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Also, I've been told that on the State side, the hiring boom associated with Diplomacy 3.0 is over with the next class (I believe this is the July class). So expect class sizes for A-100 to drop significantly, meaning it will be harder to get an offer. What this means is if you start the process of applying now, by the time you get in a position to be on the register, a large number of the current people will have dropped off.
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Apr 16, 2011 19:34
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Skandiaavity posted:Just passed my OA's.. 5.5, waiting on medical/suitability Late, but hearty congrats on that!
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Apr 16, 2011 20:09
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TCD posted:For what it's worth, I'm know more disgruntled AID officers vs State. The bidding for summer 2012 was particularly a sore point. Bidding for Summer 2012 was horrific. It almost put me off the idea of staying in. Yes, it was that bad. Just to elaborate on the disguntledness, I have a feeling it's easy to get disgruntled for a number of reasons. First, although technically we are the development people in country, in reality we're completely subject to the Embassy. There's very little we can do without Embassy approval, and although mostly that's not a problem, sometimes if the political context is touchy, there's more involvement from the Embassy than most AID people would like. Second, we come in at a lower pay grade than State FSOs, and we stay there. I have never discerned a good reason for this. I think AFSA is working on closing the gap, but it'll take awhile. Third, you never get that stint in Copenhagen where you can just kind of chill out for a few years. Every post is a hardship (although obviously some are more hardship than others). Although I guess at least this means you can save a lot of money. (Which is good, because, as I said above, you're not making what your State colleagues are making.) pamchenko fucked around with this message at 20:27 on Apr 16, 2011 |
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Apr 16, 2011 20:10
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Diplomaticus posted:Also, I've been told that on the State side, the hiring boom associated with Diplomacy 3.0 is over with the next class (I believe this is the July class). So expect class sizes for A-100 to drop significantly, meaning it will be harder to get an offer. Thank god there's always the conversion process and skipping the register.
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Apr 16, 2011 23:35
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I'm a Junior in college, and this definitely sounds like something I'm interested in doing. I just had a few questions, if someone doesn't mind. 1. A lot of the links in the OP seem dead or decaying. Is there a website with just a big free repository of sample questions, including particulars for each cone? 2. Does anyone know what percentage of correct answers is passing, or what percentage is good enough to raise eyebrows and/or make the QEP less intimidating? 3. If I graduate in June 2012, when does it make sense for me to start the process?
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Apr 17, 2011 00:13
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MiltonSlavemasta posted:I'm a Junior in college, and this definitely sounds like something I'm interested in doing. I just had a few questions, if someone doesn't mind. 1. There are no specific questions for specific cones. Here are sample questions http://www.testprepreview.com/fsot_practice.htm 2. It depends, it's based off a T-score, so it is dependent on how other test-takers do. And a large chunk of the questions have no correct answer, it is based on your life. If you want a high biographical score, do much of what the 13 dimensions (http://careers.state.gov/index/download-center4/3.0.0_fso_13_dimensions.pdf) ask of in your life. And the QEP is a mystery with some alchemy. Others can go in further detail. The only sure thing is you need an essay score of 6 or more out of 12 possible. 3. Now. Or whenever you feel like it.
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Apr 17, 2011 01:03
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MiltonSlavemasta posted:I'm a Junior in college, and this definitely sounds like something I'm interested in doing. I just had a few questions, if someone doesn't mind. 1. Not really. It's irrelevant for the FSOT: the questions are generalized and not cone related, and there is nothing of any substance that is up to date. For the QEP there aren't any real resources because the answers are all personalized. For the OA, there is an NDA in effect so there are no real resources other than the sample questions on the yahoo groups. Fortunately those are good enough that if you study them to death you'll be fine. Also what links are dead or decaying? 2. It varies, and nobody knows how it works. 3. Yesterday.
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Apr 17, 2011 03:44
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Diplomaticus posted:1. Not really. It's irrelevant for the FSOT: the questions are generalized and not cone related, and there is nothing of any substance that is up to date. For the QEP there aren't any real resources because the answers are all personalized. For the OA, there is an NDA in effect so there are no real resources other than the sample questions on the yahoo groups. Fortunately those are good enough that if you study them to death you'll be fine. Also what links are dead or decaying? 1. I thought the yahoo groups were dead, but now I think I just haven't used yahoo groups before and wasn't doing it right. 2. Yeah, after I couldn't find anything I figured it might just be a black box. 3. Did everything, they say they'll email me when it's time to register for testing spots.
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Apr 17, 2011 05:31
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TCD posted:For what it's worth, I'm know more disgruntled AID officers vs State. The bidding for summer 2012 was particularly a sore point. He eventually quit because of this but has visited every country in the world and has friends there. I think that's the cool thing about AID is that you get a lot of local contact. Of course, in 50 years a few things might have changed. . . . He also didn't ever really have a hardship post, but that was before people really hated us. nm fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Apr 17, 2011 |
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Apr 17, 2011 06:13
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Diplomaticus posted:Also, I've been told that on the State side, the hiring boom associated with Diplomacy 3.0 is over with the next class (I believe this is the July class). So expect class sizes for A-100 to drop significantly, meaning it will be harder to get an offer. I hope I'm not affected. IMS doesn't seem like it would be a long register list, but I don't want to assume anything.  ...But I also had heard that hiring classes already dropped to smaller sizes already, like the last one was 70-100
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Apr 17, 2011 16:04
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Skandiaavity posted:I hope I'm not affected. IMS doesn't seem like it would be a long register list, but I don't want to assume anything. No clue. If I had to guess I would assume not because y'all do things significantly different on the specialist side, and IMS seems like a field that would be consistently growing. But that's pure speculation from me.
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Apr 17, 2011 16:07
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I'm starting IMS orientation next week & there basically was no register for me. I got an invite immediately after Final Review.
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Apr 17, 2011 16:21
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Diplomaticus posted:Also, I've been told that on the State side, the hiring boom associated with Diplomacy 3.0 is over with the next class (I believe this is the July class). So expect class sizes for A-100 to drop significantly, meaning it will be harder to get an offer. In the OP, you mention that Management is typically the least competitive cone. Will this likely stay the same, even if A-100 classes drop off?
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Apr 17, 2011 18:12
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I've kept up with this thread for the last year. Diplomaticus/SWATJester, I am in a similar position to yours. I'm due to graduate from a T1 law school in 2012. Instead of clerking for a firm my 2L summer, I am going to Middlebury for Arabic. I spent 2 quarters volunteering/externing with a group that I know is hiring post-grad, so if I don't make the cut this year for whatever reason, I'll still have options. I was thinking about taking the test in the fall, mainly because I won't be able to pass the Arabic proficiency phone call until I get back from Middlebury. Thoughts?
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Apr 17, 2011 20:35
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Huckleduck posted:I was thinking about taking the test in the fall, mainly because I won't be able to pass the Arabic proficiency phone call until I get back from Middlebury. You should take the next one, which is the June test. The language proficiency test isn't until you pass through the QEP, which (assuming you make it) could be anywhere from 6-9 months after you sit for the written test. Timelines are really long in the process - you should be more worried about forgetting the Arabic than being tested too soon!
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Apr 17, 2011 20:59
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TCD posted:Thank god there's always the conversion process and skipping the register. Would it be possible for you to elaborate on this? I was under the impression that everyone who wanted to be an FSO had to do the oral assessment and wait on the register.
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Apr 17, 2011 21:06
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Hammer of Loki posted:Would it be possible for you to elaborate on this? I was under the impression that everyone who wanted to be an FSO had to do the oral assessment and wait on the register. Specialists can become generalists through a different process that doesn't involve the register, basically.
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Apr 17, 2011 21:10
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Hammer of Loki posted:Would it be possible for you to elaborate on this? I was under the impression that everyone who wanted to be an FSO had to do the oral assessment and wait on the register. There are internal mechanisms for applying to be a FSO. There's a number of criteria that have to be met, and your application packet goes through a different QEP panel. If you pass that you can go to the orals (on your own dime of course). If you pass the OA, you are slotted for the next hire class and skip the register, so long as you have a class 1 and TS clearance. In short, you still have to pass the oral exam like everyone else. You skip the register which is super cool.
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Apr 17, 2011 21:13
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:You should take the next one, which is the June test. The language proficiency test isn't until you pass through the QEP, which (assuming you make it) could be anywhere from 6-9 months after you sit for the written test. Timelines are really long in the process - you should be more worried about forgetting the Arabic than being tested too soon!
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Apr 17, 2011 22:26
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nm posted:I thought that with super critical needs it was before the QEP. I passed the FSOT last year, and got notification to schedule my SCNL test along with my instructions for the QEP. Didn't pass either.  Kinda on the fence if I should go through the whole thing againthis year- I actually got a job I really enjoy (private sector) but I think I should probably push that as far as I can to get a better QEP score and work on my Arabic.Pamchenko, I applied for a Crisis/Governance/Stabilization JFSO job a few years back, and never got a response after they sent an email saying they were re-reviewing every application six months later. That's the kind of work I'd love to do someday- do you have any colleagues/friends who do that work? What have they said about it? Also, what kind of clearance do you have to get for AID? I looked but never found the answer beyond "applicants must undergo a security review" or something to that effect. Oh yeah, welcome to SA!
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Apr 17, 2011 23:51
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internetstuff posted:In the OP, you mention that Management is typically the least competitive cone. Will this likely stay the same, even if A-100 classes drop off? I have no idea. That might not even be accurate right now -- Consular used to be one of the easier cones to get into and now it's significantly more competitive than it used to be (apparently harder than PD right now, which when I was applying was as hard as political). From what I hear though there have been relatively few management officers in the past couple classes (and relatively few in mine) so I think it's a safe bet for a while.
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Apr 18, 2011 01:46
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Huckleduck posted:I've kept up with this thread for the last year. Diplomaticus/SWATJester, I am in a similar position to yours. I'm due to graduate from a T1 law school in 2012. I don't know a thing about how languages work, I didn't come in with any. Keep in mind that if you take the Arabic points, you're going to be obligated to serve in a post using that language once as an ELO -- if it's an SCNL you'll also have to serve there as a mid-level too. Keep in mind that what you'll gain from clerking at a firm can help you a lot on the bio portion of QEPs. About 30% or more of my class are recovering lawyers, and many of them were at big firms for a short period of time. Hammer of Loki posted:Would it be possible for you to elaborate on this? I was under the impression that everyone who wanted to be an FSO had to do the oral assessment and wait on the register. There are some exceptions. There is a way to transition from FSS to FSO; also there are a number of special fellowships like Pickering/Rangel that have special situations. Leif. fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Apr 18, 2011 |
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Apr 18, 2011 01:57
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internetstuff posted:In the OP, you mention that Management is typically the least competitive cone. Will this likely stay the same, even if A-100 classes drop off? Purely anecdotal, but in a west coast OA prep session hosted by the Diplomat in Residence last February there were about 13 folks in the management track, two in PD, and two in political. I was the only one in consular. If any current or future FSOT applicants are uncertain in which track to choose I would recommend selecting the one you're most suited for or most interested in, and do not worry about which track is the most or least competitive. The process is too long and State's hiring budget is too up in the air to know which track will be the most advantageous by the time you hit the registry. Besides, you wouldn't want to come all that way to be hired into a track you end up hating, right?
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Apr 18, 2011 03:35
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MiltonSlavemasta posted:2. Does anyone know what percentage of correct answers is passing, or what percentage is good enough to raise eyebrows and/or make the QEP less intimidating? The scores on the written exam are fit to a standard normal distribution. The number you get back is your modified T-Score. It is based on how well you did compared to the mean. To pass, you must average better than 51% of the test takers for that round. In short, it doesn't matter how many answers you get correct compared to the total, it only matters how many correct answers you get compared to everyone else. In case anyone is curios, every 10 points on the written exam score is 1 standard deviation away from the mean. So a score of 60 on the knowledge portion means you scored higher than 85% of the test takers.
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Apr 18, 2011 05:14
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Hey SWAT can you elaborate a little on what you've heard/know about the competition for Con since that is what I'm shooting for?
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Apr 18, 2011 06:55
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suboptimal posted:Pamchenko, I applied for a Crisis/Governance/Stabilization JFSO job a few years back, and never got a response after they sent an email saying they were re-reviewing every application six months later. That's the kind of work I'd love to do someday- do you have any colleagues/friends who do that work? What have they said about it? Also, what kind of clearance do you have to get for AID? I looked but never found the answer beyond "applicants must undergo a security review" or something to that effect. Oh yeah, welcome to SA! I absolutely have friends who do DG work (Democracy and Governance, which is our shorthand for that otherwise heinously long job title). Actually, that was my first choice, too, but I didn't hear back from them until after I'd already accepted the Program Officer position. Most people I know who are DG officers (or any kind of technical officer) really love their work. I think the major complaint about DG work would be that sometimes you're doing it in a hostile political environment (my go-to example is always Russia), and that can make your job, and sometimes your life, very challenging. Also, it's probably the hardest backstop to feel like you're making an actual difference in: it's much easier to measure something like # of TB cases per year than positive perception of civil society. But in general, people really seem to enjoy it. I just did a DG rotation, and I really enjoyed it, too. As for clearance, you have to have a Top Secret clearance for AID just like you do for State, although your exposure to classified information is far, far less. I went ahead and put together some info following the OP. I apologize in advance for the length, if it gets edited into the OP, I'll cut it out of here. What is a USAID Foreign Service Officer? USAID Foreign Service Officers enjoy diplomatic status just like State FSOs. They serve in career tracks in three broad categories: Technical Officer (of which there are many stripes), Program Officer, and “Management” Officers (again, of which there are multiple kinds). General information can be found here: http://www.usaid.gov/careers/fs.html Where do I go to register for the test/apply for the job? There is no formal written exam for AID FSO positions. I say “formal” because if/when you get an invite to proceed farther in the process, there will be a reference to your score on the written exam, which is slightly confusing. But really it’s a written application like an application for any other federal job. It’s possible to enter as either a Junior Officer or a “Mid-Level”. You can start the process here: Junior Officers: http://www.usaid.gov/careers/nepanno2.html Mid-Level Officers: http://www.usaid.gov/careers/fmidlvls.html Foreign Service Limited Appointments: http://www.usaid.gov/careers/fsls.html (non-permanent hires; I don’t really know very much about this process) Please note that as of this writing (18 Apr 2011), USAID is NOT HIRING Junior Officers. There are 3 steps: 1. Choose a career track 2. Submit your application via the AVUE system 3. Take the Oral Assessment Do I have to come from Georgetown/Harvard/Yale/Whatever to get in? No. Absolutely not. There is a wide range of schools represented, from Ivy Leagues to small state schools I’ve never heard of. The DC-area schools are prominent, but not because you get a leg up, probably just because the knowledge about AID Foreign Service is much greater in DC than it is anywhere else. What kind of background will I need? What kind of education will I need? AID FSOs have a very broad range of educational backgrounds. I would say that attorneys are well represented, but not so well represented as they are among State FSOs. Because many of our career tracks require specific technical knowledge, we have a number of MBAs, MPHs, engineers, teachers, agricultural specialists, etc. Unlike State, having at least a Masters degree is a virtual requirement for getting into Foreign Service at AID. I’m sure there are more, but personally speaking I know exactly one AID FSO who does not have any kind of higher degree. It is not uncommon at all to have two or more. How does the Foreign Service assignment system work? For first tour Junior Officers: An AID FSO’s first tour is directed, which means that though the officer may provide input, the assignments office decides who goes where. The first tour is two years, and during your initial training (currently called DLI training—AID goes through different types of hiring programs), you will meet with advisors (and fill out some very brief paperwork) to give very general information about where you would and would not like to go. For example, you can tell them if there are regions of the world you are particularly interested or not interested in, if there are countries where you have prior experience, if you have a strength in a particular language, if there’s weather you love or hate (basically, this is to determine whether or not you’ll be miserable at one of AID’s few posts where there is winter), what kind of activities you generally like to do (if you like outdoor activities, sending you somewhere where the pollution is so bad you can’t do them isn’t a hot idea), what kinds of family needs you have (if any), etc. You will not see a list of available posts. On Flag Day, you will receive your assignment/flag of your country of destination. First tour assignments are a real crap shoot. Some people lucked out and got what they wanted (I got very lucky), some people got sent places they had specifically asked not to go to. For first tour Mid-Level Officers: An AID mid-level officer’s first tour is also directed, but as these are people with vast prior job experience (usually prior development experience, many times as an AID contractor), they are much more likely to serve their first tour in a CPC (Critical Priority Country, right now Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan). With the exception of Sudan (2 years), these are all 1 year tours. Some mid-level officers are RLAs (Regional Legal Advisors), and these positions are all regional positions, meaning that RLAs only serve in AID Regional missions (currently, off the top of my head: Lima, Budapest, Kyiv, Almaty, Bangkok, Cairo, Pretoria, Nairobi, and Accra; could be wrong about some of those, though). For second tour and beyond: When bidding on one’s second tour, one bids off of the general bid list, without restriction other than the level of the position (you may bid no higher than 2 levels above your current level, so if you’re an FS-4—which you generally are when bidding on your second tour—you may bid on FS-4, FS-3, and FS-2 jobs. It is permissible, although not encouraged before you achieve tenure, to bid outside your “backstop”. You must include two CPC bids and one “priority” bid (right now the only two priority countries I can think of are Yemen and Haiti… maybe Ethiopia?) within your eight choices. The current trend is that it’s possible, although not probable, for junior officers to go to CPCs on their second tour. (This vacillates a lot; I’m bidding for my second tour this summer, I’ll let you know how it goes.) Aside from CPC tours (1 year, except Sudan) and priority tours (+Sudan, 2 years), the vast majority of AID posts are 4 years. You will only receive additional language training if your onward post is “language designated”, which not all posts are. My understanding is that needing language training can, although usually does not, work against you, except maybe in the case of Spanish. The agency has enough Spanish speakers as it is that if you don’t already speak it, they’re probably not going to spend the time and money to have you at FSI for 6 months so you can learn it. There is an idea that certain posts are “good” for your career and certain posts are “bad”. The “good” is pretty obvious: CPCs and priority countries, as well as countries where the living standard is just not that high (most of sub-Saharan Africa, places like East Timor, etc.); it’s considered “bad” for your career to spend your time swanning around the remaining posts in Eastern Europe (Tirana is upscale for AID posts), the Caribbean, and some of Latin America (Jamaica, Peru, etc.). There’s not a formal concept of “equity” as there is on the State side (except as regards CPCs and priority countries), but the idea is there. Without “equity”, though, or any requirements to serve in a particular backstop for a certain amount of time (see, e.g., State Consular posts), the lobbying for jobs becomes important sooner at AID than it does at State. The same IMPORTANT NOTE applies to foreign service at AID that applies to State: the people are the most important thing. You might hate Lima or Bangkok if the people are horrible, and maybe Dili or Kinshasa is the best place you’ve ever been. Tell me about being a Technical Officer: USAID has 8 different technical tracks: • Population/Health/Nutrition Officers • Economists • Agriculture Officers • Education Officers • Environment Officers • Private Enterprise Officers • Crisis, Stabilization and Governance Officers • Engineering Officers Technical officers work in the technical offices in their Missions to, largely, design and evaluate programs in their area of specialization. Although most programs at AID are contracted out to third-party implementers, there is some AID direct implementation. Not all technical offices exist in all Missions, I’d say the most common ones are probably Crisis, Stabilization and Governance, Population/Health/Nutrition, and Private Enterprise. The vast, vast majority of technical officers have higher degrees in their area of specialization, and most have prior work experience in the same. Since I’m not a technical officer, it’s hard for me to speak as to pluses/minuses, but in my opinion there aren’t a whole lot of minuses. You get to design and help evaluate programs in your area of interest which—just coming off a technical rotation—I can say is very satisfying work. Maybe a minus is that some yokel in the Program Office is always asking you questions that you think they should already know the answer to. Another minus, of course, is that your technical specialty can preclude you from serving at posts where your technical office just doesn’t work. Tell me about being a Program/Project Development Officer: Program Officers work on a range of issues, including formulating country strategy, policy formulation, performance reporting, budgeting, donor coordination, and communications and outreach (similar to PAS at State). Program Officers also guide the technical offices’ program designs through Mission-wide approval and are responsible for ensuring that designs comply with Agency- and Mission-wide guidance. I’m a Program Officer, so I can be a little more specific about this. In my opinion, the big pluses to working in the Program Office are that you get to see a little bit of everything as program designs work their way through approval, and you get to work on country strategy. If there’s a required assessment (gender, environment) that needs to be done for your mission, that will originate in the Program Office, and those things can be quite interesting. Also, every mission has a Program Office, so your selection of posts is restricted only by who’s hiring when you’re bidding. The downsides, to me, are that if you have a strong interest in one technical area, you won’t get much of a chance to indulge it (other than maybe being the Health or Education or whatever point person in the Program Office). Too, you’re always the bad guy. When a technical office is trying to get a program approved (sometimes on a tight funding deadline), and you keep sending their design back for clarification, revision, and rewrites, people grumble at you and about you a lot. Also, I personally am not a huge fan of the budgeting side of it. But hey, maybe that’s your thing. Tell me about being a “Management” Officer: (Note: “Management” officer is not official AID-speak, it’s just the best way I can come up with to categorize these things.) Management officers come in four different stripes: • Executive Officer • Contracting Officer • Financial Management Officer • Regional Legal Advisor Executive Officers are most akin to State GSO officers. They help Missions run facilities management, IT, security, occupational safety/health, construction management and (in some places) housing (although this is more and more being combined with State’s ICASS system). If you wanted to work for State GSO, and thought, hey, I need another option… EXO positions are for you. Contracting Officers are the key business advisors in Missions. They are directly responsible for negotiating and awarding contracts and the like for the implementation of AID projects. Nota bene: If something goes wrong in this process, Contracting Officers can be criminally prosecuted. So, uh, be careful. Financial Management Officers are responsible for accounting and budgeting for Mission operations and financial analyses of Agency programs and their local implementing partners. They work closely with the greater USAID Controller team. Regional Legal Advisors work in AID Regional Missions to ensure that AID remains legally compliant with any number of legal frameworks. International law (in general, although largely contractual), local employment and contract law, US employment law, ethical compliance… the RLA is in charge of monitoring all of this. RLAs always seem to be mid-level officers. I’ve never heard of a Junior Officer serving as an RLA. RLAs are all licensed, practicing attorneys. It’s hard for me to come up with pluses and minuses for these because I never even considered taking any of these positions, so I haven’t thought about it enough. You can find more information on all these backstops (except RLA, for some reason) here: http://www.usaid.gov/careers/fso.html Tell Me About Language Training: AID FSO language training is largely akin to language training for State FSOs, except our tenure standards are lower. World languages require a 3/3, but nothing else does that I know of. If you come in with prior language knowledge, you may tenure in any language—even one that you will never, in a thousand years, use at AID (I had a friend who tenured in German, and another who tenured in Polish). If you do this, and your first post is not language-designated, you will not receive language training before you go unless you can talk your post into letting you take an FSI Fast Course. Also, your language training may have absolutely nothing to do with your first post, if you do need training to make tenure. I have a friend who was posted to Cairo and got trained in Spanish. You know, obviously. As far as I know, you can nearly always receive additional language training at post, but I know that the conditions in which that training takes place varies. Sometimes it’s one-on-one tutoring up to 8 hours a week, sometimes it’s a class twice a week. Is there a fight for good locations? Of course. And keep in mind that the “good” locations at AID are not Sydney, Paris, London, Brussels, and Rome. After your first two tours, where the Agency mostly wants you to be able to learn your job in relative peace, you’ll have a hard time getting a “good” location without spending some time in a CPC first. Can LGBT apply? Yes, of course. Same as State. Of course, the vast majority of AID posts are in places we don’t typically think of as being progressive regarding LGBTs, but I have a close friend who’s a gay AID FSO, and he claims never to have had any problems. Tell me about family life: Pretty much the same as State, with the caveat that many, many AID posts are difficult for single women, for a multitude of reasons ranging from it being socially suspicious for a woman to be out alone to (much more commonly) Western guys loving to date the locals, while local guys are not so interested in Western women. Also, I suspect (though I don't really know) that families with kids above elementary-school age may have a hard time finding posts with adequate schooling. Most people I know with high school kids have them in boarding school or living with relatives in the States. Please let me know if there’s anything I should add! pamchenko fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Apr 20, 2011 |
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Apr 18, 2011 19:36
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Just quick note about Exo, from a country where we are co-located on a single compound, security, facilities, housing is all ran by state-RSO, FM, and GSO respectively. State and AID are slowly moving to a unified Enterprise IT system which will be headed by state to my understanding. For example, when our post moved into the same building, the USAID American Exo position was removed. Additionally for state GSO positions can both be filled by generalist management cone officers or by GSO specialists.
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Apr 18, 2011 22:25
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Hey Pamchenko, we had our USAID briefing today, but your briefer cancelled at the last moment so we had a substitute. I didn't realize just how bad you guys have it  (by my personal standards, at least).We got told that USAID is likely going to be hiring only around 100 FSOs this upcoming FY instead of the 300 they planned. I'll put that stuff in the OP; you don't need to edit it out of here though, that way double chance that the people looking for it will see it.
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Apr 18, 2011 22:40
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Dameius posted:Hey SWAT can you elaborate a little on what you've heard/know about the competition for Con since that is what I'm shooting for? Unless something drastically changes, Con will always be in demand because there is always a need for Con officers; as such it's generally had a pretty short register compared to Pol or Econ. Right now the registers are "clogged" due to a lack of classes and budget concerns; 5.67 is the magic number I'm hearing for Con, though I think that's a little pessimistic and the 5.6's will probably be OK too if they have a long time left on the register. Keep in mind that if you go in another cone, you'll still do a Consular tour, so you don't necessarily have to go Con unless that's actually what you want to do.
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Apr 18, 2011 22:57
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This thread is frankly amazing; I can't believe how much time and effort has been put into it. A sticky question: Arabic is a SCNL. Do I get tested before or after the QEP? If it's after, I will sign up for the June test and study while clerking, taking classes, and learning a language. If it's before the QEP, I will have a short break from the madness to take time and study for the October(?) test. Guess which option I would prefer?
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Apr 19, 2011 04:50
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Huckleduck posted:This thread is frankly amazing; I can't believe how much time and effort has been put into it. It is before the QEP.
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Apr 19, 2011 04:52
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TCD posted:Just quick note about Exo, from a country where we are co-located on a single compound, security, facilities, housing is all ran by state-RSO, FM, and GSO respectively. State and AID are slowly moving to a unified Enterprise IT system which will be headed by state to my understanding. True. Colocation is not universal now, but will become more common as more and more Embassies/all their attendant parts move out to New Embassy Compounds. I'm not sure if the end result will be the complete elimination of the USAID Exo backstop or what.
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Apr 19, 2011 06:39
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A May A-100 class has been announced and offers started going out for everyone but POL and PD so far (not unusual for the cones to go out at different times). From the A-100 group: quote:Management - all offers have gone out. 14 slots were available for the May 23 2011 class. Offers were made down to at least rank #18. One thing to note is that Con may go further down than the others because for some reason lots of people take a second candidacy in Con (or it's their first and take a second candidacy in something else). I assume the thought is that Con is less competitive -- but that may actually end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy if a decent % of Con candidates are actually on DNC while pursuing another candidacy in a different cone.
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Apr 19, 2011 23:11
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Thank you for that extremely informative post about Foreign Service Officers positions with USAID. I've also heard that Department of Commerce has Foreign Service Officer positions, can anyone elaborate further on them?
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Apr 20, 2011 02:58
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Foreign Commercial Service. We got a briefing from them, but it wasn't very in depth. About 250 officers in the Foreign Commercial Service (there's also a plain old Commercial Service which is the domestic side), around 100 or so at the headquarters, and they have around a 200 million budget. Their mission is to: expand exports, particularly among small or midsized countries; and advance US commercial interests. They're about 10% of Commerce's budget. In comparison, NOAA is about 50% of Commerce's budget. IIRC they are super subject-matter intense. It's a lot of international trade/economics poo poo that makes no sense to me -- I was an IP attorney and I don't even understand some of the poo poo that they deal with involving TRIPS and trade-related IP. -e- There's also a Foreign Agriculture Service with Department of Agriculture. Together those four: State, AID, FCS and FAS are the four primary foreign affairs agencies.
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Apr 20, 2011 03:37
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Also I hear FCS is not hiring anyone right now.
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Apr 20, 2011 03:39
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Hey guys. Glad I found this thread. I am taking the IMS OA in a little while and I thought that I could make this a single post resource for anyone pursuing the IMS position. This is stuff I found all over the thread and externally. I hope TCD and 1of7 could help me and others out by contributing. I'll edit this post after some responses. Essay: NDA limits information available Technical questions during interview: Active directory / File, Group, User Permissions Windows server (2003, but 2008 also helps). For specifics, I liked the NSA guide to Securing Win 2k3 as it has the added benefit of covering Policy. Otherwise, go for the TechNet edition. Basic backup theory, Disaster recovery/Contigency Planning, Helpdesk Functions (including user interaction, management, etc) Interpersonal skills questions during interview: Communicating effectively with non-technical background IT users Competency Exam: NDA limits information available Application Process for IMS: Apply Get invited to Oral Assessment (OA)/Pass OA Get Security & Medical Clearances Pass Final Review Panel placed on specialty register Get invite to orientation & training Accept invite/offer letter Please add in anything IMS specific or in general as well you might find relevant. asuran fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Apr 22, 2011 |
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Apr 21, 2011 21:56
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If it helps, all I can say is the competency exam was all over the place. For your technical topics of study, I would put it like: Active directory / File, Group, User Permissions Windows server (2003, but 2008 also helps). For specifics, I liked the NSA guide to Securing Win 2k3 as it has the added benefit of covering Policy. Otherwise, go for the TechNet edition. Basic backup theory, Disaster recovery/Contigency Planning, Helpdesk Functions (including user interaction, management, etc) The Yahoo board isn't that helpful.. The reason why is Topics, Essay, etc are covered in the NDA, so you are pretty much on your own on those. But if you cover the above topics you should be fine. Good luck with your Assessment! edit the process is also: Apply Get invited to Oral Assessment (OA)/Pass OA Get Security & Medical Clearances Pass Final Review Panel placed on specialty register Get invite to orientation & training Accept invite/offer letter Skandiaavity fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Apr 21, 2011 |
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Apr 21, 2011 23:28
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Glad you are getting all that poo poo out of the way now cause the actual job is like reading from a 3rd grade textbook.
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Apr 22, 2011 03:30
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So I literally tore FSI apart looking for my missing wallet could have been just about anywhere in the main buildings (I was all up and down that poo poo today). I drove all the way home to Alexandria before I realized the wallet was missing. I then drove all the way back to FSI. Searched until about 7pm before I finally said "gently caress it, I'm going to just cancel all my cards". "No wait let me search the car one last time." There it was, wedged in one of the door pockets where the operators manual goes. gently caress my life. I spent 12 hours today either at or in transit to FSI.
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Apr 22, 2011 04:11
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