DECODING A CAREER IN DIPLOMACY
A career in engineering, medicine, law and commerce are the long lost myths of Indian education. Seldom parents, students or even teachers think outside these choices. Are these the only choices available for students? The world of diplomacy and international relations is a gem to behold among these conventional career choices.
What is diplomacy?
It refers to the art of management of International Relations. So what are the possible career opportunities waiting for you?
- Passport officer
- Diplomat
- Consulate General of a Consulate
- Ambassador to countries
- Ambassador to the UN
- Ambassador to International Organisations like the NATO, BRICS etc
- International Relations Analyst
- Foreign Policy Analyst
There are many students who are enormously attracted by the idea of a diplomatic career. Or if not in the foreign service as such, certainly a job which takes you out and about internationally and gets you engage with international policy issues, be they to do with peace and security, aid and development, trade or any one of the innumerable transnational policy issues — from climate change to people trafficking to managing health pandemics — which former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan once described as “problems without passports”. You can travel around the globe, meet new people, interact with eminent personalities, and gain knowledge.
It’s no surprise that many young people should want to get into these jobs. They sound inherently fascinating, and they are. But their knowledge on what a career in diplomacy is, what are the windows of entry etc. are unknown to the majority. Here we try decoding some interesting information for you to embark a career in diplomacy, stay tuned!
There is a broad range of skills — including formal academic qualifications, communication skills and other personal skills — you will need to have or develop. These skills are the core of your entry into diplomacy and an important factor to your future presence and elevations. Let’s try decoding what is needed to secure your much-awaited diplomatic passport!
(1) Academic Qualifications
You will certainly need to have a decent university degree or even a combination of degrees. It doesn’t really matter enormously in what discipline — arts, economics, science, law, engineering or whatever — provided it’s serious and reasonably academically demanding: the important thing is that you enjoy what you are doing, and get good results. Intergovernmental organizations have positions for people of all discipline and it doesn’t matter what your degree is; all that matter is whether you have it, know it well and is the best at it. In India for joining the Foreign Services, you need to qualify the UPSC examination and choose IFS. It is one of the prestigious civil services.
(2) General Knowledge
It’s not at all necessary to formally study international relations to get an international relations-related job, but obviously it’s important to be able to demonstrate to potential hirers that you’re interested in the subject and know something about it. How do you get to know something about a subject that you are not formally studying? The answer is simple — by reading, and reading, and reading.
(3) Foreign Language
Facility in at least one foreign language — or at the very least a demonstrated aptitude to learn quickly — is pretty much a prerequisite for any significant international relations job these days, certainly in the Australian Foreign Service, the UN system, or for field-based positions with aid agencies and major international NGOs like the International Crisis Group.
(4) Social Skills
Oral communication skills are a subset of the larger category of social skills: the various things that make you a companionable and pleasant colleague and interlocutor, whether around an internal meeting table or negotiating table, or over the meal, or — yes — at the cocktail party.
(5) Organizational Skills
There is one final skill-set which, while not absolutely essential, is very much worth being able to demonstrate to potential hirers, if you can. That is the capacity to get things done organizationally — to have a good sense of the process and the ability to get people working together to deliver particular outcomes, whether it’s a conference or other event, or advocacy campaign or whatever.
How do we develop these skills? The current Indian education system is dismayed by grades and has less or no room for developing interpersonal skills. The perfect getaway place to gain a sneak peek and polish your diplomatic abilities are MUNs. They provide you with an ample platform to decode international relations, foreign policy, problem-solving, debate and discuss upon world challenges and be a part of the change-makers. MUNs are guaranteed to embark a lasting impression in the attendees as a platform for learning & developing interpersonal and intrapersonal traits.
Don’t know what a MUN is? Read-
How to test your diplomatic skills?
With the notion of introducing the concept of international relations into the mind of students, making them aware about a career in diplomacy, The Oxford School, Trivandrum is organizing Kerala’s maiden youth conclave titled Trivandrum Youth Conclave 2019 (TYC) on December 22 & 23, 2019. The event is expected to make attendees familiarize with international organizations, policy-making and find alternatives to combat problems such as climate change, human rights violations, child rights etc. The event is open for participation in school and college students.
TYC simulates five committees- United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Human Rights Council, which are conventional committees. In addition to that, TYC has decided to simulate Kerala Legislative Assembly for Malayalam debates and Kerala centric agenda, International Press for budding journalists and photographers, and a special surprise- Committee X.
Register for TYC 2019 at http://tiny.cc/tyc2020
Follow TYC on :
Facebook: -https://www.facebook.com/TrivandrumYC/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/tyc_2019?igshid=1vz1nty973twc
For any queries or concerns regarding TYC 2019, contact Mr Nikhil Harikumar at +91 80752 64634 or mail at contact.tyc2020@gmail.com
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