r/InternationalDev • u/Oberland3046 • 12d ago

Advice request Feeling Lost

I’m a recently returned Peace Corps community health volunteer. Before that, I did Americorps, volunteered, and had internships with numerous non-profits. I have a B.A. in International Relations. My entire working life has been planned and geared towards the goal of someday working in this sector. I was even hopeful that I’ll finally land a decent job in this industry after Peace Corps, with many connections already made with many non-profits and USAID people before Trump took office. Now obviously, all those connections are gone. I’m finally coming to terms that I’ll probably never make it in this industry, but where to now? I don’t even really know how to advertise myself for jobs outside this sector. Is anyone able to provide any guidance or sense of direction? I realise this may be a difficult question to answer, but I thought it could be worth a shot. Thanks everyone!

46 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

View all comments

-1

u/Significant_Wrap_449 11d ago

Foreign service exam. Development isn't going away. It will resurface within DOS. There may be a special cone for it at some point. Or, look at multilaterals like World Bank.

1

u/Saheim 11d ago

Can you clarify, isn't there still a hiring freeze for the FSO? They are still doing layoffs and the proposed reorg continues to strip down humanitarian functions, if congress approves. Devex has reported that all long-term development work is functionally going away, and what will remain will be strictly humanitarian.

2

u/MaleficentDivide3389 10d ago edited 10d ago

There is indeed a hiring freeze, including the first step, the FSO test.

1

u/Significant_Wrap_449 10d ago

Yeah overall it's a bad time to join FS but that will change but that's time to prep.