Eric Aldrich, the new diplomat-in-residence for New Jersey and New York will discuss upcoming opportunities to join the State Department, including the Foreign Service Officer Test in February 2025 and new civil service positions in Washington, D.C. with the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM).  

As the lead U.S. foreign affairs agency, the U.S. Department of State represents the United States at more than 270 diplomatic locations around the world, including embassies, consulates and missions to international organizations.

The U.S. Department of State hires American citizens of all ages and backgrounds to advance U.S. interests around the world, including foreign service officers (generalists), foreign service specialists and civil service professionals.  

About the Diplomat-in-Residence

Eric Aldrich joined the U.S. Department of State in 2006 and is the current diplomat-in-residence (DIR) for New Jersey and New York.  He previously served as the regional refugee coordinator for Panama and the Caribbean at U.S. Embassy Panama. His other assignments include refugee and internally displaced persons coordinator at the U.S. consulate in Erbil, Iraq; cultural affairs officer at the American Institute in Taiwan; political officer at the U.S. Embassy to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu; environment, science, technology, and health officer at U.S. Embassy Beijing; cultural affairs officer at U.S. Embassy Tegucigalpa; and consular officer at U.S. Consulate Guangzhou.  

He is the recipient of State Department Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards and an Environmental Protection Agency Gold Medal for Exceptional Service (group award). Before joining the State Department, Eric worked in New York City at the Chinese-American Planning Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and the Lower East Side Family Union.  He holds an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in public health from Yale University.