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Nutrimentia posted:Prepare yourself for getting that low bid. Seriously. You probably won't get it, but if you do, you don't want to be the one stumbling around in shock after flag day. There is always (at least) one. They call you if you're going to get a low ahead of time, so I'll have time to prepare before stumbling. And I think there is a difference between being prepared to go to a low and being "ok" with it. I'm prepared to go anywhere on my lows, but I wouldn't be "ok" I'd be disappointed. QuackAttackAggie fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Mar 21, 2015 |
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Mar 21, 2015 15:03
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QuackAttackAggie posted:They call you if you're going to get a low ahead of time, so I'll have time to prepare before stumbling. And I think there is a difference between being prepared to go to a low and being "ok" with it. I'm prepared to go anywhere on my lows, but I wouldn't be "ok" I'd be disappointed. Eh...
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Mar 21, 2015 15:59
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I may have only had four choices on my bid list but I was prepared for them all. I got my high anyway, but you never know!!
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Mar 21, 2015 16:31
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I have a couple slightly tangential questions about State Department. Key one at the moment: if I'm considering working for State at some point in the future, would it be a terrible idea to take a contract job with the UN or NATO in the meantime? Are those going to count as "working for a foreign government" and forever raise questions about loyalty to the US? I know the US is part of those alliances, but I've had friends in DoD express concerns that working for either of them could impact future job options.
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Mar 21, 2015 21:14
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TCD posted:Eh... 50% of my list is rated high though. I keep getting excited about everywhere.
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Mar 21, 2015 22:48
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I have a couple slightly tangential questions about State Department. Key one at the moment: if I'm considering working for State at some point in the future, would it be a terrible idea to take a contract job with the UN or NATO in the meantime? Are those going to count as "working for a foreign government" and forever raise questions about loyalty to the US? I know the US is part of those alliances, but I've had friends in DoD express concerns that working for either of them could impact future job options. Speaking as someone who is not an FSO (and therefore can't say for sure) and also works for a friendly foreign government... I can't see how it would hurt, or at least I really hope it wouldn't.
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Mar 22, 2015 07:20
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I have a couple slightly tangential questions about State Department. Key one at the moment: if I'm considering working for State at some point in the future, would it be a terrible idea to take a contract job with the UN or NATO in the meantime? Are those going to count as "working for a foreign government" and forever raise questions about loyalty to the US? I know the US is part of those alliances, but I've had friends in DoD express concerns that working for either of them could impact future job options. Not an issue. With respect to our DoD counterparts, we work in two very separate spaces.
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Mar 22, 2015 17:18
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I have a couple slightly tangential questions about State Department. Key one at the moment: if I'm considering working for State at some point in the future, would it be a terrible idea to take a contract job with the UN or NATO in the meantime? Are those going to count as "working for a foreign government" and forever raise questions about loyalty to the US? I know the US is part of those alliances, but I've had friends in DoD express concerns that working for either of them could impact future job options. Nope, this is not a problem.
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Mar 22, 2015 18:18
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QuackAttackAggie posted:They call you if you're going to get a low ahead of time, so I'll have time to prepare before stumbling. And I think there is a difference between being prepared to go to a low and being "ok" with it. I'm prepared to go anywhere on my lows, but I wouldn't be "ok" I'd be disappointed. there's a reason we all echo it, but yeah, be prepared - and okay - with going for your last bid. It has to be somebody. It might be you! and from my experience, they don't call anyone on low bids. Hearing the cries and lamentations are part of the in general, "prepare for the worst, oh, this isn't so bad!" is the other State Department motto. Even if you get to your "dream post", hold back your excitement till you actually get there. The morale might be so bad like you wouldn't believe. Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but the term "expectations management" is going to be your #1 or #2 priority in life, very soon. TapTheForwardAssist posted:I have a couple slightly tangential questions about State Department. Key one at the moment: if I'm considering working for State at some point in the future, would it be a terrible idea to take a contract job with the UN or NATO in the meantime? Are those going to count as "working for a foreign government" and forever raise questions about loyalty to the US? I know the US is part of those alliances, but I've had friends in DoD express concerns that working for either of them could impact future job options. Former UN contract, echoing it's not a problem. Skandiaavity fucked around with this message at 13:06 on Mar 23, 2015 |
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Mar 23, 2015 13:00
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Skandiaavity posted:And don't be like "well, at least it isn't me" - that's just part of the problem. That person isn't going to be happy, and may resent the heck out of the rest of you. I support this. Having gotten a low bid on my flag day (and they didn't call me before hand btw), nothing is worst than listening to people complain about their housing assignment at their #1 choice, or something equally dumb. I didn't pout... I took the flag and cracked a joke. Mentally prepare yourself to go to anywhere... Every flag day has someone who clearly was not prepared. But hey, if you do get something really terrible... just think about the student loan repayments you will get! But seriously, take it as a badge of honor and use the equity to bid on something you really want next time. I went from Yemen to Geneva (and have a handshake to Canberra next).
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Mar 23, 2015 14:15
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This is probably a horribly dumb question, but I need to settle a debate with my parents: I'm planning on going out for the FSO after I graduate, and I'm considering joining the Socialist club on campus. I'm not a devout Marxist or anything, but I'm a leftist like all respectable college students, and the Socialists are the only major activist club on campus. This wouldn't impact my ability to become a FSO or get a security clearance, right?
bta47 fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Mar 24, 2015 |
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Mar 24, 2015 03:36
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Enjoy your career at EPA, commie
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Mar 24, 2015 03:46
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The Mantis posted:Enjoy your career at EPA, commie Make sure you send him some Freedom Fries for lunch!
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Mar 24, 2015 04:25
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The Mantis posted:Enjoy your career at EPA, commie You misspelled USAID
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Mar 24, 2015 05:19
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Bloodnose posted:You misspelled USAID 
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Mar 24, 2015 10:40
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TCD can you come replace my keyboard plz there's coffee all over it
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Mar 24, 2015 16:23
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Homie S posted:TCD can you come replace my keyboard plz there's coffee all over it Sorry, you need to put in an E-Services request for that.
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Mar 25, 2015 04:29
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i did, it said Coffee Dispatched????
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Mar 25, 2015 08:18
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Is there any standardized place where they list PSC jobs for State? Indeed and Monster are somehow really lovely for searching for specific employers, and/or for looking for a job that's an overseas deployment. If I search "state department" I get a zillion hits for things like "Nevada State Department of Roads" and the like.
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Mar 25, 2015 18:11
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State specifically? All the PSC I know overseas are attached to USAID, CDC, PEPFAR type work.
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Mar 25, 2015 18:21
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problematique posted:State specifically? All the PSC I know overseas are attached to USAID, CDC, PEPFAR type work. There are definitely State PSCs. For example, here's a gig for a security analyst in Iraq: http://jobview.monster.com/Intelligence-Analyst-Job-Alexandria-VA-US-147856867.aspx?mescoid=3300585001001&jobPosition=3 It's an opening with State's Diplomatic Security bureau. I run across these kinds of listings by chance (one just closed where State was looking for a pedagogy trainer to go to Riyadh and work with their Min of Interior). I'm just having real trouble consistently finding these listings as opposed to stumbling across them on Monster or Indeed. EDIT: also seeing State PSC jobs for project management, oversight, stuff like that. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Mar 25, 2015 |
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Mar 25, 2015 18:31
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:There are definitely State PSCs. For example, here's a gig for a security analyst in Iraq: http://jobview.monster.com/Intelligence-Analyst-Job-Alexandria-VA-US-147856867.aspx?mescoid=3300585001001&jobPosition=3 PSCs for my bureau were always posted on fedbizopps. Giodo! fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Mar 26, 2015 |
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Mar 26, 2015 10:37
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I have a couple slightly tangential questions about State Department. Key one at the moment: if I'm considering working for State at some point in the future, would it be a terrible idea to take a contract job with the UN or NATO in the meantime? Are those going to count as "working for a foreign government" and forever raise questions about loyalty to the US? I know the US is part of those alliances, but I've had friends in DoD express concerns that working for either of them could impact future job options. Same question, but intel. I think I read in this thread that working for any intelligence agency disqualifies you from working Foreign Service because State wants to make sure people don't think their diplomats are spies? Does it matter which agency you worked for?
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Mar 26, 2015 13:59
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AgentSythe posted:Same question, but intel. I think I read in this thread that working for any intelligence agency disqualifies you from working Foreign Service because State wants to make sure people don't think their diplomats are spies? Does it matter which agency you worked for? Again, not an issue. You may be confusing the issue with the Peace Corps and the intelligence community, they try to separate themselves.
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Mar 26, 2015 21:08
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Giodo! posted:PSCs for my bureau were always posted on fedbizopps. Awesome, thanks! It's been an interesting endeavor figuring out how best to pitch my military skillset for non-military jobs for things like State, DAI, Chemonics, IOM, etc. Or actually in a lot of cases, not so much skillset, but rather mindset; showing on a resume that I'm not a violent knuckledragger so yes you can trust me to monitor human rights conditions and not just create more human rights violations. Will start poking into PSC stuff more seriously; DS especially has a lot of vets, so it should be less a liability there than elsewhere I'd hope.
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Mar 26, 2015 21:40
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Awesome, thanks! Any reason why you're not looking for a GS gig or Foreign Service?
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Mar 26, 2015 21:55
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AgentSythe posted:Same question, but intel. I think I read in this thread that working for any intelligence agency disqualifies you from working Foreign Service because State wants to make sure people don't think their diplomats are spies? Does it matter which agency you worked for? State has its own bureau within the intelligence community, so this would be a strange restriction. Like Homie S said, you're probably thinking of the ban on joining the Peace Corps after work in intel.
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Mar 26, 2015 21:57
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Awesome, thanks! I don't know what your specific skillset is, but INL (my bureau) is often looking for senior law enforcement, corrections, and rule of law advisors. Not so much on the military side, but those are typically the kinds of PSCs that we fill.
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Mar 26, 2015 23:15
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Giodo! posted:I don't know what your specific skillset is, but INL (my bureau) is often looking for senior law enforcement, corrections, and rule of law advisors. Not so much on the military side, but those are typically the kinds of PSCs that we fill. - M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies - six years in the Marines (combat stuff, civil affairs, strategic planning) - 5 years doing South Asia political analysis for DoD (contract). Lots of experience in taking all the trickier senior audience briefings/memos, and managed a small team of 8 analysts for a couple years. Focus on things like ethnic and sectarian issue, governance rebuilding, trans-border issues, access to justice, corruption, militias, stuff like that. quote:Any reason why you're not looking for a GS gig or Foreign Service? Haven't taken the FSO test since forever since I don't currently want to stay just in one country for two years and have little choice in it. That could change so I might as well take the test so I have that as an option; I've gotten 3s in four different languages on the DLPT in the military, and my understanding is that can give me a lot of points on the ranking list. I've had job alerts on USA Jobs for GS positions, basically all Foreign Area Officer or similar. Only a few of those come out maybe once a month; I've applied for all the ones that involved security, or government stability/CSO-type stuff, but a lot of the FAO GS slots are pretty specialized in things I have no chance at, like Women's Issues, Nuke Non-Prolif, Water Rights, etc. Also, because I was only casually applying for the GS jobs as they popped up over the last two years, I was a dumbass and didn't bone up on the difference between a good DoS/USAJobs resume and good private industry one. When I told GS friends that I'd applied for some things I was pretty qualified for and never had my resume move past the first phase, even though I'm a disabled vet with an MA and multiple languages, they said that to get through the automated stuff you need like an 8-page resume packed with keywords to get through the 'bots, like entire rambly small paragraphs for each job fact rather than a concise bullet. Then after your resume gets to an actual human you can give them the short one. Curious to know if that's true or no and I undermined myself by having a tight 2-pager, or if the GS jobs are just crazy competitive.
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Mar 26, 2015 23:46
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Homie S posted:
Yep, I sure was. Thanks for the info
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Mar 27, 2015 00:37
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I've gotten 3s in four different languages on the DLPT in the military, and my understanding is that can give me a lot of points on the ranking list. Unfortunately, polyglots aren't appreciated and we only get points for one language 
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Mar 27, 2015 01:22
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Bloodnose posted:Unfortunately, polyglots aren't appreciated and we only get points for one language Does how in demand or low-supply the language is matter? Or should I just use whatever's strongest even if it's Spanish like all the other applicants? Or on kind of a subjective level, might the same skill level get a higher Oral Proficiency Score because the Spanish examiners are jaded by having tons of native-fluent applicants, whereas the Turkish or Portuguese examiner might be used to a much smaller pool and more low-level speakers? quote:PSCs for my bureau were always posted on fedbizopps. Awesome, I just signed up for posting alerts there for any PSC jobs (they're almost all USAID and State apparently that list under that term). Tragically, the coolest job I found and thought I might be qualified for, something about helping USAID oversee stability transition in Pakistan, expired a couple days ago after having been extended for two weeks. But I suppose no matter what day you start looking at jobs, something cool has just expired.
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Mar 27, 2015 |
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Mar 27, 2015 02:24
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Does how in demand or low-supply the language is matter? Or should I just use whatever's strongest even if it's Spanish like all the other applicants? TapTheForwardAssist posted:Or on kind of a subjective level, might the same skill level get a higher Oral Proficiency Score because the Spanish examiners are jaded by having tons of native-fluent applicants, whereas the Turkish or Portuguese examiner might be used to a much smaller pool and more low-level speakers? 1. The test proctors are brutal and 2. They test really weird stuff that a lot of native speakers aren't very familiar with Diplomacy is weird.
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Mar 27, 2015 03:53
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Bloodnose posted:Yes. It's well-known that babby poo poo Mandarin speakers trained at FSI can get a 3 after the 40 or whatever weeks of training they normally get, whereas a native French speaker from Quebec who barely speaks English will struggle to pull off a comfortable 4 in French because This is why French was not pleasant.
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Mar 27, 2015 15:37
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At least it prepares you for the real world. The French seem to love pretending not to understand anything but flawless fluency.
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Mar 27, 2015 18:58
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Two important links in the OP are 404s now; possible to fix the OP? http://careers.state.gov/docs/3.0_FSO_RegGuide.pdf http://www.act.org/fsot/ EDIT: Fuckit, I think I'll sign up for the FSO test, Political track; haven't taken it since 2006 or so and didn't study for it and didn't pass it. I'm filling out the app stuff, but I may have some trouble sitting the June test because I have zero idea where I'll be in June. I'm bouncing around the American South at the moment and applying for contractor jobs in West Africa and South Asia, so this might take some puzzling. Apparently you only have to pick day/location 4-6 weeks prior to June, so hopefully in mid-May I'll have some idea where I'll be on the planet. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Mar 28, 2015 |
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Mar 28, 2015 00:09
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Awesome, thanks! I got hired into my current job (as a producer, essentially the executive producer, at a mid-sized games studio) based in large part on my military and diplomatic leadership experience. There are definitely people out there that completely lack the leadership skills and common sense that we take for granted in the military (and to a lesser extent at State). These are the people who you look at sometimes like "how the gently caress is this not simply something you just naturally understand?" These people are in mid-level and even senior positions all over the private sector. In many cases, the actual technical skills can be trained on the job, but leadership skills simply can't. Something to think about. TapTheForwardAssist posted:Two important links in the OP are 404s now; possible to fix the OP? I will try to remember to update this, but please slap me with a trout if I forget.
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Mar 28, 2015 01:28
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Another dramabomb is brewing on trailing spouses. 
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Mar 28, 2015 15:27
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Zoots posted:Another dramabomb is brewing on trailing spouses. Link?
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Mar 28, 2015 15:35
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Zoots posted:Another dramabomb is brewing on trailing spouses. Hmm I will have to check that out when I get off work today...
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