3 FAH-1 H-2650
FOREIGN SERVICE CONVERSION
PROGRAMFOREIGN SERVICE SPECIALIST TO GENERALIST, CIVIL SERVICE TO FOREIGN
SERVICE SPECIALIST OR GENERALIST
(CT:POH-208; 07-06-2018)
(Office of Origin: HR/CSHRM)
3 FAH-1 H-2651 PURPOSE AND POLICY
3 FAH-1 H-2651.1 General
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
This program is intended for Department of State Foreign
Service specialists and Civil Service employees who demonstrate the skills
necessary to perform successfully in Foreign Service generalist or specialist
positions. The program is designed to increase the Departments flexibility in
managing its human resources by recruiting outstanding candidates to skill
codes which are in deficit, or which require additional employees with specific
abilities.
3 FAH-1 H-2651.2 Applicability
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
a. These regulations apply to the conversion of:
(1) Foreign Service specialists to Foreign Service
generalists skill codes at class FS-01 and below; and
(2) Civil Service employees to Foreign Service
generalist or specialist skill codes at class FS-01 and below.
b. Conversions above class FS-01, regardless of
occupational category, are governed by 3 FAM 2217.
3 FAH-1 H-2652 CERTIFICATION OF NEED
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
Annually, the Director General of the Foreign Service will
certify by skill code and class those generalist and specialist skill codes
which are in long-term surplus and those in which there are projected
deficits. These certified deficits may be met through this Conversion Program.
3 FAH-1 H-2653 SOURCE OF CANDIDATES
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
All candidates for conversion to Foreign Service
generalist or specialist skill codes at class FS-01 or below, governed by this
subchapter, are required to be tenured, career Foreign Service or Civil Service
State Department employees of proven ability and high potential for
advancement.
3 FAH-1 H-2654 OPEN SEASON FOR
CONVERSION
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
a. On an annual basis, the Department will establish an
application period during which Foreign Service and Civil Service personnel who
meet the eligibility requirements cited in this subchapter may apply on an
equal basis for conversion to Foreign Service specialist or generalist skill
codes.
b. The administration of the Conversion Program shall
be consistent with meeting the continuing, long-term requirement for personnel
with a combination of professional experience, education, and skills to meet
the long term projections of personnel flows and needs as mandated by section
601 (2) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980. Applicants will be accepted for
the Conversion Program in cases where those needs cannot reasonably be met from
within the ranks of career generalist and specialist Foreign Service personnel,
either through special training of career personnel and/or limited appointments
pending completion of such training.
c. No appointment may be made to a class inconsistent
with the projections of workforce needs at that class level.
3 FAH-1 H-2655 ELIGIBILITY
REQUIREMENTS
3 FAH-1 H-2655.1 Service
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
a. On the date of application, a candidate must be a
tenured, career Foreign Service specialist or a tenured, career Civil Service
employee and must have completed a minimum of seven years of creditable service
with the United States Government, including at least four years of service
during the last six years in Foreign Service positions abroad, graded at the
FS-05 level or above, except that applicants who began a qualifying period of
duty abroad after January 1, 1990, may be considered eligible for conversion
through January 1, 1998. In skill codes and classes where the administrative
promotion level is below FP-4, the Director General may authorize skill code
conversion for qualified employees with four years of service during the last
six years in Foreign Service positions abroad graded at the FS-07 level or
above.
b. Foreign Service candidates at class FS-01 must have
six or more years of Single Time-in-Class (STICtime in class at one grade
level) and Cumulative Time-in-Class (CTICfor generalists, from the time
commissioned until promoted into the Senior Foreign Service; and for
specialists, from time of tenuring until promoted into the Senior Foreign
Service) remaining in the service prior to conversion.
c. Civil Service personnel must apply early enough to
meet the age requirement of 3 FAH-1
H-2655.3.
3 FAH-1 H-2655.2 Skill
Determination
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
All candidates must meet eligibility criteria for skill
code changes, pursuant to 3 FAH-1 H-2625.
3 FAH-1 H-2655.3 Age
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
All conversions shall be made before the candidates 60th
birthday. The maximum age for appointment under this program is based on the
requirement that all candidates shall be able to complete at least two full
tours of duty, exclusive of orientation and training, before reaching the
mandatory retirement age of 65 as prescribed by the Act.
3 FAH-1 H-2655.4 Security
Clearance
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
Candidates must have a current Top Secret security
clearance.
3 FAH-1 H-2655.5 Medical Clearance
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
Foreign Service and Civil Service candidates must meet the
current medical clearance standards required by the Board of Examiners for new
entrants to the Foreign Service.
3 FAH-1 H-2656 APPLICATION PROCESS
(CT: POH-208; 07-06-2018)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
Personnel wishing to be considered for conversion must
respond during the open season established under 3 FAH-1 H-2654
paragraph a and provide all information as required for Skill Code Conversions
(3 FAH-1
H-2626):
(1) Foreign Service specialists shall notify their
Counseling and Assignments Officer (CAO) each year beginning in 1997; and
(2) Civil Service personnel shall notify the
designated Civil Service representative in HR/CDA
specified in the open season announcement.
3 FAH-1 H-2657 CONVERSION APPOINTMENT
PROCESS
3 FAH-1 H-2657.1 Skill Code Change
Panel
(CT: POH-208; 07-06-2018)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
a. The Skill Code Change Panel (see 3 FAH-1
H-2627.2) will:
(1) Determine whether the applicant has met the
minimum eligibility requirements for both a skill code change (3 FAH-1 H-2620)
and this conversion program.
(2) Review all conversion candidates and rank order
them by the skill code to which they aspire, according to skill code change
procedures (3
FAH-1 H-2620). Specialist candidates requesting conversion to generalist
skill codes and Civil Service personnel requesting conversion to either specialist
or generalist skill codes, will be rank ordered only after the panel certifies
that each candidate is eligible for this Conversion Program and meets all
necessary conversion requirements.
(3) Identify sufficient candidates, in rank order, to
fill the certified deficits by skill code and class.
(4) Determine the cut-off point on the rank order list
below which candidates will not be continued in the conversion process due to
insufficient conversion opportunities, as authorized by the Director General.
(5) Identify applicants deemed ineligible for any
reason under 3
FAH-1 H-2655, or for whom authorized conversion opportunities do not exist,
and will notify them that they may reapply in subsequent open seasons.
b. The names of Foreign Service and Civil Service
conversion candidates remaining on the final rank order lists for which
conversion opportunities do exist, will be forwarded to HR/PE.
(1) HR/PE will
submit the names of those Foreign Service and Civil Service candidates
requesting conversion to a generalist skill code to the first scheduled session
of the Commissioning and Tenure Board. The names of Civil Service personnel
requesting conversion to specialist skill code categories will be submitted to
the first scheduled session of the Specialist Tenuring Board.
(2) Applicants will normally be eligible for only one
Commissioning and Tenure Board (CTB) or Specialist Tenure Board (STB) review.
Those not approved for commissioning by the CTB or STB will remain in their
current Foreign Service or Civil Service career status and will not be eligible
to apply again for conversion. However, the CTB or STB may grant the applicant
a second review in those cases where additional evaluative material is needed
in order to judge potential. The additional review will take place one year
after the initial review, unless the applicant and Department agree to a
different schedule.
3 FAH-1 H-2657.2 The Commissioning
and Tenure Board (Generalists)
(CT:POH-208; 07-06-2018)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
For applicants for conversion to generalist skill codes,
the Commissioning and Tenure Board (CTB) shall assess whether applicants have
demonstrated the potential in the skill code category to serve effectively as
Foreign Service officers over a normal career span, extending to and including
class FS-1.
(1) Applicants who are eligible under 3 FAH-1 H-2655
and placed on a rank order list under 3 FAH-1
H-2657.1 will be reviewed by the Commissioning and Tenure Board, pursuant
to existing precepts and along with all other career candidates. The CTB will
recommend candidates for commissioning as Foreign Service officers and will
determine whether each candidate has satisfied all tenuring requirements.
(2) Applicants who are recommended by the CTB for
commissioning, and who have satisfied all tenuring requirements listed in 3 FAM 2245,
including the foreign language proficiency requirement (see 3 FAM 2245.7
and section 3
FAH-1 H-2657.2) will be eligible for immediate commissioning as Foreign
Service officers and conversion to the requested skill code (3 FAM 2245.7).
(3) Foreign Service applicants recommended for
commissioning but not meeting all tenuring requirements, will be given five
years from the date of the CTB recommendation to satisfy those requirements,
and will retain their specialist tenure status during the probation period.
(4) Foreign Service specialists who were granted
conditional tenure but who do not satisfy all tenuring requirements within five
years will remain in their original skill code, and their candidacy in the
program will be terminated.
(5) Civil Service applicants recommended for
commissioning but not meeting all tenuring requirements will be given a one
year probationary period from the date of the CTB recommendation to satisfy
those requirements. If necessary, the employee will exercise his/her
reemployment rights to a Civil Service position in accordance with the terms of
his/her reemployment agreement. During this probationary period, the employee
will have one year to complete all tenuring requirements.
(6) Civil Service applicants who were granted
conditional tenure but who do not satisfy all tenuring requirements within this
one-year period will have their candidacy in the program terminated and will
not be admitted again as candidates for the Conversion Program.
3 FAH-1 H-2657.3 The Specialist
Tenuring Board
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
The Specialist Tenuring Board shall assess whether
candidates for conversion to specialist skill code categories have demonstrated
the potential, to serve effectively in the new function over the normal career
span, up to and including FP-01.
3 FAH-1 H-2657.4 Time-in-Class and
Commissioning
(CT: POH-208; 07-06-2018)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
The provisions of 3 FAM 2245 will
be followed to establish time-in-class dates of employees newly converted at
the mid-level.
3 FAH-1 H-2657.5 Skill Code and
Grade Level of Appointment
(TL: POH-49; 06-29-1998)
(State Only)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
a. A successful Foreign Service specialist candidate
for a generalist skill code conversion shall be administratively promoted to
class FS-4 and commissioned as a career Foreign Service officer, except any
employee who, at the time of application, is at a higher grade, shall be
commissioned at that higher grade.
b. A successful Civil Service candidate shall be
converted to a Foreign Service class and salary comparable to the candidates
Civil Service grade and salary. Personnel converting to generalist skill codes
will not be converted to a class of less than FS-4.
3 FAH-1 H-2658 AND H-2659 UNASSIGNED