Former ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe spoke on the growing interest in international careers and how to become involved through presenting the story of his own experience as ambassador on Tuesday.

• Ashe stressed the importance of acknowledging who an ambassador, or any foreign affairs service member, represents--the U.S. and the opinion of the President.
• As an ambassador, one of the primary responsibilities is to entertain both American dignitaries and those of the host country.
• As with any job, serving the country abroad offers a wide range of positives and negatives.

Though Ashe touched on a variety of aspects encountered in his career as an ambassador, his most important thought may have been the issue of representation. He repeatedly stressed the importance of understanding who it is an ambassador represents: the president.

"You are the personal representative of the Commander in Chief," Ashe said. He later added that although an ambassador is a figurehead of his nation to the host, the president's views are of upmost importance to convey being leader of the nation.

You are the personal representative of the Commander in Chief. Victor Ashe, former ambassador to Poland

Interweaved in Ashe's reiterations of an ambassador's primary responsibilities, he touched the idea of an ambassador's responsibility to entertain. Once again, as a representative of the United States, it is an ambassador's, or any foreign representative's, job to promote the nation. Ashe mentioned that an integral part of the job was to entertain those who may have never been to the States and to put the best foot forward for the nation.

Also, as the representative for an entire nation, spare time is a minimum. "When you are a public life, you diminish your private life," Ashe said. This was not to scare any hopefuls away, but to point again to the tough atmosphere those in foreign service face.

As a further explanation, Ashe also addressed the pros and cons of a career abroad. Although humorous, a large pro for him tended to be the job security. "Once you become employed it is pretty hard to get fired," he said with a chuckle.  Furthermore, Ashe pointed out that working with the State Department leaves multiple doors open to work in other fields. On the other hand, a job through the State Department often discourages creativity. He pointed out that in several instances the preference was given to those who preferred to play things safe.

In a minor note, those who intend to work as foreign correspondents were also able to glean a few pointers from Ashe. Although he followed a completely different career path, he did promote working with daily papers as a way of breaking into the press secretary or international field.