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the_chavi posted:Wait, are you here now? I got here six weeks ago. And yes, I completely support what has been said here, even with the visa news from overnight. Yeah am here now. I haven't posted on these forums in a long time and (I hope it's still okay) I was told earlier in this thread it'd be alright to share my experience here even though I represent another country. The visa news hit the city like a storm. Guess the consular folks have a lot of time on their hands now?
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Oct 9, 2017 21:36
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Ordeith posted:Yeah am here now. I haven't posted on these forums in a long time and (I hope it's still okay) I was told earlier in this thread it'd be alright to share my experience here even though I represent another country. Oh man, I'll send you contact info via PM. Would love to meet up if you've got the chance. Yeah the visa news is... challenging. We're still doing immigration visas and American citizen services, of course, which is a big chunk of our workload in Ankara. I imagine that there is plenty of work to catch up on for the NIV staff, though. Istanbul is all ACS/NIV, so that will be a bit more of a workload shift to address. Hopefully this will be over soon!
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Oct 10, 2017 16:20
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drat, this job is incredible.
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Oct 15, 2017 00:48
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Transferring into a domestic position is a Kafkaesque nightmare and I've never been more appreciative of the LES who do this stuff for us overseas.
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Oct 15, 2017 23:03
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Would any current or former FSO’s stationed in DC be interested in meeting and greeting with a small group of interested undergrads on November 3rd? I have arranged a tour of the diplomatic reception rooms at foggy bottom for a larger group,, but I think we have a core group within that (myself incl) who would love to pick your brains.
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Oct 16, 2017 16:32
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I am loving my time in AF so far. I think I'll come back for another tour. Anybody here been posted to Zimbabwe or Tanzania?
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Oct 20, 2017 15:54
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I have a good friend in Zim right now. Really likes it. I was gonna bid on it this time around but the spot went to an AIP bidder.
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Oct 20, 2017 17:01
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zzonkmiles posted:I am loving my time in AF so far. I think I'll come back for another tour. Anybody here been posted to Zimbabwe or Tanzania? Both are, from what I understand, great posts. I can't speak to Zim but Dar is actually really nice (traffic notwithstanding). The current Ambo in Zim (Harry Thomas) was in Manila 2010-2013, I think when a couple of goons were there (Skandiaavity maybe?), they could tell you more.
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Oct 20, 2017 17:10
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Spent quite a bit of time in AF and seen many posts. Drop me a pm for comments on specific posts. I'm a big advocate for AF assignments for the career and family enhancing opportunities. Also something weird happens every day.
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Oct 21, 2017 16:25
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I had a great time in AF and know plenty of people who spend nearly their whole careers in the region. Maybe that's because they want to avoid having to learn Mandarin or some other super-hard language, as I'm doing now...
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Oct 21, 2017 21:39
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Bruxism posted:Spent quite a bit of time in AF and seen many posts. Drop me a pm for comments on specific posts. I'm a big advocate for AF assignments for the career and family enhancing opportunities. Also something weird happens every day. A friend of mine is CDA at a small AF post and got woken up last week by the duty RSO calling to warn him about someone putting witchcraft on the chancery. Edit: And a DOD friend of mine once "adopted" a zombie in Haiti. He'd been cursed by his family and tossed on the side of the road, bound hand and foot, for being a zombie, so my friend and his squad brought him back to their quarters and hired him as an all-purpose handyman. Surprisingly, he did not turn any of the soldiers into zombies.
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Oct 22, 2017 08:13
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Lamest zombie apocalypse ever.
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Oct 23, 2017 15:34
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Zimbabwe was my first tour. Can’t recommend the place enough, especially with the NEC next year. If you have any questions let me know.
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Oct 23, 2017 15:52
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Everyone I’ve talked to who has done a tour in southern AF has had a great time!
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Oct 23, 2017 23:10
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I've done some overseas work in West Africa, I can definitely see people loving the work environment there. Multiple people have told me "you have less but you smile more." Anyways, hello hello. I recently took the written portion of the FSOT! I got about 170 and an 8 on the essay. Although unfortunately, personal life came up and I can't continue, I may just try again in October 2018. Really, me and a bunch of my friends have fallen in love with the overseas work and we're all applying next year. The one question that keeps running through our heads, though, is what state the ... uh, State department is in. Tillerson seems controversial, and the White House is openly trying to downsize everything. At the same time, I've seen news articles saying that about 25% fewer people have even applied this year. So I figure that means there are much fewer applicants and much fewer jobs. Does...does that make it harder or easier to start a career as an ELO right now?
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Oct 24, 2017 00:45
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Billzasilver posted:I've done some overseas work in West Africa, I can definitely see people loving the work environment there. Multiple people have told me "you have less but you smile more." congrats. nice to have in the back pocket. no real reason to write yourself out yet, right? Billzasilver posted:
we could probably spend all day projecting what it all might mean in 5 or 10 or 20 years (and most of us probably have), but I think a couple things are clear: 1) obviously, without a churn of A-100s, the roster is going to be rather stacked once they actually start onboarding people. 5.7+ is no longer an automatic shoe-in 2) consular (read: NIV) work must go on. sure demand has dipped, but it's already up in parts of the world and not going anywhere. CA is staying with State, and CA is the money maker. State needs bodies on the line, so A-100s will undoubtedly be CONS-heavy. and for those at the early parts of their career, be ready to do A LOT of consular work. promotions may be down, but they're not off, and every new mid-career officer is one less officer that might otherwise be on the line somewhere. I knew lots and lots of second tour non-CONS officers who were doing four full years of consular work well before the new administration. unless we see a hiring surge (or significant reform), I imagine that will become the norm. I'm amazed to see some of the non-CONS LNA folks who are gearing up for potentially 9 years of consular work before they touch their cone. The Mantis fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Oct 25, 2017 |
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Oct 25, 2017 17:50
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also double posting to confirm that AF is the ~~real deal~~
The Mantis fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Oct 25, 2017 |
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Oct 25, 2017 17:50
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The Mantis posted:I'm amazed to see some of the non-CONS LNA folks who are gearing up for potentially 9 years of consular work before they touch their cone. This has to be part of the reforms. That’s a completely counterintuitive move towards keeping the best people.
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Oct 27, 2017 07:20
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The Mantis posted:CA is staying with State, and CA is the money maker. Is that actually settled? Because last I heard, moving it to DHS was still a priority for both Kelly and Risch.
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Oct 28, 2017 09:57
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Good luck on handshakes everyone!
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Oct 30, 2017 18:38
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So I'm on a TDF in a host government MFA right now, and they had handshake day last week. Some woman has been coming into the office I share with two other people every day this week to bitch/moan/complain for an hour (minimum) about how she was assigned to Germany and not Switzerland. There are crazy fucks in every system it would seem.
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Oct 31, 2017 20:21
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The Mantis posted:congrats. nice to have in the back pocket. no real reason to write yourself out yet, right? Yeah next year will be very interesting. This is great advice, thank you, I hadn't considered all the applicants from last year still waiting on an assignment. I might need to try my limited French after all. quote:2) consular (read: NIV) work must go on. sure demand has dipped, but it's already up in parts of the world and not going anywhere. CA is staying with State, and CA is the money maker. State needs bodies on the line, so A-100s will undoubtedly be CONS-heavy. and for those at the early parts of their career, be ready to do A LOT of consular work. promotions may be down, but they're not off, and every new mid-career officer is one less officer that might otherwise be on the line somewhere. I knew lots and lots of second tour non-CONS officers who were doing four full years of consular work well before the new administration. unless we see a hiring surge (or significant reform), I imagine that will become the norm. I'm amazed to see some of the non-CONS LNA folks who are gearing up for potentially 9 years of consular work before they touch their cone. This sounds plain dreadful. I've shoveled dirt and garbage and filled boring paperwork before, so I'm no stranger to tough jobs, but it's hard to imagine more than four years of consular work. I'm in the econ track, by the way, with an engineering and cost-analysis background. Thanks again, and I suppose I'll keep my fingers crossed for some juicy trade deals or usaid projects to come up next year.
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Oct 31, 2017 21:02
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I've always thought that this would be a cool job. I'm thinking of getting a dog though. Any of you fsos have dogs or other pets? Do you know anyone that does? How much does/would this complicate things? Any chance you'd be able to bring your dog to work? Is it something they would take into account before even making an offer? Also my current job is pretty great in that they let me work remotely now and then, like one or two days every other week or so. I imagine a lot of the job is paperwork that could conceivably be done offsite so I was wondering if this is a possibility at any of the posts. Thanks!
Ice fucked around with this message at 06:25 on Nov 1, 2017 |
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Nov 1, 2017 03:10
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Ice posted:I've always thought that this would be a cool job. I'm thinking of getting a dog though. Any of you fsos have dogs or other pets? Do you know anyone that does? How much does/would this complicate things? Any chance you'd be able to bring your dog to work? Is it something they would take into account before even making an offer? Also my current job is pretty great in that they let me work remotely now and then, like one or two days every other week or so. I imagine a lot of the job is paperwork that could conceivably be done offsite so I was wondering if this is a possibility at any of the posts. Thanks! I feel like half the people in the foreign service have dogs. You can definitely make it work but it complicates things a bit. A lot of countries have various restrictions. At the embassy I’m at people bring their dogs in on the weekends and holidays to run around free in the grounds, but you wouldn’t do that during business hours. And each facility is different so that may be totally infeasible at some places. As far as remote work, zero. Obviously many people spend a lot of time away from the embassy meeting with contacts, attending events, maybe even 50%, but you probably won’t be working remotely in the sense you’re thinking of. We cost a lot to be out here overseas, and so much of the job is physical interaction with others or work that can’t be done remote.
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Nov 1, 2017 09:32
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Ice posted:I've always thought that this would be a cool job. I'm thinking of getting a dog though. Any of you fsos have dogs or other pets? Do you know anyone that does? How much does/would this complicate things? Any chance you'd be able to bring your dog to work? Is it something they would take into account before even making an offer? Also my current job is pretty great in that they let me work remotely now and then, like one or two days every other week or so. I imagine a lot of the job is paperwork that could conceivably be done offsite so I was wondering if this is a possibility at any of the posts. Thanks! Some countries have size or breed restrictions that could impact you and your pet. You have to deal with the airlines' pet shipping policies, the host country's pet regulations (e.g., meds, vaccinations, quarantine, etc.), and the post's housing guidelines regarding pets. The FS is a lot more expensive when you have a pet, but lots of us have our dogs or cats at post with us. Others leave their pets with a relative back home. But be advised that as a first-tour officer, you could be assigned somewhere where you can't take your pet at all.
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Nov 1, 2017 16:56
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http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/358573-trump-on-lack-of-nominees-i-am-the-only-one-that-matters "Let me tell you, the one that matters is me, I'm the only one that matters because when it comes to it that's what the policy is going to be," Trump said on Fox News when pressed about [State Department] vacancies by Laura Ingraham. Yorkshire Pudding fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Nov 3, 2017 |
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Nov 3, 2017 05:04
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 yeah that sounds like what we all expected but we're too afraid to say out loud.So I have one more question. I have strong interest in getting military experience along with Pol and econ work. I very nearly signed up to be a Navy civil engineering officer in the past. I know lots of foreign service people are former military, is that a one way street? Does it make any sense at all to become an fso for 4 years and then join the Navy after? For that matter, can you join and leave the Foreign Service between tours? Like if I want to do state department work for 6 years, do civilian contractor work, and then rejoin the Foreign Service, would I just take the FSOT again?
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Nov 5, 2017 03:34
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Billzasilver posted:
If you join the FS and then wish to resign, do so after you get tenure (about 4-5 years after joining). If you resign before then, you will have to start with the FSOT all over again if you want to re-enter the FS. It's easier to rejoin if you had tenure when you quit.
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Nov 5, 2017 09:20
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Billzasilver posted:
I know two people who went FS->mil and many, many more who went the other direction. But this is just a job. If you leave after tenure you have five years to reapply before you have to start again with the fsot. And there’s no guarantee you can get back in during those five years; there has to be a deficit of officers at your last grade and cone, and a panel reviews your application to see if they want you back.
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Nov 5, 2017 17:40
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Hmmm that's unfortunate, I think most military officer commitments last four years already.
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Nov 5, 2017 23:00
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Billzasilver posted:Hmmm that's unfortunate, I think most military officer commitments last four years already. In the army it is (or was) five for West Point, four for ROTC, three for OCS (measured from commissioning after basic and OCS).
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Nov 5, 2017 23:27
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Billzasilver posted:Hmmm that's unfortunate, I think most military officer commitments last four years already. I know several reserve officers who are full time FSOs.
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Nov 6, 2017 18:56
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TCD posted:I know several reserve officers who are full time FSOs. How do they do their monthly reserve duties? Do they get admin leave for their annual two week training?
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Nov 7, 2017 02:20
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Billzasilver posted:
Believe it or not, there are people who actually *choose* to do consular work their entire career!! THE HORROR! I'm not defending a system that assigns people to 4 years of CONS work before they get MGMT/PD/ECON/POL jobs but 1) Consular work isn't "dreadful", on par with shoveling dirt, or a form of hazing. I've done two consular assignments, a year each on each of my first two assignments. It's interesting work (some of that is what you make of it) and has great work-life balance. I hope State gets to the point where people don't HAVE to do consular work for multiple entry-level tours, but I 100% defend the "everyone does consular" policy. Consular work is part of the job, both in terms of expectations and the impact on the mission. Experience and understanding of how it works makes you a better officer in the other cones. Didn't mean to jump all over you, but I gotta defend consular work. I enjoyed both assignments, even though I love my POL work more.
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Nov 8, 2017 01:31
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I'm finishing up a training at FSI right now and a bunch of DS special agents are in it with me. We've been chatting and they make their jobs sound extremely fun and rewarding. So I'm thinking about applying for DS as well as FSO now. They've told me the application process is fairly similar to the Generalist process, but that hiring doesn't happen as often. Anything interesting about it someone wanting to apply to DS should know?
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Nov 8, 2017 01:47
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Sorry to put that on you, Nutrimentia, you're right. But let's just say I wouldn't sign up to be a lion tamer for four years either. https://twitter.com/felschwartz/status/928023552552591361 Anyways.... this is bad, right?
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Nov 8, 2017 03:32
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And I read somewhere else that FS officers admitted by testing number is still fixed at a pretty low number? I got this from twitter so buyer beware or whatever.
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Nov 8, 2017 03:37
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Slaan posted:I'm finishing up a training at FSI right now and a bunch of DS special agents are in it with me. We've been chatting and they make their jobs sound extremely fun and rewarding. So I'm thinking about applying for DS as well as FSO now. They've told me the application process is fairly similar to the Generalist process, but that hiring doesn't happen as often. Anything interesting about it someone wanting to apply to DS should know? There's a few folks who might chime in with first hand knowledge.
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Nov 8, 2017 03:38
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Billzasilver posted:Sorry to put that on you, Nutrimentia, you're right. But let's just say I wouldn't sign up to be a lion tamer for four years either. i just see more headroom  its real bad
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Nov 8, 2017 12:32
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Slaan posted:I'm finishing up a training at FSI right now and a bunch of DS special agents are in it with me. We've been chatting and they make their jobs sound extremely fun and rewarding. So I'm thinking about applying for DS as well as FSO now. They've told me the application process is fairly similar to the Generalist process, but that hiring doesn't happen as often. Anything interesting about it someone wanting to apply to DS should know? About the testing/application process? Plenty to say about it. If you PM me I'll be happy to answer whatever questions you have in detail.
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Nov 8, 2017 12:45
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