FAST DREAM
Our non-profit program to help University students from a state-school background who would like to join HM Diplomatic Service through the yearly Fast Stream programme or another recruitment route.
Student Testimonials
Ian has provided invaluable insight, advice, and encouragement on my journey to entering the civil service. He has brought my skills and confidence on leaps and bounds.
Maddie Richardson
Durham University
From his mock policy exercise and career consultations at my university to his detailed feedback on my civil service written applications, Ian has been amazing through my civil service application journey. His bespoke and nuanced recommendations, backed by experience, are invaluable and offer a point of difference to the more generic civil service advice available online or through university career service
Cayden Gill
Durham University
Ian has gone out to his way to give advice on how to best prepare for a career within Diplomacy and the Foreign Office, as well as how to best succeed within the Civil Service Fast Stream. I am very grateful for all his advice and would highly recommend for any student to get involved with this program!
Darcie Peters
Durham University
Participating in Ian's diplomatic experience gave me a realistic insight into the day-to-day roles of a diplomat. It inspired me to further develop my skills in international relations to one day work in this arena.
Francesca Cross
University of Manchester
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Our Mission
To increase the number of university students from a state school background, under-represented groups of society and regions of the UK who compete for and gain employment with HM Diplomatic Service, through the yearly Fast Stream competition.
To emphasise the value of foreign language study for all aspiring diplomats.
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Our offer
Working in British Universities, in collaboration with Careers Services, Student Unions, University Societies and Faculties, Fast-Dream offers
Realistic, team-based learning events that mirror the process of formulating foreign policy under pressure, to practice skills needed in the Fast Stream competition.
Career advice for students looking to compete in a Diplomatic Service recruitment competition.
Ongoing learning and mentoring for high-talent students identified during learning events.
Opportunities to meet and gain insight from current and former British diplomats.
Why is Fast Dream so important?
The Foreign Office recruits on the basis of talent, but lots of students don’t apply for the Fast Stream because they worry they might not ‘fit in’ or that the Diplomatic Service is too exclusive and won’t accept them.
If you are from the South or East of England including London, you live in the only parts of the UK where you have an above average chance of success in the Fast Stream process.
Black British people have the least chance of success compared to other ethnic groups, just below people from the British Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities.
If your parents have no formal qualifications, you are almost three times less likely to succeed than a peer whose parents went to University.
Half the chance if your parents are in routine or manual work, compared to a professional occupation. If you had free school meals, you have a below average chance of success.
When I joined the Diplomatic Fast Stream in 1999, around half of my peers were from Oxbridge.
Today, Oxbridge students are two and a half times as likely to enter the Fast Stream than students from other Russell Group Universities and seven times as likely than students from non-Russell Group Universities.
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Fast Dream – it’s all about hard work, personal organisation and self-control
The factors that helped me to get through the process are no different from those today. You have to have self-control, think and decide quickly, cope with the pressure and act in an inclusive way. And you need to prepare well.
Many people – who could potentially pass - fail because they haven’t prepared well enough, haven’t thought through their strategy and lose themselves in self-doubt and anxiety. Diplomatic Excellence is intended to give aspiring students the skills and the confidence to believe that, with hard work and preparation, they can succeed.
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