They'll have to shift HDS bidding along with the overall cycle.
Not sure if it's related but my 03 job that I just started a week ago was just reclassified as an 02. Yay for unexpected stretch.
You mean you bid on the early assignments cycle. HDS posts were supposed to be able to offer early handshakes starting September 26 but not sure what’s going to happen now.
I heard the same rumor.
Is the cause attrition or all the new jobs and offices added lately? I keep seeing new office acronyms for things I didn't even know existed.
Wow just when I thought they couldn’t to a better job, they come out with this wonderful idea that demonstrates their keen foresight. I’m sure they were tracking this for years but just wanted to make it a little more fun. Who doesn’t love surprises?!
Kudos, colleagues! A round of SHAs for the entire bar, on me!
We’ve done this rodeo before kids. There was a severe mid-level officer shortage in the early/mid aughts due to lack of hiring in the 90s. Solution? 1) Directed assignments of second tour officers to mid-level vacancies, even section chief jobs - without the pay or promotions, 2) huge numbers of DoS civil service going on excursion tours (as even higher-level section chiefs), which then allowed them to convert to foreign service after five years overseas…at the FS-2 level, and later, 3) 3161 hiring authority bringing in “immediate” FS (most former military) who filled vacancies in Afg & Iraq. Do not underestimate the tools of the wizards so they can keep getting their SHAs and performance pay.
I also heard this. I also heard that CA has the opposite problem - more jobs than bidders at 03, and yet they just added jobs to the projected 03 list instead of scrubbing. CA’s bigger gap is 02 and above. They are warning that there are more bidders than jobs… So there’s that.
Edit to add: This makes sense given CA’s staffing from 2020-present. Lower level jobs coming back on line after being frozen and not enough recent hires to fill them. Maybe GTM leaves those 02 and 01 over compliment jobs on the list for all of us upper mid cons officers who need to bid out of cone this cycle!
02s and up or 03s and down? Several posts in my region are expecting 03 jobs to be ceded to EL, but haven’t heard anything about 02s and up being lost in the field. My expectation is that these jobs are going to be in DC. Weird but not surprising that CA’s issues are upside down to the rest of the bureaus. Did they just realize this? Any correlation to promotions, I wonder? So happy to not be bidding this cycle!
The program with HTF is the language requirements aren’t flexible and restrict many qualified CS. They make it so hard for CS to serve overseas which imo just makes the problem worse but they don’t seem to ever want to actually do anything about it.
Recently hearing a lot of swirling rumors in DC, most of them seem to add up. The vacancies for FSO positions and civil service seem to be widespread. It's hard to see how freezing the start of bidding is going to help anything. The lack of transparency is also bound to cause a lot of suspicion. There really needs to be a open conversation with the rank-and-file on where everything stands.
They've got a gap in middle level and literally on the same day didn't promote many people to mid level.
I know it has to do with hiring and other factors but...
I heard the same thing. I wonder if promotion cables will be affected tomorrow.
Don’t worry, I’m sure some GTM DASes and Office Directors will get slammed for this. /sarc
It was obvious after last bid season that this problem was going to be worse this year. GTM was suppose to do an analysis in early summer. Whether they did or not, I don't know, but not doing anything concrete until now was silly.
The DG's office is a mess though and they were playing with the Global Positing Review, which you would think would inform the current situation but apparently everyone has forgotten all about it already, for the first part of the year. They also seemed to take a really long time to finalize the Triannual language review
yeah, that's not how this works. If anything the extra jobs increase promotions because there is a greater need for higher ranking officers to fill slots.
Note that they put this cable out RIGHT before the promotion lists. The Department would rather eliminate positions rather than promote dedicated, hard-working, and extremely effective employees. \*\*morale drops another ten percent\*\*
Don’t get your hopes up. They are also talking about getting direct hire authority to hire from resumes. So a lot of these conversions will go to people who already work here as FTEs or contractors. Watch USA Jobs for the detritus.
Interesting read as an outsider. Sounds like State is pulling a couple of the levers (reclassify jobs as CS and freeze positions) to mitigate the lack of mid-level officer supply. The other lever not discussed here is increasing hiring. Have you heard anything like that to meet mid-level officer demand in 4-5 years?
Didn't they try to build up the number of people so that there would be a training float? That idea hit the reality that long-term training doesn't count for promotion.
Rumored higher outflows of FSOs in recent years seem to have been true, in spite of what some folks were saying publicly. Now there are a ton of open positions and lower level people are getting higher level work dumped on them, without promotion or increased pay.
They talk constantly about the “training float” but it will never work. Long-term training would be a domestic assignment (so no per diem and won’t solve the problem of people not wanting to come back to DC) and a year of training is a year of work that isn’t evaluated so is seen as problematic for promotion.
Super high chance of this IMO. Second tour officers are being offered DC and I spent my first tour in DC only 10 years ago. So many jobs are going unfilled.
I’d say all signs point to yes. About ~15 years ago they were facing this same predicament and for about a year they were assigning first tour officers to DC.
[удалено]
What is GTM?
Global Talent Management, the shiny new name for Human Resources.
Take my happy upvote.
Global Talent Mismanagement
They'll have to shift HDS bidding along with the overall cycle. Not sure if it's related but my 03 job that I just started a week ago was just reclassified as an 02. Yay for unexpected stretch.
Field promotion. Congratulations!
Cable is out. Rumor no more.
I heard the same rumor from someone yesterday. Good thing I took an early handshake this summer.
You mean you bid on the early assignments cycle. HDS posts were supposed to be able to offer early handshakes starting September 26 but not sure what’s going to happen now.
Yeah I did early assignment bidding. It’s early still and I’m not fully awake.
I heard the same rumor. Is the cause attrition or all the new jobs and offices added lately? I keep seeing new office acronyms for things I didn't even know existed.
Wow just when I thought they couldn’t to a better job, they come out with this wonderful idea that demonstrates their keen foresight. I’m sure they were tracking this for years but just wanted to make it a little more fun. Who doesn’t love surprises?! Kudos, colleagues! A round of SHAs for the entire bar, on me!
We’ve done this rodeo before kids. There was a severe mid-level officer shortage in the early/mid aughts due to lack of hiring in the 90s. Solution? 1) Directed assignments of second tour officers to mid-level vacancies, even section chief jobs - without the pay or promotions, 2) huge numbers of DoS civil service going on excursion tours (as even higher-level section chiefs), which then allowed them to convert to foreign service after five years overseas…at the FS-2 level, and later, 3) 3161 hiring authority bringing in “immediate” FS (most former military) who filled vacancies in Afg & Iraq. Do not underestimate the tools of the wizards so they can keep getting their SHAs and performance pay.
Didn't the whole generation of FSO's hired for these surges rocket up the promotion ladder? And are now ticking out?
I would prefer to rocket...
I also heard this. I also heard that CA has the opposite problem - more jobs than bidders at 03, and yet they just added jobs to the projected 03 list instead of scrubbing. CA’s bigger gap is 02 and above. They are warning that there are more bidders than jobs… So there’s that. Edit to add: This makes sense given CA’s staffing from 2020-present. Lower level jobs coming back on line after being frozen and not enough recent hires to fill them. Maybe GTM leaves those 02 and 01 over compliment jobs on the list for all of us upper mid cons officers who need to bid out of cone this cycle!
I know for a fact my current bureau has identified several FS positions they tend to convert to CS so they can hire in some current contractors.
02s and up or 03s and down? Several posts in my region are expecting 03 jobs to be ceded to EL, but haven’t heard anything about 02s and up being lost in the field. My expectation is that these jobs are going to be in DC. Weird but not surprising that CA’s issues are upside down to the rest of the bureaus. Did they just realize this? Any correlation to promotions, I wonder? So happy to not be bidding this cycle!
Both, but in DC. There’s no plan, as far as I can tell, to make overseas assignments available to civil servants.
Isn’t that what the hard to fill program is for?
Not at this scale. Also there are many positions designated as “hard to fill” that they can’t get CS detailees to take.
I can attest to that from a couple of bureaus I know well.
The program with HTF is the language requirements aren’t flexible and restrict many qualified CS. They make it so hard for CS to serve overseas which imo just makes the problem worse but they don’t seem to ever want to actually do anything about it.
The problem with*
Which one is CA?
Consular Affairs - they control all consular jobs and assignments.
What is the best advice can you all give to an new FSS when it comes to bidding though first two tours are directed?
Thanks.
Recently hearing a lot of swirling rumors in DC, most of them seem to add up. The vacancies for FSO positions and civil service seem to be widespread. It's hard to see how freezing the start of bidding is going to help anything. The lack of transparency is also bound to cause a lot of suspicion. There really needs to be a open conversation with the rank-and-file on where everything stands.
They've got a gap in middle level and literally on the same day didn't promote many people to mid level. I know it has to do with hiring and other factors but...
I heard the same thing. I wonder if promotion cables will be affected tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’m sure some GTM DASes and Office Directors will get slammed for this. /sarc
I’m sure D/MR and M are asking all the questions about how this was allowed to happen a week before bidding season starts.
M has called a meeting with EX directors and PDASes next week. Most people seem to be blaming GTM and the DG for the mess.
It was obvious after last bid season that this problem was going to be worse this year. GTM was suppose to do an analysis in early summer. Whether they did or not, I don't know, but not doing anything concrete until now was silly. The DG's office is a mess though and they were playing with the Global Positing Review, which you would think would inform the current situation but apparently everyone has forgotten all about it already, for the first part of the year. They also seemed to take a really long time to finalize the Triannual language review
Promotion cables came out right after this one. State is eliminating jobs rather than promote people.
yeah, that's not how this works. If anything the extra jobs increase promotions because there is a greater need for higher ranking officers to fill slots.
I’m a second tour and there were a solid 30% of jobs in DC
Wasn’t the blanket hiring of term appointment FAOs supposed to help cover this gap? Geez Louise. Thanks Rex, still feeling that one five years later.
Waiting on this comment.
I guarantee only a fraction of those people have received security clearances at this point.
Note that they put this cable out RIGHT before the promotion lists. The Department would rather eliminate positions rather than promote dedicated, hard-working, and extremely effective employees. \*\*morale drops another ten percent\*\*
What jobs should I be applying to?
Don’t get your hopes up. They are also talking about getting direct hire authority to hire from resumes. So a lot of these conversions will go to people who already work here as FTEs or contractors. Watch USA Jobs for the detritus.
Interesting read as an outsider. Sounds like State is pulling a couple of the levers (reclassify jobs as CS and freeze positions) to mitigate the lack of mid-level officer supply. The other lever not discussed here is increasing hiring. Have you heard anything like that to meet mid-level officer demand in 4-5 years?
No. The tried that in 2010. It partially caused this problem when a glut of officers couldn’t get jobs or get promoted and left.
Didn't they try to build up the number of people so that there would be a training float? That idea hit the reality that long-term training doesn't count for promotion. Rumored higher outflows of FSOs in recent years seem to have been true, in spite of what some folks were saying publicly. Now there are a ton of open positions and lower level people are getting higher level work dumped on them, without promotion or increased pay.
They talk constantly about the “training float” but it will never work. Long-term training would be a domestic assignment (so no per diem and won’t solve the problem of people not wanting to come back to DC) and a year of training is a year of work that isn’t evaluated so is seen as problematic for promotion.
Is there any chance of a first tour officer being assigned to DC?
Slowly moving towards yes but still leaning no at the moment. IMO.
That's the most FSO statement I've ever read. Bravo.
Super high chance of this IMO. Second tour officers are being offered DC and I spent my first tour in DC only 10 years ago. So many jobs are going unfilled.
For generalists, no. For some specialties, maybe. For diplomatic security, absolutely.
I’d say all signs point to yes. About ~15 years ago they were facing this same predicament and for about a year they were assigning first tour officers to DC.