CSC calls for applications for the Foreign Service Officer exam

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) announced yesterday that application period is ongoing for the conduct of the Career Service Examination for Foreign Service Officer (CSE-FSO) on August 7 this year.

The CSC, in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will conduct the CSE-FSO as the first part (Qualifying Test) of the five-part Foreign Service Officer Examination of the DFA. As such, passing the CSE-FSO is a requisite to be able to proceed to the succeeding parts of the FSO Examination: Preliminary Interview, Written Test, Psychological Test, and Oral Test. The FSO Examination is administered by the DFA to recruit candidates for the Foreign Service Officer, Class IV position.

To qualify, applicants must be natural-born Filipino citizens that are concurrent permanent residents of the country and meet the following qualifications: not more than 35 years old on the day of the examination; at least a bachelor’s degree graduate; and with at least two-year work experience or further studies or a combination of both after college graduation.

Applications should be submitted in person at any DFA Regional Consular Office, or Philippine embassies and consulates abroad by June 10, 2016, or at the DFA-Board of Foreign Service Examinations, Pasay City on June 17, 2016. Admission fee is P500.

The CSC said that passing the CSE-FSO results to qualification to proceed to Stage 2 (Preliminary Interview) of DFA’s FSO Examination, and grant of the Career Foreign Service Officer Eligibility.

Comparable to a Career Service Professional Eligibility, the Career FSO Eligibility is appropriate to first level (clerical) and second level (technical) positions in the government that do not involve practice of profession and are not covered by special laws. With this, the CSC clarified that the Career FSO Eligibility does not make its holder eligible for Foreign Service Officer positions, which require passing DFA’s five-stage FSO Examination.

For details on admission qualifications, list of testing centers, and application documentary requirements and procedure, check the FSO Examination announcement posted at the DFA website www.dfa.gov.ph. The Announcement is also available at the CSC website www.csc.gov.ph.

- CSC Press Release