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Abu Hans posted:
Think Air Force, but even more casual. At State, it's first names, and people rarely think about rank, at least in the day-to-day. Everything is based on one's reputation, so once you've proven yourself to be capable and have decent judgment, you'll probably have quite a bit of autonomy. Unless your supervisor is a micromanager.
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Mar 30, 2013 23:50
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Business of Ferrets posted:Think Air Force, but even more casual. Having been in the Air Force, I find that description spot on. Of course some people will get totally uptight about the smallest things at seemingly arbitrary moments. Gotta watch out for that...
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Mar 31, 2013 00:17
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Business of Ferrets posted:Think Air Force, but even more casual. It's not informal all the time, though. Whenever someone of a certain rank or above enters a room for a speech, we're instructed to stand and clap. Usually they're pretty senior, though, so it's not like you're going to be doing this all day like in the military.
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Mar 31, 2013 13:40
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Continuous posted:It's not informal all the time, though. Whenever someone of a certain rank or above enters a room for a speech, we're instructed to stand and clap. Usually they're pretty senior, though, so it's not like you're going to be doing this all day like in the military. You're in A-100, right? Because A-100 has exactly zero to do with real life in the Foreign Service. It's too bad, really, since a more candid introduction to the service could really do some good for new officers. I would have found it useful, at least. Use the time to get to know your classmates and enjoy the Nation's Capital.
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Mar 31, 2013 15:08
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Business of Ferrets posted:You're in A-100, right? Because A-100 has exactly zero to do with real life in the Foreign Service. It's too bad, really, since a more candid introduction to the service could really do some good for new officers. I would have found it useful, at least. Use the time to get to know your classmates and enjoy the Nation's Capital. Ha. The only people we stand for on a routine basis is the Ambo ( and I've never seen applause unless it was a public event where there would normally be applause anyways) Everybody else is a first name basis interactions. There are other curtesies shown for senior foreign service counselors, but it's mostly not tasking them with projects in a meeting and reserving sharp criticisms for private discussions. But this would be the same for most work environments.. junior people not tasking senior people or calling them out publicly.
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Mar 31, 2013 16:42
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You're not really expected to write a letter of introduction to the ambassador before you arrive at post either.
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Mar 31, 2013 18:33
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Bruxism posted:Of course some people will get totally uptight about the smallest things at seemingly arbitrary moments. Gotta watch out for that... Yeah. People at DoS seem much more. . . . . . sensitive to certain things than people in the military.
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Mar 31, 2013 19:57
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AKA Pseudonym posted:You're not really expected to write a letter of introduction to the ambassador before you arrive at post either. *throws away manuscript* WELP
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Mar 31, 2013 22:31
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AKA Pseudonym posted:You're not really expected to write a letter of introduction to the ambassador before you arrive at post either. That's right. Instead, post it on the Sounding Board!!
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Mar 31, 2013 23:52
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Bruxism posted:That's right. Instead, post it on the Sounding Board!! This is excellent advice.
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Apr 1, 2013 01:58
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psydude posted:This is excellent advice. The sounding board and list servs are an excellent way to weed out people from jobs. Yes, also, corridor rep cuts both ways. You never know when that FP4 is going to nix you from that FP2 job.  problematique posted:I'm voting for TCD as chief steward of the IMS teamsters. 
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Apr 1, 2013 02:39
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TCD posted:The sounding board and list servs are an excellent way to weed out people from jobs. Those things are seriously flypaper. There was a contractor fired a while back for posting a suggestion about how to make the FSI cafeteria less terrible. Although her efforts were not in vain because there's now food trucks outside at lunchtime.
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Apr 1, 2013 03:05
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psydude posted:Those things are seriously flypaper. There was a contractor fired a while back for posting a suggestion about how to make the FSI cafeteria less terrible. Although her efforts were not in vain because there's now food trucks outside at lunchtime.  I was never impressed with the cafeteria though.
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Apr 1, 2013 05:15
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The only thing you need to take away from the A-100 class is replace "Ambassador" with "Front office" and also make sure "Ambassador's OMS" does not equal "Ambassador." However, if you're polite to just about everyone, you'll find your life a bit easier. Stand up for the Ambassador and DCM... Basically, Just make sure you're especially polite to those who work in the front office. As an IMS you can reasonably expect to meet with them from time to time. Pretty much any kind of corporate professionalism is present. You can call people on a first name basis but at bigger posts you'll have an easier time if you address people you're not close with as "sir" or "mr/ms/miss" in official e-mails. Like BoF said, USAF but more casual. Your local staff, it will depend, but imo be nice to them anyway. You will pick up the lingo and between-the-lines talk over time. That is the one consistent thing they'll never teach you at FSI. Skandiaavity fucked around with this message at 06:15 on Apr 1, 2013 |
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Apr 1, 2013 06:13
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psydude posted:Those things are seriously flypaper. There was a contractor fired a while back for posting a suggestion about how to make the FSI cafeteria less terrible. Although her efforts were not in vain because there's now food trucks outside at lunchtime. Wait there are actually foodtrucks at FSI? What will happen to the Sounding Board now? That was like 90% of the traffic!
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Apr 1, 2013 06:40
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The standing and clapping thing isn't relevant, but you will be required at times (at some point or another) to introduce someone in a formal introduction speech/remarks, so that part of A-100 is kind of relevant.
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Apr 1, 2013 07:01
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Diplomaticus posted:Wait there are actually foodtrucks at FSI? What will happen to the Sounding Board now? That was like 90% of the traffic! The Sounding Board sounds somewhat like the blog we have on base. Though you can post as "anonymous" - if you are bored/slow during the day reading some of the comments is great entertainment (oddly enough, reading the anonymous comments was a talking point we had during New Employee Orientation!).
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Apr 1, 2013 13:09
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SCRwM posted:Do you have an email address? It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to start chatting, etc since more than likely we will both be in the same training class. Good idea - deemickgee AT gmail.com
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Apr 1, 2013 14:09
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deemickgee posted:Good idea - deemickgee AT gmail.com Msg. sent.
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Apr 1, 2013 14:57
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Business of Ferrets posted:You're in A-100, right? Because A-100 has exactly zero to do with real life in the Foreign Service. It's too bad, really, since a more candid introduction to the service could really do some good for new officers. I would have found it useful, at least. Use the time to get to know your classmates and enjoy the Nation's Capital. Yup. I'm definitely enjoying it, and all my classmates / colleagues seem pretty awesome. Diplomaticus posted:The standing and clapping thing isn't relevant, but you will be required at times (at some point or another) to introduce someone in a formal introduction speech/remarks, so that part of A-100 is kind of relevant. Yeah, I had to do an introduction for a VIP in my first week. Luckily it went off without me mangling any names.
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Apr 1, 2013 23:45
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Continuous posted:Yup. I'm definitely enjoying it, and all my classmates / colleagues seem pretty awesome. More of actually having to introduce somebody in a diplomatic setting - not just classmates. That's one of the more useful things that you do during orientation.
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Apr 1, 2013 23:59
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Continuous posted:Yup. I'm definitely enjoying it, and all my classmates / colleagues seem pretty awesome. Come to trivia downtown on Mondays at 7. It's a good time.
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Apr 2, 2013 00:03
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May A-100 offers have started going out. I'm still in clearance limbo (I've heard from DC investigator, but not the local one yet), but it's encouraging to see people still getting jobs.
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Apr 2, 2013 20:58
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d1rtbag posted:May A-100 offers have started going out. I'm still in clearance limbo (I've heard from DC investigator, but not the local one yet), but it's encouraging to see people still getting jobs. This is for May A-100? Also, does anyone know if this cable is an April 1 joke (http://diplopundit.net/2013/04/01/state-dept-issues-new-guidance-for-2013-fourth-of-july-embassy-events-more-zombies-please/)? I honestly can't tell.
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Apr 2, 2013 21:23
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problematique posted:This is for May A-100? Yes. I've seen a few people already posting their offers on the Yahoo group. I'm hoping that having a May class means the hiring situation is not as dire as we'd feared.
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Apr 2, 2013 21:34
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There are a lot of formatting errors in the header. So...
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Apr 2, 2013 21:37
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problematique posted:This is for May A-100? Yes.
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Apr 2, 2013 21:50
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TCD posted:There are a lot of formatting errors in the header. This man could still clear a TERP queue if it somehow came to that
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Apr 2, 2013 22:09
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AKA Pseudonym posted:This man could still clear a TERP queue if it somehow came to that I loved that system* I never had to do an emergency rebuild in the field
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Apr 2, 2013 23:54
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SMART has some truly terrible design decisions. We had an econ officer in Kosovo find the delivery receipt checkbox (which was an old TERP Z code ZEV) and she received over a thousand delivery receipts and countless read receipts in her email. One for every SMART user that received it. (it was infoed to the entire EUR political collective) And as an added bonus our TERP was spammed to hell with ZDF service messages acknowledging receipt of the message from other posts.
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Apr 3, 2013 02:58
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don't even get me started on SMART, mang. I'm still picking code errors out of that poo poo.
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Apr 3, 2013 06:11
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Having never used the old system (despite being at what I am told is the last post to have adopted SMART, only a couple months before I got there), I will bitch about the fact that nobody here knows how to use SMART so I constantly get stuck releasing their cables after hours.
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Apr 3, 2013 08:17
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If it helps, it seems not a lot of people, anywhere, know how to use SMART. This also includes IMS and those who train them. My SMART training wasn't anywhere near adequate enough, and I'm currently helping DC out resolving some of their issues. But I met a lot of good POC's and I'm learning a ton on how to handle it, so things are looking up. That said, it's definately a hydra with how it's constructed. One head doesn't know what the other does, so it's like a nightmare trying to get stuff resolved.
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Apr 3, 2013 08:30
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Is this the replacement cabling system? Can somebody give a summary of what SMART is and why it's so difficult to use properly?
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Apr 3, 2013 15:51
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SMART isn't so bad as long as one takes the time to learn how to use it. It was annoying being the only one in the office who bothered to do so, then getting the chance to stand over the shoulder of every single person trying to send a cable and talking them through the process. But you've got to know how to send a cable, even if nobody else is around, so I guess I'm stuck. Oh well. When I started, you would type your cable up on a 3 1/2 inch floppy, then walk it over to the IPC for transmission. Once we got CLOUT, things got a lot easier. I don't like the way SMART is so email based; the mindset I use to write cables is completely different from the one I use for email, and having the same interface for both isn't helpful. Though, I usually draft in Word and then use SMART only once everything is all written, cleared and ready to go.
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Apr 3, 2013 16:47
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Business of Ferrets posted:SMART isn't so bad as long as one takes the time to learn how to use it. It was annoying being the only one in the office who bothered to do so, then getting the chance to stand over the shoulder of every single person trying to send a cable and talking them through the process. But you've got to know how to send a cable, even if nobody else is around, so I guess I'm stuck. Oh well. Agreed. There's a lot of functionality that I prefer in SMART - no more need to be super anal about smart quotes, for example - and the ability to include graphics, charts, and the like can really add depth to a cable if used wisely. That SMART doesn't yet have tracked changes precludes most people I know from drafting cables on it - almost everyone I know uses Word to draft and to circulate for clearance.
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Apr 3, 2013 17:56
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problematique posted:Is this the replacement cabling system? Can somebody give a summary of what SMART is and why it's so difficult to use properly? I greatly prefer it myself, I'm a little surprised by the hate. TERP was a giant mish-mash of tables and databases administered through a interface designed in the early 90s. It passed cables to a customized version Lotus Notes. Building new user accounts took about 10 minutes if you were fast and they had to be partially or entirely rebuilt every time somebody forgot their password. There were web-based options for reading cables and you could avoid the Lotus Notes thing entirely by using CLOUT, but it had to be formatted just right. And when it wasn't IPC had to intervene and fix it. SMART has a few bugs and questionable design choices but I think its a big improvement.
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Apr 3, 2013 18:29
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So, how bad is this http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/04/02/nobody_home_at_the_state_department? Apparently there are a very large amount of political positions at the top of State that have been unfilled for quite a while. Does this kind of thing impact rank and file FSOs much?
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Apr 3, 2013 20:59
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In general, I've often wondered about the whole situation with political appointees. I read a book written by a former ambassador who was a career diplomat, and based on that, I think of the Ambassador as like a CEO or head honcho of an embassy who has to be really, really actively involved. Yet, if many ambassadors aren't career diplomats and are just political appointees, how would they know how to run an embassy? I guess this problem exists in some firms which hire outside management instead of promoting from within, but at least in those cases the hiree is required to be qualified in management based on prior education and experience.
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Apr 4, 2013 02:04
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hitension posted:In general, I've often wondered about the whole situation with political appointees. I read a book written by a former ambassador who was a career diplomat, and based on that, I think of the Ambassador as like a CEO or head honcho of an embassy who has to be really, really actively involved. Yet, if many ambassadors aren't career diplomats and are just political appointees, how would they know how to run an embassy? The ambassador's deputy (the DCM) runs the embassy, pretty much regardless of whether the ambassador is a career officer or a political appointee.
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Apr 4, 2013 02:08
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