.
Mangino: You get to see the physical impact that you have and you get to see that you
are improving things for people.
Bruce: You can be an animal science major, you can be a development person, you can be
an analyst, you can do so many different things and come to FAS and you can find your niche.
NARRATOR: Working at FAS can also mean getting out from behind a desk and out into the world.
Gonzalez: I have gotten my boots muddy in the mountains of Central America doing market
research, organized events in the Caribbean to promote US foods, I have been helping to
negotiate international agreements.
There's few jobs I think that will give you that wide variety of different activities.
Mayol: Maybe in the morning I’m working on doing a grain and feed report – investigating
and researching numbers, and analyzing statistics – and then in the afternoon I could be sitting
in a steering committee of a food safety program.
NARRATOR: While helping American agriculture you will also find yourself helping people
in other countries while learning about them and learning from them.
Hanson: You go to each country and you need to learn the country, you need to learn the
language, you need to learn the history, need to learn the culture.
One person referred to me a long time ago, he said each time I do a posting, in a way,
I think of it - it's like getting a new and another master’s degree.
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NARRATOR: The F-A-S team includes members of the federal Civil Service, as well as career
Foreign Service Officers and locally employed staff, who are citizens of the countries in
which they serve.
All of them share a passion for public service and global engagement.
Arbulu: I love this job, I love our partners.
They’re very good to work with.
And I feel like I've made a little bit of a difference in someone's life, in someone's
business and in someone's community.
Noguchi: (Speaking Japanese, then translating her words) That means if you love America,
if you love food, we have good people and interesting job so please seriously think
about being employed in FAS.
Drennan: As a young professional I don't think you will find as many opportunities and the
ability to have responsibilities in the first few years of your taking the job as you do
in FAS.
You could be negotiating trade agreements, you could be working on import requirements
and market access policy issues, you’ll be meeting with the ministers and vice ministers.
Kamau: If you love agriculture and you care about transforming people, transforming their
lives, getting an exposure of a lifetime, then FAS is the place to be in.
NARRATOR: You could be a development specialist, overseeing food aid programs or helping developing
countries strengthen their agricultural systems.
You could be an agricultural economist, looking at worldwide trends in agricultural production
and trade.
You could be a trade policy expert, representing U.S. interests in negotiations with your international
counterparts.
You could be an agricultural attaché, serving as the eyes, ears and voice of American agriculture
at a U.S. Embassy or mission overseas.
You could be a marketing specialist, working to promote U.S.-grown food and farm products
to consumers around the globe.
Are you ready to be part of the team that helps link U.S. agriculture to the world?
To learn more about careers with the Foreign Agricultural Service, go to www.fas.usda.gov
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