How long do ambassadors serve

Candidates are chosen either from the ranks of the U. Foreign Service within the State Department, or they are personally recommended. All ambassador candidates must be approved by the receiving country, then approved by Senate Foreign Relations Committee and finally, confirmed by a full Senate vote.

As with all government employees, ambassador salaries are subject to assigned pay grades, although base salaries can be significantly augmented by other compensation. Once the candidate has been nominated, it can take weeks or even months before the confirmation hearing and Senate vote takes place.

It can take even longer if the Senate is deadlocked on the candidate. In some cases the President might have to replace a deadlocked candidate with another one. Ambassadors are classified as senior foreign service employees. Ambassadors have a wide range of responsibilities dealing with foreign relations. Each task is carried out in a diplomatic manner that's made to meet the needs of the ambassador's home country while keeping a positive relationship with that country.

One of the most important responsibilities of an ambassador is to notify their home country of any economic and political developments in the host nation.

They write detailed reports in order to communicate foreign development, especially in the area of trade policies. Because of their unique relationship with the host nation, ambassadors are able to help in the development of foreign policy with that nation.

All of these actions are meant to protect their home country's interests within the host nation. Another responsibility of an ambassador is to act as a representative of their country of origin. As a representative, they offer up their home country's position on many political, social, and economic platforms.

They also meet with important political leaders and greet or host other diplomats. Ambassadors also help travellers from their home country, explain foreign policy and evacuate refugees from dangerous situations.

Because of the sensitive nature of their careers, ambassadors carry out their duties with a diplomatic demeanour, with the goal of keeping a positive relationship between the country that is hosting them and their home nation. Ambassadors have distinct personalities. They are unstructured, original, nonconforming, and innovative. Does this sound like you?

Take our free career test to find out if ambassador is one of your top career matches. Ambassadors try to smooth out the relationship between countries. They do this by attending treaty negotiations, immigration discussions, international meetings which may include humanitarian aid programs or foreign aid projects , banquets, and parties. Ambassadors spend most of their time in meetings with either staff members, foreign diplomats or host country officials.

To this end, the Council of American Ambassadors supports and encourages initiatives to make mid-career training as readily accessible and as career-enhancing — and not career-penalizing — for career Foreign Service Officers as it is for officers of the military services. The Council applauds the recent initiatives of the Foreign Service Institute to strengthen and deepen the preparation offered in the Ambassadorial seminar for Chief of Mission nominees — including preparation specifically tailored to those non-career nominees coming to these roles from private life — and encourages continuing effort to ensure that Ambassadorial appointees are well and fully trained for their assignments.

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Developing the modern U. Foreign Service Obviously, not every American appointed for diplomatic service over such a long period enjoyed equally prominent or heroic backgrounds. These perennial, predictable battles should not obscure three fundamental and important points. Second, who, besides the U. Who is in a position to tell a President that he must choose a career Foreign Service Officer over, say, Robert Strauss, long-time Chairman of the Democratic Party and Washington political eminence, as Ambassador to Moscow, or over former Michigan Governor Jim Blanchard as envoy to his neighbor, Canada?

Third, it is obviously imperative that all U.