• What is the FCO?
• Who we are
• What we do
• Our Ministers
• Our history
• Working for us
• Careers
• Generalists
• Specialists
• Job opportunities for local staff
• Vetting
• Benefits
• Diversity
• Frequently asked questions
• Current vacancies
• Work experience
• Contracts & procurement
• Careers in the European Union Institutions
• International secondments

Careers

In this section of the site you can find details of the sort of roles we recruit to. These include our broad base of generalist staff, from administrative assistants to team leaders, and our specialist staff like Legal Advisers and Research Analysts. We also have a section on our Locally Engaged Staff, the FCO staff who are employed directly by our missions around the world.

You can also find all our current vacancies, constantly updated. The most convenient way to keep up-to-date with our available jobs is to use our RSS feed (what’s this?). We also advertise positions on our Twitter channel.

If there's something you’d like to know before you apply, you can read our detailed sections on security vetting, our dedication to diversity and the benefits you can expect if employed by us. Any other questions you have will hopefully be answered by our FAQ. If they are not, please email us. 

External Recruitment

All external recruitment into the FCO is based on the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. This has three main requirements: that recruitment must be based on merit, be fair and be open.  This means that we must appoint the best person for the job, regardless of their background, have no bias in the selection process and ensure that potential applicants have reasonable access to information about the roles and their requirements.

All of our external recruitment campaigns and processes are compliant with employment law and, in addition, the Civil Service Commissioners’s Recruitment Principles. You can find more information at the Civil Service Commission. We are regularly audited to check this. The FCO’s external recruitment campaigns are run separately from any work experience or internship schemes.
 
On 24 May 2010, the Government announced a civil service wide recruitment freeze. The freeze was extended in 2011 and will be subject to on-going review.  Following the Cabinet Office’s guidance, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office will only be recruiting business critical and front line staff.  The recruitment freeze has led to lower levels of recruitment than was the case previously and this situation is likely to continue for the next few years.  The Graduate Fast Stream is included in the exceptions to the freeze and the FCO intends to recruit from it in 2012

See also