There are so many career options we can choose after you complete your under graduation.
You can write civil service examination conducted by UPSC for important government jobs like IAS, IPS, IFS, etc.
Out of them all IFS which is Indian foreign service and becoming diplomats is considered to be the most popular and exciting career because of its benefits, perks, etc.
And if you are also one of millions of students for dreaming to become IFS officers.
So in this blog let’s take a look at the important qualities you need to have in order to be a good diplomat and IFS officer.
So let’s get started.
10 key Qualities of diplomats & IFS officer
1. Diplomacy skills
If you want to become a diplomat and IFS officer you should have important qualities like diplomacy skills.
Basically diplomacy skills are the established method of influencing the decisions and behaviour of foreign governments and peoples through dialogue, negotiation, and other measures short of war or violence.
in order to develop good diplomacy skills you should also be well read as a person and have many other qualities to be a good diplomat.
We can also call it as good negotiation skills are also important when it comes to becoming a diplomat because you will have to talk with a lot of people who are in the higher positions in foreign governments to establish good relationships with your country and you should also look after the NRI’s safety, security.
Diplomacy and negotiation skills are the number one priority and important qualities of being a good diplomat and IFS officer.
2. Self discipline
Self discipline is also very much important when it comes to being a good diplomat.
Self discipline is important because you will have to work day and night sometimes and in the two thirds of your career as an IFS officer you will be posted in foreign Nations where the culture, environment and community will be totally different from your mother land.
In such case if you don’t keep yourself disciplined you cannot be a good diplomat and you can poorly represent your nation and hurt the overall global picture of your country.
3. Open minded and eager to learn new culture & adapt to new situations quickly
As an IFS officer you will be posted in many foreign countries in order to improve and establish good relationships with those foreign countries with our nation.
In such a situation diplomat play a huge role because in improving the relationship.
You should be open minded and eager to learn about new cultures and adapt to new situations quickly because you will be posted in foreign countries as ambassadors and consulates and because the culture and environment will be different in every country.
For example the culture and religion believes of India and the state of Israel are completely different.
In such a case if you want to be a good diplomat you should be very open minded and adapt new cultures quickly so that you can get along with other officers of the foreign Nations easily.
Apart from that you should also learn the history and tradition of the host nation.
And you should also learnt to adapt quickly because after every three years you will get posted in a new country as a diplomat and adaptability to changing situations and conditions is also an important quality to have for diplomats.
4. Stamina & hard working nature
Being a diplomat can be very stressful and hard working job sometimes.
It takes more mental energy than physical energy because you need to be a good communicator and solve the problems of the people.
And sometimes you can work for more than 15 hours a day in places like war-torn countries where you will be ambassador so you should look for the safety of your people and your teammates and during instances like when the important officials of your government visit your host nation for example prime minister or foreign ministers.
In that case you should have the ability to work hard in stressful environment and you should also have high stamina and be physically and emotionally fit to face any situation calmly.
5. Leadership skills
Leadership skills are the common qualities you need to have in which ever career option you want to choose whether it is IAS IPS and IFS.
Because when you are ambassador you will have a team of people working under you who are looking for your instructions and orders.
In such a case you should be able to manage people and communicate your message effectively and bring the best of the people all the time and solve the problems.
6. Humble & respectful
Diplomat have a lot of international power due to Vienna convention of diplomatic relations and diplomatic immunity.
As an IFS officer you are representing the whole nation in another country so as an officer you should be very respectful and humble to other officers in the other countries.
If you are egoistic and disrespectful to others it can create a bad picture and image about our country in the foreign Nations & people and it can hurt our foreign policies of our nation and go against our national interests because every country wants to picturise their country is very respectful and humble and welcoming to other people because that can get you lots of FDI in our country and also grow our economy.
7. Patience and persistence
As a diplomat you also need to be very patient and perseverance are important qualities.
It is because compared to other professions like ias & IPS, being an IFS officer mean you will work on foreign lands in order to improve the relationship with your country and
your efforts and work will be behind the scenes which will not get appreciated by the public at the same time it can also take a lot of time to build good relationships between the Nations.
Because you cannot see the fruits of your efforts instantly in the majority of the cases being patient is crucial and persistence is also important with patience.
Because of this reason patience and perseverance and important qualities to have.
8. Fluent in other languages
Look because you are a diplomat & you will be posted in foreign countries.
You should be fluent in other languages especially in the language where you will be posted so that you can communicate easily with those foreign Nations officials and improve the relationships.
Even though you can still use translator or communicate your message in English but if you learn other foreign languages of that nation,
it can create a good picture of you as a diplomat and of our country in the foreign Nations and foreign people and you can connect as a individual with the foreign officers on a deeper level which can directly improve the relationships between the two Nations in the long term.
9. Patriotism
Patriotism is another important quality you need to have in order to become a good diplomat.
Because at the end of the day you are representing a whole nation and it is your job and profession in order to safeguard the national interests of your country and improve the relations with other governments in the foreign Nations.
When you are patriotic to Your nation you will become loyal as well.
10. Courageous
You should also be very courageous and daring in order to be a good diplomat.
It is because sometimes you will get posted in foreign Nations where the relationships are not very strong with your nation so as a diplomat you should work in order to improve the relationship stronger and also communicate important deals between the government such as trade and investment, etc.
For example if you are a diplomat of India you can get posted in countries like China and England where the relationship got hurt between the Nations in the recent times and
it is going to be your responsibility to improve those relationships apart from the Government of each country in such a case being courageous and ability to talk and negotiate and communicate effectively with foreign national officers requires a lot of courage and determination.
Along with that you can also get posted in war-torn countries like Libya and Syria as a ambassador so you need courage to speak to the officials and negotiate the deals of your nation and also protect the national interests and look after the safety of NRI.
Conclusion
These are all the important qualities in it to have in order to become a good diplomat and IFS officer.
Do comment down whether you like to become an IFS officer and your favourite qualities of diplomats in comment section below.
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