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After the OA, if you pass, you will get a briefing that same day on your next steps. You'll get your score on the OA (that's your 5.3 or 6.0 or whatever) which may or may not break down which sections you passed (P/F only, not by score). You'll immediately start the security clearance process with DS. And then you'll start scheduling all your medical clearances and other stuff. That score you get is a combination of your OA score (5.3 or higher) plus any veterans/language points you have. Once you reach the register, you are ranked by score order, which is how the hiring list is determined (so for instance, a 6.3 will likely be #1 or #2 on the list, and get an offer the next time the classes are called. A 5.3 would be at the bottom of the list and is not likely to get an offer. Lately the minimum cutoffs have been in the 5.6-5.7 range.) Note that the score itself doesn't give you as much of an idea, so much as your ranking on the register (which you can get updates on by emailing HR). At this point you get access to a mailing list for people on the register, where people share their scores/info about ranks. If you are seeing that your score is nowhere near being called, then yeah, that's a good sign for reapplying at Georgetown. If you're seeing your score is very close though, it doesn't mean you'll get called next class, but it means you are definitely in the running.
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Aug 1, 2011 08:40
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In other newsquote:One of the final sticking points this evening was the issue of how to ensure the domestic discretionary spending cuts in FY12 and FY13 would be spread out across both defense and non-defense programs. Every little bit of this debt ceiling debate is making me    
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Aug 1, 2011 08:44
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mute posted:Passed my OA last week for IMS... now worrying about how long it'll take for my employer (only been here 6 months) to fire me when they get called by the investigator for my clearance. You can request that they interview your current employer last.
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Aug 1, 2011 09:34
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AKA Pseudonym posted:You can request that they interview your current employer last. Also, if you have friendly co-workers and supervisors who can keep this on the low-low, pass their information along to your clearance investigator. They will do their best to keep you from being fired in the meantime.
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Aug 1, 2011 10:26
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passed my clearances  awaiting suitability :| Diplomaticus: there's a conference call from the WH in an hour suppose to go over all of this, but yeah it's certainly a...mess
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Aug 1, 2011 15:06
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I keep telling my more conservative friends/family, cut my 1% of the budget if it makes you feel better, but you'll see in 3-4 years that you'll probably actually be worse off economically. Defense spending is expensive (clearly) and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Not that they listen. Stop givin' my money to them drat furrriners!   First pass out our (my) bidlist comes out in a couple of hours... here goes nothing.
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Aug 1, 2011 21:23
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Diplomaticus posted:In other news Uhg, At this rate, things are going to be pretty grim. I'd be happy for reduced hiring via attrition, but, in talking to some people, "rifs" are starting to pop up on the water cooler talk. Please get tenured... Please get tenured... I feel sorry for pamchenko and our USAID co-workers. The House and tea party has a hard on for you guys. I see in the new FY2012 they again go to: Elected Xenophobics posted:18 SEC. 402. UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL Which if I remember right is a drastic cut. Which will of course never make it through the Senate or President. Edit: Also in the House FY2012, OCP pay stripped, and with the increases in med and pension withholding, it's like a ~20% cut for non Senior Foreign Service members who are posted overseas. TCD fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Aug 1, 2011 |
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Aug 1, 2011 22:12
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It is a drastic cut, and you're right, it'll never make it through the Senate or the President, but we're getting cut pretty severely as it is. USAID is everyone's favourite punching bag; sure, you can solve your whole debt crisis by cutting our budget! Go ahead, try it. Part of me almost wishes they would, so everyone would see what a moronic idea it is. RiFs have been part of the USAID water cooler talk, no joking, since my second week on the job. Good luck to us.
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Aug 1, 2011 22:19
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pamchenko posted:It is a drastic cut, and you're right, it'll never make it through the Senate or the President, but we're getting cut pretty severely as it is. USAID is everyone's favourite punching bag; sure, you can solve your whole debt crisis by cutting our budget! Go ahead, try it. Part of me almost wishes they would, so everyone would see what a moronic idea it is. Good luck to all of us. Especially us newbies. I'm thinking hiring is going to be pretty slim the next few years. Edit: Speaking of wishes, I wished the .gov shut down in April so the average Joe is reminded what all everybody gets from the USG. I wish it was a pre-req for these tea partieres to go do a Peace Corp tour in some countries around the world and see first hand just what we all take for granted here in the US, and really pay essentially nothing for (compared to Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare, and DoD) and the associated tax rates. TCD fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Aug 1, 2011 |
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Aug 1, 2011 22:24
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Yeah, good luck to you guys. Those of us in the application process are extra boned. At this point I'm just going through the motions and not expecting anything to come from it.
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Aug 1, 2011 22:49
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Does anyone know anything about careers in the Canadian foreign service? I know this is the US thread but I couldn't find anything equivalent.
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Aug 1, 2011 23:21
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WaveLength posted:Does anyone know anything about careers in the Canadian foreign service? I know this is the US thread but I couldn't find anything equivalent. I hang out with some Canadian FS officers here at post. They basically do the same things we do. Let me know if you want me to put you in touch with them.
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Aug 2, 2011 07:32
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TCD posted:Good luck to all of us. Especially us newbies. I'm thinking hiring is going to be pretty slim the next few years. The sad thing is that these cuts come after already State has taken a voluntary reduction in budget.
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Aug 2, 2011 11:07
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Diplomaticus posted:I hang out with some Canadian FS officers here at post. They basically do the same things we do. Let me know if you want me to put you in touch with them. PM sent
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Aug 2, 2011 15:21
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Passed my Citrix test this morning. Hope I never have to take another class like that.
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Aug 5, 2011 18:47
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1of7 posted:Passed my Citrix test this morning. Hope I never have to take another class like that. Congrats, I heard it's a pain in the rear end. On a side note, I found out that my housing has been changed... only a problem because some houses are 110 and others are 220. gently caress. (and no, I'm not going to use a transformer for things like a vacuum.
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Aug 5, 2011 21:53
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1of7 and TCD, just how tough are those classes/test compared to say, college? Also, what is the schedule like at FSI for those classes? Thanks
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Aug 5, 2011 23:31
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Most classes have been pretty easy & the tests were open book, so it's pretty hard not to fail them. The Citrix one was just BS though. I heard they are only giving it to like 1 more class & then are dropping it from the curriculum so you shouldn't have to worry about. Schedule can vary, but it's pretty much 8:30-3:30 with an hour lunch for the IMS classes. I've already forgotten the schedule during orientation, but it wasn't too different.
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Aug 6, 2011 02:05
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1of7 posted:Most classes have been pretty easy & the tests were open book, so it's pretty hard not to fail them. The Citrix one was just BS though. I heard they are only giving it to like 1 more class & then are dropping it from the curriculum so you shouldn't have to worry about. Language classes are either 8-2:15 or 10-4:15. At least Portuguese is that way. They normally give you one afternoon off every other week to get admin stuff done (visas, passports, vouchers, moving stuff, etc.)
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Aug 6, 2011 03:29
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1of7 posted:Most classes have been pretty easy & the tests were open book, so it's pretty hard not to fail them. The Citrix one was just BS though. I heard they are only giving it to like 1 more class & then are dropping it from the curriculum so you shouldn't have to worry about. NO YOU NEED TO WORRY ABOUT CITRIX DAMMIT MY TECS ACCESS NEEDS TO WORK ARRRGHGJFKJGHA;SGDJASLGJK. I'm okay.
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Aug 6, 2011 15:02
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Homie S, the reason it's BS is that the class is for a version of Citrix we don't & will never use. Also, it is totally geared towards trying to get us to pass the test instead of teaching us anything related to the way it's actually used at post.
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Aug 6, 2011 15:15
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TCD posted:Language classes are either 8-2:15 or 10-4:15. In Russian we had a 7:00-1:50 shift and a 10:40-5:30 shift. Admin Wednesdays every other Wednesday except your first five weeks, when you got no Admin Wednesdays at all.
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Aug 6, 2011 15:58
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Hmm. My spanish and French colleagues are doing a 3 hours in the morning, a couple hours off around lunch, 3 hours in the afternoon rotation at FSI.
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Aug 6, 2011 17:38
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Diplomaticus posted:Hmm. My spanish and French colleagues are doing a 3 hours in the morning, a couple hours off around lunch, 3 hours in the afternoon rotation at FSI. Hey did you get my PM? If you haven't gotten around to acting on it yet that's fine, but just checking.
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Aug 6, 2011 18:17
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Diplomaticus posted:Hmm. My spanish and French colleagues are doing a 3 hours in the morning, a couple hours off around lunch, 3 hours in the afternoon rotation at FSI. Huh not sure why Portuguese is slightly different, but all of our classes (the 8 week, 16 week conversion and 6 month class to get 3/3) follow the times listed. 2:05 hours in the morning, 2:05 hours in the afternoon. 1 hour of lab and 45 minutes for lunch.
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Aug 6, 2011 22:56
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TCD posted:1 hour of lab and 45 minutes for lunch.  = 105 minutes for lunch. FSI is awesome.
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Aug 7, 2011 01:41
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WaveLength posted:Hey did you get my PM? If you haven't gotten around to acting on it yet that's fine, but just checking. Yeah I got it, my colleagues assigned to Canada haven't gotten there yet and the Canadians that I met here at post already left for back home. When something comes up I'll let you know. Also TCD -- I think we're talking about the same schedule; the way I understand it though the lab time is basically time for you to go off on your own for lunch, which is why all my language colleagues could go off-campus for lunch and we scrubs with just an hour had to suck it up at the cafeteria.
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Aug 7, 2011 02:06
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Diplomaticus posted:Yeah I got it, my colleagues assigned to Canada haven't gotten there yet and the Canadians that I met here at post already left for back home. When something comes up I'll let you know. Haha... We're on the FAST course so only 8 weeks. Thus I go to lab so I don't have to do it at home.
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Aug 7, 2011 02:29
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Business of Ferrets posted:
Hahahahahahahahaha. One of my speaking teachers used to give us these monstrous lab assignments that meant, the 10 weeks we were with her, none of us ever had more than 10 minutes for lunch. Even our time with her aside, we always had actual lab assignments, although most of the time they only took 40 minutes or so. But you couldn't just not go to lab. You World language people have it easy.
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Aug 7, 2011 08:19
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pamchenko posted:Hahahahahahahahaha. One of my speaking teachers used to give us these monstrous lab assignments that meant, the 10 weeks we were with her, none of us ever had more than 10 minutes for lunch. I've only done hard and super-hard languages at FSI (with another starting next month!), but you're right that it depends on the language department/instructor. Though I've also found that if an instructor assigns too much time in the lab, a brief conversation with the departmental supervisor will usually get me an exemption from having to do it. Not that lab is that bad . . . but no sense wasting time if you learn better through other means.
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Aug 8, 2011 00:35
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hey 1of7, how long did it take for you to get the offer once your clearances were done? Is Suitability something we should follow up with or just wait around? it's been about a month. Also, Citrix, Virtualization 
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Aug 8, 2011 15:07
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Final review was about a week & then I got the invite to orientation. The actual offer letter was like a month later. As for Citrix, don't get me wrong, I think it's cool technology & would love to really learn more about it. It's just the class format I had a problem with. I don't think you will have to take it though.
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Aug 8, 2011 16:43
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hmm, so i got my clearances done a month ago (med in june, sec in july), should I follow up with the review/invite? vvv- thanks, will do that. They've been pretty responsive to my e-mails, weird. I should reach out to the same folks who sent me the orals invite, correct? Skandiaavity fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Aug 8, 2011 |
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Aug 8, 2011 21:04
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Yeah, I would call. I never had luck with emails or voice mails. I just called & if a person didn't answer then I waited 20 minutes & called back.
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Aug 8, 2011 21:49
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Things I should not do at the embassy: When the Ambassador's OMS tells me he is "absolutely unavailable" that day, the proper response is not "Only a Sith deals in absolutes!" Especially when she is my Mom's age. In other news, living in a textile-heavy country is awesome. I just got 3 suits made to measure for $80 each. With trousers.
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Aug 9, 2011 09:03
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Diplomaticus posted:Things I should not do at the embassy: When the Ambassador's OMS tells me he is "absolutely unavailable" that day, the proper response is not "Only a Sith deals in absolutes!" 
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Aug 9, 2011 11:44
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TCD posted:I thought the orals were supposed to filter out your types... I am like a parasite, I can never really be filtered out, and given enough time I will leech you dry.
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Aug 9, 2011 12:59
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Bid list...  Okay, it's not that bad, but there's nothing on there I'm super excited about. It would be nice to be super excited about something.
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Aug 9, 2011 17:14
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What on there piques your interest? It's always interesting to hear people's priorities.
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Aug 9, 2011 18:02
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The Mantis posted:What on there piques your interest? It's always interesting to hear people's priorities. Well, first off, I'm trying to decide whether to bid on the CPC round. Everyone and their brother is bidding on Juba, and I'm halfway tempted to do it, too. I hear Juba's okay, and I might as well knock out my CPC, pick up some $$$$$$$$ and see if there's anything better on the list next year. Otherwise, the ones I'm really looking at are, in no particular order: Nepal, East Timor, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Haiti, Yemen, Mali, Kazakhstan, and a couple of positions in DC. It's all a little jumbled in my head. For example, Kazakhstan: I already have well above the USAID requirement for tenuring in Russian, so if I bid on either of the positions there that I'm eligible for, I probably have a pretty good shot at getting them. So I have to think pretty hard about whether or not that's what I want, because if I bid them high, I'll probably get one of them. Also, I'm really not interested in spending another 2-4 years of my life in a post where life sucks for single women. Which rules out about 90% of AID posts (probably including Kazakhstan). Being a social pariah is no fun. Also, some of the posts I'm looking at have French language designations, so I have to talk to those missions and see if they're willing to take into consideration that I'm not FSI rated in French, but I do have the equivalent of 13 years of French study, plus continuing classes at Alliance Francaise. It's not like I'm a beginner, but if Missions are sticky about language requirements, it's not worth my time to bid on those posts. Also, my supervisor told me he thinks I'm underestimating myself and has recommended that I consider bidding on at least one office director position, which would be a huge jump from my current grade. It's nice that he has confidence in me, but I'm not sure if I feel ready for that kind of thing. So, again, I have to think about it. tl;dr version: 1) Decide if I want to bid on Juba next week; 2) Find the elusive AID post where single Western women aren't treated like a disease; 3) Figure out how high I can bid without HR pointing and laughing. pamchenko fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Aug 9, 2011 |
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Aug 9, 2011 20:59
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