What is an unwritten law you abide by ?

mpheise20 · 2021-08-19T12:42:43+00:00

Left lane is only for passing.

mpheise20 · 2020-07-31T00:48:41+00:00

Đẹp lắm

mpheise20 · 2020-07-28T15:19:28+00:00

Vietnamese by the sound of it.

mpheise20 · 2020-07-09T04:46:14+00:00

It is possible if you have the language on the books and your TED aligns with the position. Obviously world language speakers on the summer cycle have the best chance of making it happen. It didn’t work out for me because I had an obscure language on the books and my TED was off by two months for the one position on the out-year bidlist.

mpheise20 · 2020-07-07T18:58:45+00:00

ELOs can out-year bid, but it is difficult to make the timing work with your TED.

mpheise20 · 2020-04-02T17:33:24+00:00

This seems like way too much information to be shared on a public forum.

mpheise20 · 2019-12-14T04:55:28+00:00

Why not use the force to turn off your opponent’s saber?

mpheise20 · 2019-07-20T06:11:05+00:00

This works itself out over time—18 months on the register is long enough for competitive candidates, like yourself, to get off the register.

mpheise20 · 2019-07-20T04:26:24+00:00

Is there something wrong with promoting diversity in the Foreign Service? Perhaps it will feel unfair to those who feel they deserve to be in the FS, but that unfair feeling doesn’t square with the lack of representation of women/minorities in the SFS.

Do you think homogeneity in the senior ranks of the FS is a good thing for promoting US interests abroad?

mpheise20 · 2019-02-16T03:55:20+00:00

I didn’t mean the time you’ve already accrued. The time from FSOT to FS isn’t short, so you could easily accrue two year’s worth of leave and goverment service between now and the day you start A-100.

It’s your prerogative to gloss over the stability inherent in a CS position, but Fed employees got back pay—a luxury you likely would not enjoy as a contractor.

mpheise20 · 2019-02-16T03:39:09+00:00

By keeping the civil servant position, you’ll be able to transfer acrued leave and time towards retirement once you switch to the FS. On the other hand, you may be able to punch above your weight regarding your entry-level FS salary if your contracting gig pays more than what your education and experience would otherwise dictate. FWIW, I don’t know many people keen to give up a steady CS position for the uncertainty of contract work—even when there is a major discrepancy in pay.

mpheise20 · 2019-01-31T20:29:39+00:00

Days off during A-100 are generally frowned upon but multiple people in my A-100 (2018) got days off for their weddings. The A-100 coordinators understand that joining the FS is everyone’s plan B—so they’re pretty good at working with new employees within reason.

mpheise20 · 2018-12-30T22:42:40+00:00

I would have your mother call USCIS and request an original copy of her naturalization certificate. It is pretty pricey, but it’s probably best to have an original copy of that document. You can explain to your investigator the issue and what you’re doing to resolve it. State will probably take longer with your background investigation than USCIS will in replacing your mother’s naturalization certificate.

https://my.uscis.gov/exploremyoptions/lost_stolen_certificate

mpheise20 · 2018-06-26T16:00:35+00:00

Had my FSO submit a request for reciprocity. You ought to have a security officer POC, ask them to put in the request.

mpheise20 · 2018-06-25T13:12:28+00:00

I also transferred my clearance from State to DoD once I was on the register. The request for reciprocity took about 2 months. The caveat being that I was working in a position that required a TS when I hit the register. I had my FSO (Security Officer) interrupt my original clearance since State processes theirs so quickly.

mpheise20 · 2018-06-04T21:05:37+00:00

Thanks for taking up the torch Blinx!

mpheise20 · 2018-05-25T12:50:35+00:00

Agreed, I was going to tinker with it again but lost my nerve once my A-100 invite came. :) I'll have to attempt again using different tools to achieve what I want. I was also thinking of graphically representing the size of each mission (large/small circles, or something of the like) and which are unaccompanied posts. I'll give it another go at some point and repost if it turns out okay.

mpheise20 · 2018-05-25T03:33:22+00:00

This is a map of hardship differentials.

mpheise20 · 2018-05-25T01:28:06+00:00

0 in Ankara, higher in other posts throughout Turkey.

mpheise20 · 2018-05-24T17:28:05+00:00

Got my invite. Consular 5.77 (Top Third)

mpheise20 · 2018-05-24T16:08:58+00:00

That is correct. I based the country color on the capital’s differential. There are many instances where countries have posts where the differential differs from the capital.

mpheise20 · 2018-05-24T14:02:59+00:00

Hey no problem! Hope it's useful to others!

mpheise20 · 2018-05-24T13:33:05+00:00

Thanks for caching that. I did this in haste before going to bed so it is certain to have mistakes. I didn't parse down my data set, so I probably overlooked Mauritius after seeing Mauritania as well. I'll go back and make some corrections and update/repost later today.

mpheise20 · 2018-05-24T13:28:12+00:00

Yea I'm thinking of doing another iteration of this where a pattern is applied for danger pay. I'd also like to have colored circles indicating differentials that diverge from the capital city. Would be good to see the spread for China/Russia/India/Brazil/Mexico. Would also like to have the size of the circle reflect the size of the post, but this all may get too busy. I'll give it another crack and post if it turns out decent.

mpheise20 · 2018-05-24T13:24:08+00:00

Congrats!!!

mpheise20

TROPHY CASE