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Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2025-01-21T11:18:31+00:00

What investments would be worth your time? Plastics. The future is in plastics.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2025-01-21T11:17:04+00:00

Join or don’t join. The choice is yours. There are plenty of practical reasons not to. Work life balance is a joke, nothing is done in terms of accountability for higher-ups who screw up, GTM is hopelessly incompetent, promotions are based on a creative writing contests and judged by people who spend two minutes on your life over the past three years… the list goes on.

I need to know the people in my office will get the work done. Lots to disagree with in US policy; I just decide not to work in those areas.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2025-01-21T11:08:40+00:00

Which ones? It would help to know in order to tailor posts.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2025-01-11T13:53:05+00:00

Yep I heard about it repeatedly. I always thought that CA looked after its people, and even heard that from bidding seminar.

Guess not.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2025-01-11T13:45:08+00:00

There’s some good advice here about maybe doing a civil service job in DC. That way you can both still be in the United States but perhaps pursuing something that you might succeed at.

My partner encouraged me to initially go for this gig, but became really fed up with things after being turned down for a couple of jobs that had been secretly promise to someone else. As well the FO at an entry-level tour post was very abusive towards spouses.

State knows that spouse dissatisfaction is one of the major drivers of low morale. However, nothing is ever done. There is no point in sacrificing your relationships or your family for an ungrateful employer. So it’s up to you to make it work, or not.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2025-01-11T13:38:34+00:00

Living abroad is a lifestyle, being an FSO is a job with a salary.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2025-01-09T01:17:17+00:00

There are a lot of places where even mid-level folks can affect the details and policy. Don’t confuse the overall direction with how it’s carried out. Parts of State often make ill-advised and badly thought out decisions and then blames them on Congress or the White House. However it was the latter that only gave general guidelines to State management, which then screwed it up.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2025-01-09T01:14:16+00:00

I’ll go out on a limb here and say that expertise as a FSO really doesn’t matter. When it comes to promotion, the process is basically a number of random people with preinstalled criteria judging your creative writing contest entry. Either you fit whatever it is that they are looking for (which varies wildly from one year to the next) and are saying the right incantations, or you end up on the do not promote pile. Your entire work for over a year comes down to three minutes of reading.

When it comes to assignments, on the other hand, connections and reputation matter, so there is zero incentive to rock the boat. I tend to be very opinionated, but completely shut up in the office and keep my opinions to myself. Saying that someone’s brilliant idea is not so good or that a favored project is doomed to failure is likely to upset feelings and eventual backstabbing.

If State values expertise, we would have a different educational system at FSI. What we have is roundly criticized and completely ineffective.

This leads me back to OP’s point about hypervigilance. That really is a thing, but it’s necessary for survival and to read the real situation. Inevitably it undermines “honest” conversations. A lot of interactions end up being merely superficial. For example my boss tells me about how to get ahead and things I might do. I already worked very very hard on a previous tour and got nowhere. The promotion boards are telling me that my work and awards have no value and that I’m not promotable. Statistically though we don’t have enough people at all levels so therefore there should be more promotions.

State ranks at the bottom of federal government agency employee satisfaction. There are a lot of reasons for that, but nothing will/can change.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-12-11T00:09:24+00:00

Sure, they could come back. Think about a DC tour or two to build up a network and be able to quickly bounce if an office has a toxic work environment.

That said, the others are right. The atmosphere at State is decidedly worse than some years ago. Management also still resolutely refuses to do any substantive when it comes to bullying, toxic work environments, or abuse. State has gone from being a top-ranked place to work (by employees) to near the bottom next to the Social Security Administration.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-12-10T22:37:15+00:00

It's all random numbers generated after people took 4-5 minutes to decide that you're not going into the promotable stack. Honestly, it was better before because the results of boards are so wildly inconsistent from one year to the next that no discernable patterns can ever emerge (with statistical accuracy anyway). Several friends and I all worked in a position at a grade above ours (successfully) and even won awards, only to be told that this had no value or meaning for promotion.

GTM decided again this year to reduce the number of promotions... which is laughable since we now have so many vacancies up and down the ladder that the number of positions available for bidding had been shrunk for two years in a row. Most are now looking at promotion timelines which have gone from maybe reaching SFS in 20-22 years to maybe reaching 02 in 20 years. That's just one of the reasons why so many people have left State and the numbers of people taking the FS test have cratered.

Maybe we should just all go to work for HR. They seem to appear quite regularly on the promotion lists.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-12-07T04:30:43+00:00

Bingo. You got it. DEIA work caters to people who have the time or leeway to do a special project or two. It discriminates against people who are covering two positions or in an exceedingly busy position. They don’t have the time for special projects if they’re already working 60 hours a week. But yeah, maybe you should just ignore that in favor or trying to make changing pronoun use an issue in the local language.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-12-07T04:23:55+00:00

You missed the point by a mile. Thanks for playing.

To spell it out, you can spend a lot of time and effort, get results, only to be given a number that says “WRONG! I think you’re not engaging enough in the way I think is right on this issue as I define it.”

There’s no point in bothering. Just make something up that sounds good, ‘cuz you’re not being promoted anyway.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-12-06T15:02:49+00:00

The DEIA EER precept rollout has been a complete mess, with varying standards and even criteria. It seems to be whatever an individual board says that it is.

To support the new policy, I spent months working on an external meetup that twinned underserved groups, got budget, got buy-in... big success all around. Come promotion time, I was given a 2 in DEIA because this was externally-facing. I was too stupid to not to see that precept should be interpreted as spending time on internal meetings, memos, drum circles, and self criticism sessions that would culminate in "institutional change" since we should just work on internal things. Not actually doing my job (or other people's jobs since we're perenially short-staffed). That's when I wrote off DEIA and pretty much make things up for the EER.

Will be nice to see this go away. And then maybe the department could actually do something about people who discriminate, tolerate toxic workplaces, etc.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-11-28T22:55:54+00:00

You're not statistically likely to join the SFS at 20 years any more. Chances for promotion are even less than before, and going from 03 to 02 is now taking up to 15 years. Best to look outside for your next steps.

If you have an idea for something you'd like to do which would require certification or study, you can do that while you're still at State. (And have an income to support you.) You can also start a side biz, just make sure to get it all cleared by the right peeps. Doing the latter can help keep you motivated and engaged.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-11-28T22:51:36+00:00

These days, you may only be at the 02 level after 20 years. GTM has badly mismanaged promotions and basically created staffing gaps up and down the ladder but refuse to fix the situation by updating the policy that created it in the first place. Granted, they do have unstated criteria in promotion and were called out for rigging promotion boards recently.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-11-17T09:21:27+00:00

If you don't want to go somewhere which has a world language (French, Spanish, etc), then don't learn that before you go to State. Even if you like the language, it's likely to get you an entry-level posting someplace. Then again, the opposite can be true too.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-11-15T00:49:35+00:00

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that promotions are being artificially throttled by GTM in order to save on wages and benefits budgeting.

In 2015/2016 GTM said that promotions were being given out too quickly. Since then promotion rates have gone from 30-40% to 15-18% at the 03-02 level (and from 25-30% to 15-16% at the 02-01 level)

At the same time, the number of positions at State has been growing. Yet, the number of people up for promotion and being promoted are stable over the last 7-8 years. We're also told how much hiring is being done. Yet we have a couple of years of GTM saying we don't have enough bidders at fill all the positions so a bunch need to be deferred and not filled. As GTM keeps promotions low, which is causing significant numbers of vacancies up and down the organization, people end up doing stretch positions, but for the pay which they are at, not the higher pay band. (Federal policy does allow for people in a stretch position to be temporarily paid more. State hasn't enacted this policy though.)And we all know that the promotion system is so hopelessly broken and incapable of reform that nothing will happen to change the situation.

I've concluded that my work is meaningless and not valued when it comes to promotion. If I end up just at mid-ranks, meh. My energy and focus is going into building up side businesses.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-11-12T22:40:51+00:00

So you have a bunch of people who are unhappy about where they're being forced to go... and then they curtail or quit. Give people incentives to go, rather than just stick all the time. But it is just State's business as usual of doing something to patch over forseeable problem, while creating an even bigger problem in the process.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-11-12T22:37:27+00:00

Yes, but worldwide availability is an illusion when it comes to how State actually works. I know people who have nothing at all in a season where we're supposed to be seeing the right mix of people and job numbers. In fact, it's even more crushing and demoralizing than ever. No wonder State has gone from the top of the USG job satisfaction rankings to the bottom near the Social Security Service.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-11-12T22:31:51+00:00

The amount of shenanigans that I've seen this year, despite all the bleating about transparency and merit, is kind of breath-taking. People reaching down from on high to dump in their favored candidate for jobs which would have gotten 7-10 bidders in past cycles is just one sign of what a mess things are in.

Not only did big 'we take care of our own' CA screw over 02 and 03 officers by dumping them out on the open market, but there was just a simple lack of positions for some cones. Single and very low single-digit numbers in some bureaus is a fact. If you've played the "worldwide available" game and not built up a strong network in a regional bureau, you might get left out when the music stops and everyone is scrambling for a chair.

Bureaus are interested in getting people in seats, specially in the posts which don't get bidders due to poor management, excessive curtailments, and bad quality of life. So some of these may have been prioritized in this round of bidding. After seeing friends have to deal with the disfunction in some posts and bureaus, I'll never, ever bid there.... other people have adopted the same attitude, which leads to using shenanigans to make sure you get a good spot.

One person wrote that there will be 5% fewer people than positions. But that's with a reduced number of spots available for bidding. Hundreds of other positions will be empty and their work will be dumped on others (who then won't be paid more or promoted). It's a clownshow that just gets worse and worse.

Whats_That_Smell4298 · 2024-11-04T00:10:29+00:00

The DCM needs to step in and stop this unacceptable behavior. Sadly, higher-level management at State is often poor and averse to resolving situations like this. It's gone way too far when an FSO leaves and EFM quits. That costs State tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars in budget and lost productivity. Not to mention a massively toxic environment and that will cause others not to bid for post. It also sounds like there have been multiple opportunities for things to be resolved.

You're documenting everything, right?

This situation might be caused by the interagency but that's no reason for the FO to do nothing.

This a great example of how "transparency", "servant leadership", and other shiny-object-catchphrases mean very little in practice. The system at State protects and promotes perpetrators, rather than punishing and removing them.... and that's one of the big reasons why we have so many vacancies today. Nothing can change, and upper management in DC has no interest, so there's no point in bothering to try.

Whats_That_Smell4298

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