Despite the longstanding connotation of the School of Foreign Service with the pursuit of careers in public service, recent statistics reveal that only a small percentage of SFS students enter the public sector after graduation.

Among SFS graduates in the Class of 2014 who participated in the Cawley Career Education Center’s First Destination Report poll, only 11 percent found jobs in nonprofit and public service work, and only 6 percent held positions in government. By contrast, 25 percent of graduates pursued employment in consulting services, while 15 percent pursued the financial sector. Two hundred and sixty-nine out of 356 SFS graduating students responded to the survey.

The Cawley Career Education Center compiled these statistics with input from 76 percent of the SFS Class of 2014. The percentages were drawn from the 80 percent of respondents who are currently employed.

SFS Associate Dean Emily Zenick said that the employment statistics do not worry the school’s administration.

“I don’t see anything as worrisome, about the trends,” Zenick said. “Students make all kinds of choices on what they should do after graduation, and I respect that.”

Zenick said that these numbers do not represent total fallout in the long-term involvement of SFS alumni in public service, citing that many graduates eventually transfer to public service work later in their careers.

“I don’t think that we can really see the trajectory until we see some long-term data, and all we have is anecdotal evidence from my colleagues and from keeping in touch with alumni,” Zenick said. “If you would look even two or three years out, I think that you would see a lot more students in these fields of public service, of government, of education. I think that part of that is that a lot of students are graduating with a good amount of debt from here.”

Additionally, Zenick emphasized the role that private sector employers have in contributing to the public good through means such as scientific or sustainable energy research, ethical investments and federal consulting.

Latin American Student Association President Nicole Arellano (SFS ’16) said that these statistics were unsettling.

“I think that it’s a little bit embarrassing because the SFS is one of the best schools for international relations studies in the U.S. and in the world,” Arellano said. “I think that it’s a shame that we’re not using those skills and those abilities and that knowledge to give back to the country.”

Social Innovation Public Service Fund Executive Director Naman Trivedi (SFS ’16) said that he is concerned with the SFS administration’s new emphasis on developing curricula on business, especially with the recent establishment of the global business major in January. The SIPS Fund provides grants to students for use in enterprises that promote the common good.

“I personally think that that whole program detracts from the point of the SFS, if we are trying to create a program where students engage in public service or foreign service,” Trivedi said.

However, Zenick said that the addition of business programs in the SFS reflected students’ preferences.

“I think that we have to listen to how students feel,” Zenick said. “I think if you look at the intention of this major and the classes taken, it really is not a pre-professional major.”

According to the global business major website, the major “distinguishes itself from other majors not in its outcomes (we expect that GBUS majors might work at corporations, not-for-profits, the government or move into academia, etc.), but rather by providing students with a basic fluency in the language of business and how it relates to politics, economics and culture.”

Additionally, Zenick said that the mission of the SFS has changed since its founding in 1919 to adapt to current trends.

“I think that there is a little bit of a misnomer that is associated with the School of Foreign Service … really being a training ground for people going into the foreign service, and that’s just really not the case anymore,” Zenick said.

Despite this, during the 2014 SFS graduation ceremony, commencement speaker and Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (GRD ’74) told students to pursue public service after college.

“My parting question to you, as graduates, is simply whether the wise men and women of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service will devote some of their lives to public good,” Gates said in the May 2014 speech. “Dare I say, it is your duty.”

Other possible factors that contribute to low public sector involvement include a more visible presence of private sector recruiters on campus, as well as the tendency of private sector employers to hire students in the fall, while public sector employers generally seek candidates in the spring.

“A lot of private sector recruitment is in the fall, which is right when students come back for classes, when there is a lot of pressure to find a job, whereas the public sector recruits in the spring, so you have to be a little bit patient,” SFS Academic Council President Megan Murday (SFS ’15) said.

SFS students also reported that the preference to enter private sector companies may be a result of their tendency to accept entire introductory groups of employees, whereas public sector companies generally hire only on an as-needed basis.

“[Public sector] organizations are much more likely to post jobs as they become available. … So you need to be more persistent about checking up on organizations that you are really passionate about, and waiting for them to have an opening for you,” Murday said.

Trivedi said that public sector jobs also require greater qualifications, more advanced degrees or higher levels of career experience.

“Even if the [student is] competent enough, [public sector companies] are only hiring people who have [Master of Business Administration degrees] … and so that limits students from going into government right away,” Trivedi said.

Additionally, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, 60 percent of federal employees are over the age of 45, compared to 31 percent within the private sector. Trivedi noted that one possible factor leading to SFS graduates’ interest in the private sector is that graduates might prefer to work with people closer to their own age.

“So as a 21- or 22- year old, do you want to work with people your parents’ age or do you want to work with people your own age?” Trivedi asked.

Zenick also mentioned that recent graduates of the SFS may not be prepared to pass the U.S. Foreign Service Officer Test, which is essential in pursuing a career in foreign service. It includes a three-hour written test, a personal essay and an oral assessment that evaluates the knowledge and abilities of the test-taker.