Careers for Globetrotters

Interview with Sahar Ghadhban, Canadian Foreign Service Officer in Russia

Interview with Sahar Ghadhban, Canadian Foreign Service Officer in Russia

Careers for Globetrotters: Meet Sahar Ghadhban - Foreign Service Officer in Canada & Russia

Published in Careers for Globetrotters

Foreign Service Officer - Canada & Russia

Foreign Service Officer - Canada & Russia

Sahar is the third in our upcoming series of profiles in our new Careers for Globetrotters column. We'll be taking a look into the lives and backgrounds of people who are living their dream of working abroad - and find out the steps they took to get there.Sahar tells about the seven-year path she took from her first internship in Algeria to getting hired as a foreign service officer. Find out why quitting her job at Global Affairs was the best thing she could have done to get her dream job, what she did after she didn’t pass her first post-secondary public service exam, and what it takes to get paid to learn Russian.Watch her series of videos below.

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There’s a Catch 22 in this sector, as far as needing experience to get a job and a job to get experience. Do you have any advice?

Take risks while you can.

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Do you have tips for networking in this sector?

Doing this will beat sending an email over LinkedIn every single time.

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What are various fields and streams within this sector of international affairs?

Sahar breaks down the four streams you can work in as a foreign service officer.

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Are there specific hard skills that are in demand in the Canadian foreign service?

Sahar tells us why being an adaptable generalist is the way to go.

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You have a master’s degree. Is that necessary to succeed in this field? Are there certain degree subjects that will make you stand out?

Find out why Sahar recommends getting a master’s degree.

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You mentioned having strong interpersonal skills. Can you talk to us about the soft skills that can help you in this field, and how you can go about developing those?

Sahar says the activities you do on the side could help you stand out.

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Give us some examples of professional challenges you had to overcome.

Sahar talks to us about working for the UN in Tunisia, and interviewing Palestinian women in Isreal.

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So what’s an average day or week like for you, as a member of the Foreign Service?

Sahar tells us about the reality of being on “language training.”

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What are some of the challenges working for the Foreign Service?

Sahar explains why working for the Foreign Service is like being in a constant state of starting over.

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You mentioned that there are ways of practicing for the foreign service officer interview. Can you tell us about that?

When it comes to interviewing for this position, find out why it doesn’t matter whether you studied engineering, communications or medicine.

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