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The March A-100 is officially a go! Still no word on EFMs though.
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Feb 14, 2017 02:45
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Fusion Restaurant posted:What is the day to day atmosphere like for y'all post trump? Does it have day to day effects on your job at the moment? My office has been struggling to deal with the fallout since we are one of the more "public" facing parts of State. He is not well liked. But he's our boss, so as professionals, we are hoping to moderate his destructive tendencies a bit so that he can be more effective with nuance and a softer touch.
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Feb 14, 2017 03:09
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I think we'll need to see more appointments fill in before anything much changes for me. Mostly just a lot of unknown right now, without a clear sense of the administration's priorities on our end of things.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:02
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On the consular end, with the exception of the executive orders (which were inapplicable in the country in which I'm working), nothing has changed from my junior-level perspective. That may change if/when we get a new AS for consular.
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Feb 21, 2017 13:46
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The biggest change is people curious about "what it's like" working for the government.
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Feb 21, 2017 14:16
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I...didn't pass? 186 score, but only a four on the essay. What the gently caress, I was so confident. This was a breeze a decade ago and I've only become a better candidate.
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Feb 23, 2017 16:32
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Goddamn this is pretty devastating. 4/12 on the essay is awful and I thought mine was great.
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Feb 23, 2017 16:37
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Aliquid posted:Goddamn this is pretty devastating. 4/12 on the essay is awful and I thought mine was great. It probably isn't much consolation, but that is a pretty common experience. I've seen some people sail through with essays almost identical to people that received a score like you just did. I think the essay portion of the test is by far the most subjective and difficult to pass.
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Feb 23, 2017 17:17
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Considering articles like this:quote:The Trump administration in its first month has largely benched the State Department from its long-standing role as the preeminent voice of U.S. foreign policy, curtailing public engagement and official travel and relegating Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to a mostly offstage role. https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...m=.72daa2859df6 For people working in State, how consequential do you find your work?
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Feb 23, 2017 17:24
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7/10 consequential In all seriousness, I think more time will be necessary to see how everything shakes out. The Department has almost no appointed leadership. Most people are probably covering the basic day to day tasks of their job while waiting for more detailed guidance on what the future holds.
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Feb 23, 2017 17:38
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Ill join in on the testing woes. I didn't pass my OA. Oh well, getting this far was still exhilarating
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Feb 23, 2017 21:16
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I was gonna ask this; now that I'm not moving forward, may as well anyway. How does State view previous foreign experience with high-level officials? Let's say I spent a year working for a president in West Africa, good or bad thing? Not a dictator.
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Feb 23, 2017 23:33
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State and BEX will love it, DS will hate it. You would probably get a preclusion from working in that country. DS has very little patience for foreign entanglements and throws around preclusions with a "better safe than sorry" attitude.
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Feb 24, 2017 02:15
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Aliquid posted:Goddamn this is pretty devastating. 4/12 on the essay is awful and I thought mine was great. I'm so sorry dude. That's a kick in the balls any way you cut it.
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Feb 24, 2017 03:06
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Thanks y'all. Anyone else take the FSOT this quarter?
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Feb 24, 2017 04:01
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Slaan posted:Ill join in on the testing woes. I didn't pass my OA. Look through the old pages of this forum and see my posts from March 2014 and June 2015.  And did you pass any of the modules at the OA? The consensus is that the CM is the hardest while the SI is the easiest. The GE is the huge wildcard because of the other people in your assigned group.
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Feb 24, 2017 15:19
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Didn't pass any, though my scores were close on all three. Reading and studying the official examples and actually doing them in person are two very different things apparently. I'm not too sad though. I was the only person under thirty in my group and half of them either had PHDs or multiple masters. So getting to that point was still pretty uplifting. The memo was the hardest to be sure. Slaan fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Feb 24, 2017 |
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Feb 24, 2017 15:50
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The essay on the written test is more about how you write than what you write. I found joining the yahoo OA group very helpful. I did several practice CM and GE exercises that definitely helped me feel relaxed on the day, if nothing else. I ran the yahoo practice CM exercises on a 60 minute timer per others' recommendation.
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Feb 26, 2017 08:02
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Random question for the DS folk - what do we call the security clearance that our LES receive to work at the embassy? It's not public trust, I assume, but it's akin to that maybe? One of my best LES employees from Riyadh just landed a job with a big contracting firm in the States, and he's trying to figure out how to list in their internal system what USG experience he's had.
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Feb 26, 2017 17:21
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the_chavi posted:Random question for the DS folk - what do we call the security clearance that our LES receive to work at the embassy? It's not public trust, I assume, but it's akin to that maybe? One of my best LES employees from Riyadh just landed a job with a big contracting firm in the States, and he's trying to figure out how to list in their internal system what USG experience he's had. We just call it LES Clearance. It's a process largely handled internally at Post.
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Feb 26, 2017 18:28
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Any goons gonna be at FSI for the next few weeks? A-100 starts on Monday!
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Mar 1, 2017 21:37
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zzonkmiles posted:Any goons gonna be at FSI for the next few weeks? A-100 starts on Monday! I'm going to come out for Flag Day - got two good friends starting. Which cone are you again?
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Mar 2, 2017 16:07
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I've been gone like two years here, did I miss anything?
problematique fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Mar 4, 2017 |
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Mar 4, 2017 00:23
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problematique posted:I've been gone like two years here, did I miss anything? Someone got a Bloody nose, went to EAP, and then there was more blood so he came home.
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Mar 4, 2017 03:46
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After a total of 20 minutes working at State, I put "former diplomat" on my resume and got a fancy job in the private sector. Everyone follow me!
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Mar 4, 2017 04:42
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Bloodnose posted:After a total of 20 minutes working at State, I put "former diplomat" on my resume and got a fancy job in the private sector. Everyone follow me!  Wait so people are being invited to A100s? What happened to the hiring freeze? I know it was conditional on the date of job offer -- is that technically when you pass the OAs?
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Mar 4, 2017 16:26
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Apparently it doesn't apply to FSOs?
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Mar 4, 2017 18:06
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The Mantis posted:
The March A-100s for new generalists and specialists were cleared by Tillerson. The generalist class starts on Monday. The April Consular Fellows class was also approved. I don't know what will happen with the July and September classes, but I'm not optimistic.
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Mar 4, 2017 21:41
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The Mantis posted:
Each agency has their own definition of "mission critical" hires. At the most extreme you might have an agency that says "well we don't hire anybody that's not critical to our operations" and proceeds as normal (not sure how OMB would respond to that but I think I heard of the EPA taking a stance like that right after the EO came out.)
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Mar 5, 2017 16:31
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Strudelmeyer posted:Someone got a Bloody nose, went to EAP, and then there was more blood so he came home. So much blood. I wrapped up my assignment in AF and went to EUR. My first week was like a TIL on how a real functioning embassy is supposed to work, opposed to one in the the wild west Bureau of YOLO-anything-goes. So much more...diplomatic here, dare I say. There sure are some strange fellows working in that continent  Bidding this summer. Can someone please get me a job somewhere awesome in WHA or EAP plzkthx? I'm the best ever IMS. My main creds/skillz involve going to the airport, closing bags of pouch and opening other ones up. I also excel at closing tickets without resolving them and yelling at people when they open new ones.
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Mar 8, 2017 17:31
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This is where we do this awkward courtship dance...
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Mar 9, 2017 04:29
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Mar 9, 2017 17:42
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I've gone over this bid list so many times and keep switching everything around. I don't know what I'm doing or where I want to go anymore. Ummm...help?
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Mar 12, 2017 06:12
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zzonkmiles posted:I've gone over this bid list so many times and keep switching everything around. I don't know what I'm doing or where I want to go anymore. Ummm...help? Easy. Join us in AF.
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Mar 12, 2017 09:46
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zzonkmiles posted:I've gone over this bid list so many times and keep switching everything around. I don't know what I'm doing or where I want to go anymore. Ummm...help? 1.) Focus on what the priority you want out of your first job is versus just the location. In-cone job? want to pick up a certain language? make a list that matches your preferences. If things match what you want, high bid it. 2.) Any place that is an absolute deal breaker, low bid it 3.) mid bid everything else. Or you can just come to China, there are always jobs in China. Good luck!
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Mar 12, 2017 13:43
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Natural Ice posted:1.) Focus on what the priority you want out of your first job is versus just the location. In-cone job? want to pick up a certain language? make a list that matches your preferences. If things match what you want, high bid it. This is a very good summation. Only thing I would add is that sometimes it makes sense (family etc permitting) to do the hardest place you can handle your first tour, because then you get boss equity for your second round of bidding, when there's like 500 vice 50 options. I'm happy to review your list or your info sheet if you want - did it yesterday for a few hours with some friends in your class. PM me your email if so.
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Mar 12, 2017 16:27
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zzonkmiles posted:I've gone over this bid list so many times and keep switching everything around. I don't know what I'm doing or where I want to go anymore. Ummm...help? I would add that if there is a specific region you want to get to, best to get there by your third tour.
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Mar 12, 2017 17:17
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What if I was there, then an evil CDO put me in another bureau? C-c-c-can I get back? (side note: West EUR contains very interesting spots. It's.. different.)
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Mar 13, 2017 12:16
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Skandiaavity posted:What if I was there, then an evil CDO put me in another bureau? C-c-c-can I get back? It's much easier as a specialist.
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Mar 13, 2017 12:48
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the_chavi posted:This is a very good summation. Only thing I would add is that sometimes it makes sense (family etc permitting) to do the hardest place you can handle your first tour, because then you get boss equity for your second round of bidding, when there's like 500 vice 50 options. How much does equity really count when it comes to bidding? Maybe it applies more to Generalists with a larger pool of Posts on their bid lists but, as a Specialist, they touted the benefit of equity when we were first bidding. However, when it came to bidding for our second Post, with a list of ~30 Posts, it was like they just paid lip service to it in the instructions. Folks went from one 'first world' Post to another while others, mainly the single folks or couples with no children, who thought they had built equity in a hardship Post the first go around, ended up getting other hardship Posts they had ranked low. We were led to believe that equity trumped all except the 'needs of the service' - more so than the needs of the families with children etc... but, that was not how it played out for our group.
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Mar 14, 2017 13:02
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