US Foreign Service & FSOT Megathread: Where Dreams Come True & Even Lawyers Get Jobs

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > US Foreign Service & FSOT Megathread: Where Dreams Come True & Even Lawyers Get Jobs

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the_chavi: Mar 2, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Global Critter posted:

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 ...

Jeez that sucks. I should have caveated that my advice is for generalists bidding their second tour on summer cycle - winter cycle is slim pickings. I really have no wisdom for specialists.

# ? Mar 14, 2017 17:44

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# ? May 16, 2024 10:39

1of7: Jan 30, 2011

In my 2nd tour IMS experience the person with the highest equity got their first choice and that was about as far as it counted.

# ? Mar 14, 2017 21:36

TCD: Nov 13, 2002; Every step, a fucking adventure.

As with everything - "it depends" has been my experience.

# ? Mar 15, 2017 00:20

zzonkmiles: Mar 3, 2014; Oh, he was just arbitrarily saying stuff.

TCD posted:

As with everything - "it depends" has been my experience.

Yeah, I've quickly learned that this phrase is pretty useful and widely applicable.

# ? Mar 15, 2017 02:28

Phil Moscowitz: Feb 19, 2007; If blood be the price of admiralty,
Lord God, we ha' paid in full!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/...pgtype=Homepage

quote:

WASHINGTON � President Trump�s budget blueprint for the coming fiscal year would slash the Environmental Protection Agency by 31 percent and cut State Department spending by a similar amount in a brash gesture of disdain for big government, according to congressional staff members familiar with the plan.

quote:

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has already said Senate Republicans will not agree to deep cuts to the $50 billion budget for the State Department and United States Agency for International Development initially proposed by the Trump administration�s Office of Management and Budget.

Mr. Trump�s original plan was to slash the State Department by as much as 37 percent � but budget director Mick Mulvaney has reduced the cuts to 28 percent to 31 percent, at the urging of legislators and Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

�This is definitely dead on arrival,� Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters at the Capitol late last month of the proposed cuts to the diplomatic corps and foreign aid.

# ? Mar 15, 2017 22:20

Natural Ice: Mar 22, 2007; SPF 15

Global Critter posted:

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.

For generalists at the entry level, equity matters a bit for second tour bidding in that bidders from 20%+ hardship posts get to bid and are assigned first. If you entered the service with a language service requirement, like Mandarin or Arabic, equity doesn't really come to play when getting assigned to your service requirement assignment. Because of that, some bidders try to aim for a lower hardship 1st posting since their second job is essentially 'locked in' in terms of possible options.

I can't comment much on specialist bidding, but I don't think they have this same '2 tranche bidding' setup for their entry level bidders and everyone bids at the same time, regardless of equity.

For mid level bidding, its all about lobbying and your corridor reputation, equity isn't really much of a factor for most decision makers.

# ? Mar 16, 2017 01:29

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

https://twitter.com/OKnox/status/842375342409039876

:unsmigghh:

# ? Mar 16, 2017 16:10

problematique: Apr 3, 2008; What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it.

1of7 posted:

In my 2nd tour IMS experience the person with the highest equity got their first choice and that was about as far as it counted.

Sometimes the best strategy is to always just go for the best place you can at all costs, any not factor equity in. In our classes case it worked out well, seemed like an even distribution of good->bad, bad->good. There were some peculiarities that raised eyebrows, but ended up being medical reasons. I generally think it's a good idea to a hardship first, every Post is better afterwards. That said your personal situation will dictate what you should do...

All this said if I had to do it again, as an IMS, my strategy would have been to put much more stock into larger posts with lots happening. Busy paces with more resources have more flexibility to do interesting things that can help in EER or just by keeping you interested in the job. The flip side of that is that sometimes they are too big and you're pigeon holed into doing a very specific thing your entire your, so some balance is needed. In my opinion, generally, small posts are where careers go to die. 1-2 IRM shops, no thanks. There may be some reason to go to one, to be a first tour IMO, but I'll always take a seasoned IPO/ISO from a large complex mission over an 2 person shop IMO.

problematique fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Mar 21, 2017

# ? Mar 21, 2017 13:09

1of7: Jan 30, 2011

I'm not so sure I agree. My first tour was a 2-man shop with no local admins and we were super busy.. While my friend at a large post spent six months doing nothing but pouch I got experience in basically every possible area.

# ? Mar 21, 2017 20:42

Shageletic: Jul 25, 2007

Which one of you is this

quote:

New Zealand has expelled an attache at the U.S. Embassy after Washington declined to waive his right to diplomatic immunity after an "incident" which gave him a broken nose and a black eye, media and authorities said.

New Zealand police said they responded to the incident near the capital Wellington on March 12 involving an employee of the U.S. Embassy. They did not say what work the employee did or give any other details.

The U.S. government later declined a police request to waive the employee's diplomatic immunity, the New Zealand Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The New Zealand Herald at the weekend identified the man as an embassy attache and said he had left country with a broken nose and black eye.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy said it was in touch with New Zealand authorities.

"We take seriously any suggestion that our staff have fallen short of the high standards of conduct expected of U.S. government personnel," the spokeswoman said.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 16:41

zzonkmiles: Mar 3, 2014; Oh, he was just arbitrarily saying stuff.

Sure would be nice if the CDOs would just tell you in advance whether you were getting a high, medium, or low. I am okay not knowing which specific post I got assigned to until Flag Day, but being able to prepare my brain for potential shock would be a nice luxury.

# ? Mar 25, 2017 01:56

the_chavi: Mar 2, 2005; Toilet Rascal

zzonkmiles posted:

Sure would be nice if the CDOs would just tell you in advance whether you were getting a high, medium, or low. I am okay not knowing which specific post I got assigned to until Flag Day, but being able to prepare my brain for potential shock would be a nice luxury.

Yeah but that takes away from their sadistic pleasure!

Seriously, I thought they told people beforehand if they were getting a low bid?

# ? Mar 25, 2017 03:23

HJE-Cobra: Jul 15, 2007; Bear Witness; Hell Gem

And the way Flag Day works is the worst, it's like it is intentionally designed to make it as stressful as possible. The names are called in random order, and would read them out as the destination first and the name last. It is awful!

# ? Mar 25, 2017 09:17

zzonkmiles: Mar 3, 2014; Oh, he was just arbitrarily saying stuff.

the_chavi posted:

Yeah but that takes away from their sadistic pleasure!

Seriously, I thought they told people beforehand if they were getting a low bid?

They give us the option of having the CDOs contact us a day in advance if we are assigned to a low bid. I opted to be totally surprised. I just wish they'd let us know in advance whether we were getting a high or medium as well so I could at least rule out 10 posts or 40 posts or whatever. There is some HUGE variance in my list of mediums and I chose 16 highs. I THINK I will get one of my highs, but I'm scared to death of some of my mediums. (I ran out of lows.)

# ? Mar 25, 2017 16:27

Business of Ferrets: Mar 2, 2008; Good to see that everything is back to normal.

zzonkmiles posted:

I opted to be totally surprised. I just wish they'd let us know in advance

Found your problem here.

# ? Mar 26, 2017 00:39

TCD: Nov 13, 2002; Every step, a fucking adventure.

Business of Ferrets posted:

Found your problem here.

Laugh

# ? Mar 26, 2017 03:28

zzonkmiles: Mar 3, 2014; Oh, he was just arbitrarily saying stuff.

Business of Ferrets posted:

Found your problem here.

I legitimately LOLed. Touch�.

# ? Mar 26, 2017 19:37

zzonkmiles: Mar 3, 2014; Oh, he was just arbitrarily saying stuff.

Flag Day for the Specialists was today. Someone got Paris. The needs of the service and whatnot.

# ? Apr 4, 2017 22:43

Hungry Hippo: May 5, 2006; You expect me to eat this?

zzonkmiles posted:

Flag Day for the Specialists was today. Someone got Paris. The needs of the service and whatnot.

I know like three different people that have curtailed from Paris, it's really not as great as it sounds.

# ? Apr 5, 2017 21:44

Deep State of Mind: Jul 30, 2006; "It was a busy day. I do not remember it all. In the morning, I thought I had lost my wallet. Then we went swimming and either overthrew a government or started a pro-American radio station. I can't really remember."; Fun Shoe

Still, it would be nice to do a tour there before budget cuts lead to Tillerson moving all diplomatic and consular functions in Europe to London and letting everything else go through online "Virtual Embassies" (has anyone actually worked on one of these?)

# ? Apr 5, 2017 23:02

QuackAttackAggie: Dec 16, 2014

Bloodnose posted:

Still, it would be nice to do a tour there before budget cuts lead to Tillerson moving all diplomatic and consular functions in Europe to London and letting everything else go through online "Virtual Embassies" (has anyone actually worked on one of these?)

yes

# ? Apr 6, 2017 02:44

The Mantis: Jul 19, 2004; what is yall sayin?

Bruxism posted:

Easy. Join us in AF.

there's always money in the banana stand

but seriously come to AF

# ? Apr 6, 2017 10:40

The Mantis: Jul 19, 2004; what is yall sayin?

Global Critter posted:

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.

equity doesn't matter dick for generalists. at least it didn't for our most recent round of bidding.

well it does. but there's a lot of poo poo that matters more. they're going to care about high priority posts first. and even then you're not guaranteed to go to the fist HP post on your list.

# ? Apr 6, 2017 10:43

TCD: Nov 13, 2002; Every step, a fucking adventure.

The Mantis posted:

equity doesn't matter dick for generalists. at least it didn't for our most recent round of bidding.

well it does. but there's a lot of poo poo that matters more. they're going to care about high priority posts first. and even then you're not guaranteed to go to the fist HP post on your list.

Equity really only comes into play on the 2nd round, but there's a lot of variables and it will really depend on your cone/specialty and CDO.

My FSO friend did an HR tour in DC, so he shared some of his thoughts and experiences.

# ? Apr 6, 2017 12:44

Blooregard: Sep 7, 2012

Got my second assignment.....Addis Ababa. And I don't even drink coffee!

If nothing else it will be different than China.

# ? Apr 6, 2017 18:34

The Mantis: Jul 19, 2004; what is yall sayin?

Blooregard posted:

Got my second assignment.....Addis Ababa. And I don't even drink coffee!

If nothing else it will be different than China.

well actually....

# ? Apr 6, 2017 19:22

the_chavi: Mar 2, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Blooregard posted:

Got my second assignment.....Addis Ababa. And I don't even drink coffee!

Congrats! Never served there but loved loved loved the time I spent there in 2008 on vacation.

# ? Apr 6, 2017 21:24

Shageletic: Jul 25, 2007

Blooregard posted:

Got my second assignment.....Addis Ababa. And I don't even drink coffee!

If nothing else it will be different than China.

Great city and country. Lovely community. Hope you like bbq, cooking meat over a grill is a thing they really like doing there. The traffic was created by Dada

# ? Apr 6, 2017 21:26

the_chavi: Mar 2, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Welp I suppose I should regret that I didn't take the under on air strikes on another government at 100 days.

# ? Apr 7, 2017 17:40

Deep State of Mind: Jul 30, 2006; "It was a busy day. I do not remember it all. In the morning, I thought I had lost my wallet. Then we went swimming and either overthrew a government or started a pro-American radio station. I can't really remember."; Fun Shoe

On the upside, we'll have a gigantic embassy in Damascus in a few years, with tons of jobs with massive danger, hazard, hardship, separation and special duty pay

# ? Apr 7, 2017 21:11

SCRwM: Sep 17, 2012

Blooregard posted:

Got my second assignment.....Addis Ababa. And I don't even drink coffee!

If nothing else it will be different than China.

Buddy of mine (IMS) is there now, though he PCS's in December/January I believe.

# ? Apr 7, 2017 22:53

Leif.: Mar 27, 2005; Son of the Defender
Formerly Diplomaticus/SWATJester

Blooregard posted:

Got my second assignment.....Addis Ababa. And I don't even drink coffee!

If nothing else it will be different than China.

Third or fourth goon to get Addis since this thread started. What position? PM me, I can send you some tips.

# ? Apr 10, 2017 09:34

Blooregard: Sep 7, 2012

Leif. posted:

Third or fourth goon to get Addis since this thread started. What position? PM me, I can send you some tips.

Conspiracy! I'll be one of the IMS.

# ? Apr 10, 2017 16:32

zzonkmiles: Mar 3, 2014; Oh, he was just arbitrarily saying stuff.

The Mantis posted:

but seriously come to AF

Lots of us new FSOs are going to AF, actually. I'll PM you.

# ? Apr 10, 2017 23:35

Darfuri War Orphan: Feb 28, 2006; My, Earth really is full of things!

Could someone please let me know which of the five things AF could stand for we're talking about in this thread? I haven't worked for the Feds since 2014 and my alphabet-soup skills are waning.

# ? Apr 11, 2017 00:33

the_chavi: Mar 2, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Darfuri War Orphan posted:

Could someone please let me know which of the five things AF could stand for we're talking about in this thread? I haven't worked for the Feds since 2014 and my alphabet-soup skills are waning.

America First.

Obvs.

# ? Apr 11, 2017 01:43

problematique: Apr 3, 2008; What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it.

All regional bureaus were recently realigned and rolled into one as the Bureau of America First. I'm excited for my excursion tour next summer in AF as a Foreign Service Mason on the southern wall.

# ? Apr 11, 2017 15:11

zzonkmiles: Mar 3, 2014; Oh, he was just arbitrarily saying stuff.

the_chavi posted:

America First.

Obvs.

Freedom Fries not included.

# ? Apr 11, 2017 23:31

The Mantis: Jul 19, 2004; what is yall sayin?

Darfuri War Orphan posted:

Could someone please let me know which of the five things AF could stand for we're talking about in this thread? I haven't worked for the Feds since 2014 and my alphabet-soup skills are waning.

All Freddy

# ? Apr 11, 2017 23:33

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# ? May 16, 2024 10:39

The Mantis: Jul 19, 2004; what is yall sayin?

but seriously

America First

# ? Apr 11, 2017 23:34

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > US Foreign Service & FSOT Megathread: Where Dreams Come True & Even Lawyers Get Jobs

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