Reader Question on Judging Post Morale

Since I mentioned Post Morale as one of our bidding criteria, one reader asked "how do you know a post is a low morale post?"

Morale is a constantly changing thing. We never really understood how much morale matters at a Post... until we changed Posts. Chennai had some challenges, and the community was pretty much split into people who loved it and people who hated it. However, even the people who hated it tended to be in pretty good spirits.

Perhaps it was the 'hardship,' perhaps it was the social isolation caused by living in a much different culture, but either way, people did things together. Parties pulled big numbers of attendees... Even a three year old's birthday party would attract singles from Post who just wanted to hang out with their friends. There was a fantastic shared common space in the pool where people could randomly meet up with others. Even the places we (Consulate staff) tended to go were unique enough that it wasn't uncommon to sit next to someone from work at a restaurant. That being said... I mostly remember my second year in Chennai... it literally changed year to year.

So... what factors into morale? In no particular order:

• The Management Team - They control so much, and a little consideration can go a long way to starting off people's tours on the right foot.
• Location Location Location - If your housing pool is geographically gigantic, it's hard to SEE others from the community outside of work.
• Hardship - 'Harder' posts have better communities, period. Maybe there are exceptions, but it is a generally accepted fact. Think about it, the harder the place, the more you bond with your colleagues over the "us vs them" nature of surviving in a stressful environment.
• Expectations - This is a tough one. People 'expected' Buenos Aires to be the 'Paris of South America.' Maybe it is, if you stress the South America, rather than the Paris (disclaimer, I've never lived in Paris). Buenos Aires was a nice place, but people moved there with outrageous expectations of 'dream posts.' Every post has problems. Conversely, my second year in Chennai saw a steep change over of second tour officers, fresh out of 'luxury' posts that were very upset with their second assignment. Who replaced them? First tour officers who were ecstatic just to be overseas. Talk about a change in mindset.
• Location Location Location (again) - Buenos Aires had an odd dichotomy; GENERALLY speaking, singles and couples loved it (it was a nice city), and families did not. Young kids (like mine) struggled to find friends (locals spoke Spanish, and the housing pool was too spread out to make Embassy friends) or had to struggle with long commutes (either to school or work).

How do you know the morale at Post? Here's my easy two-step process for determining Post morale:

1. Read the Personal Post Insights (from the Overseas Briefing Center) and the Real Post Reports (from talesmag). Sometimes people flat-out describe morale (I saw that in a review of Phnom Penh). Even if they don't... you can tell. Happy people focus on positives, miserable people focus on negatives.
2. Ask. I literally just asked when I e-mailed my predecessors in the positions I was bidding on. Literally every one responded with candor. Again, happy people love to talk about how great a place is, miserable people are itching for an excuse to complain. Either way, you win.

Does it matter? I struggle with this question. As someone who openly stated morale to be a big factor of my bidding, I ended up going to a place that isn't really known (in the last few years at least) for it's morale. End of the day, I'll probably be happy wherever I go, and there were more important considerations. Your experience may vary.

Bidding Wars: The Last Handshake

Need I say more?

Actually, yes! Yes, I do need to say more. First thing this morning I accepted my automated handshake offer from the EUR bidding software. However, much to my surprise, a few hours later I received another handshake offer! This is not ideal (for post or for me). The offer was from a heavily bid post that hadn't responded to any of my lobbying since my initial e-mail on September 21st. I had assumed I was not in the running.

Given the fact that I didn't receive a BLC last week, I would guess that I was not their first choice. However... it is plausible that no one else took the position and they are now scrambling down their list to find someone. In a related situation, we received an e-mail from a post in a similar situation last Friday. It was a heavily bid on post, but... 10 bidders is meaningless if it's #2 on all of their lists (and they all get their #1 choices.) In my case, it's sad, because the offer is from a post I would have said was my dream post four years ago... but even if I did want to go there over Reykjavik (which I don't, for various reasons), I've already committed to Iceland. I'd rather gently decline a surprise handshake than go back on my word.

Bidding Wars: The Assignments Awaken

Well, call me a Bureau's Leading Candidate (BLC). I received an (automated) e-mail today telling me that I was the number one candidate for the position I bid on in Reykjavik. As it turns out, I knew it was coming, but it's still nice to officially get my "air kiss." How did I know? Well, I'm the only eligible bidder, of course. Besides that, the Regional Information Management Officer (RIMO) contacted me last week to tell me I was the leading bidder...
'Air kisses' are sent out to give the bureaus a chance to react to people's changing (or previously undecided) decisions about posts. If I received two BLC e-mails this week, I would (as a decent person) contact the one I wasn't going to take, to give them the chance to snatch up their second choice, before that person commits elsewhere. In my case, perhaps betraying my faith in myself being the only bidder the system, I sent a note to Ho Chi Minh City (my other top choice) to let them know that I had heard back from Reykjavik and need to withdraw myself from their consideration. This was a simple courtesy to help ensure they get their best candidate that's not me available.
Enough about me, here is the slightly abridged text from the e-mail... about me.
This is an
automated message. Please do not reply to this message.
Greetings
from EUR and IO/EX! We are pleased to inform you that you are the
bureau’s top candidate for the following position:
Position Title: Information Management Spec

Post: Reykjavik, Iceland
Grade: FP-04
TED: 6/1/2018
LDP: N/A
Bureaus can
offer handshakes on 10/30/2017 to bidders for at-grade assignments or
one-grade stretches for those serving at a 15% or higher post, bidding on a 30%
or higher post, and/or with bidding privileges (formerly MSI) from the current
year's FS Selection Boards. Bureaus can issue handshakes to fair share
bidders and one-grade stretch (either up- or down-stretch) bidders for domestic
and low differential positions on 2/12/2018.
This
message is informational and solely intended to assist you in your planning as
the bidding cycle comes to a close. You need not reply. If you have
any comments or questions, please contact the EUR and IO FS Assignments Team.

Bidding Wars: Return of the Jubilation

I keep thinking I should be stressed out about this bidding process... and it is stressful. However, I have to believe that it'll all just work out. Maybe I'm super self confident, maybe I'm overly optimistic, or maybe it's because my fourth choice still has fewer bidders than positions open. Who knows. Either way, I had what will likely be my last interview today. This puts me on the short list for the top (and only) 4 posts I'm bidding on. That's a pretty good feeling.

One of the common interview questions is, of course, "where do we rank on your list." People often debate whether they should lie (tell every post they’re your favorite) or how to obfuscate their answer. I refuse to lie about this and I want to be as transparent as possible. I've told pretty much everyone where I'm bidding and the order. However... my preference order is a bit nebulous. My top two posts (Reykjavik and Ho Chi Min City) are both places I would go in a heartbeat. As I see it, it has less to do with which I'd prefer and more to do with who is willing (or able) to commit to me first. This will put me in for an awkward position if I'm offered both (at the same time) and am forced to choose. Otherwise, I'll take whichever comes up and consider myself lucky; they're both great posts and I'll have successfully navigated my first open bidding cycle!

Regardless, with some good interviews (and lucky intersections between who I know and who the people at the posts I'm bidding know), I am feeling fairly confident that I'm going somewhere I want to go. It's impossible to know until we get that official handshake (or the unofficial air kiss), but I'm not sweating a little more waiting. It seems like waiting is the name of the foreign service game.

Bidding Wars: The Bureau Strikes Back

A quick follow up on my last post. Short lists aren't the final word in bidding. Far from it. Posts make their list of candidates to forward on to the bureaus (around October 13th, this year). The bureaus then take those lists from all their posts and deconflict the candidates. They're looking to make sure that 6 posts don't all have the same person as their first choice. This allows them to make sure more handshakes can go out to legitimate candidates at the same time. A week later (around the 23rd), once bidding is closed, the bureaus will meet each other and do some secret/magic/shadowy 'horse-trading' to attempt to work out multiple bids across bureaus. Again, no one wants to offer a handshake to someone and then get declined, because they've lost valuable time to offer that handshake to their second choice. As with everywhere, some employees are preferred for some positions, and no one wants to get left scraping the bottom of the barrel to fill a vacancy. Of course, some of this resolves itself. In my first tour bidding, 13 of the 23 bidders got their first choice on Flag Day. With bidding priorities being that wildly different... there is a chance for everyone to be happy. In reality, some posts just don't have the mass appeal that others do.

Similarly, everyone hears stories about bureaus essentially ignoring post’s list and pushing their preferred candidate. They can do this because all IMS positions are actually held by the bureaus, rather than by the individual posts. This means that although post has a major stake in who they get, they're a non-voting member in the decision making. Some of my friends are particularly wary of this, but I tend to think it's mostly rumor and hearsay. Maybe it happens, maybe it just happened once, but either way it can’t be common. The people serving in the bureau would be torpedoing their reputation with the post in question. Similarly, the candidate would be walking into a unpleasant workplace having essentially overridden their choice to force the assignment. It's really not ideal for anyone. HOWEVER, it is an excellent scapegoat. "Oh, we wanted you, but the bureau..." or "I was totally their first choice, but the bureau..." It is such a convenient alibi that I could see it becoming a common rumor.

Bidding Wars: A New Hope

Good news, everyone! Today's twist on the roller coaster of bidding is: I made the short list* for one of my top posts. Pretty crazy to go from hearing essentially nothing to having two interviews and being told you've been short listed in... a couple days. As I said before, being #2 on a short list is meaningless if the #1 accepts the position, but it's still encouraging. Even more encouraging is that the post has two openings, effectively doubling my chances of getting a handshake. Either way, I'll continue attempting to contact (politely and not too frequently, of course) the posts I'm interested in and hope for the best. What else can I do?


* The short list is the vetted list of candidates that a post sends to the bureau as their preferences for filling the position.

Bidding Wars: Revenge of the Silence

Well, almost two weeks into the five week bidding cycle, I have to say the silence is deafening. Either the posts I'm talking to are moving slowly... or I'm doing it wrong! Talking to my cohort-mates, who appear to be interviewing left and right (some with the very posts I'm lobbying), I'd guess it must be the latter.

The bidding process is seriously opaque (at best), and shortening the bidding season from 3 months to just 5 weeks this year has thrown all past expectations up in the air. I'll keep waiting, I guess. My consolation is that I'm one of the only bidders for two of my choices. Of course... being #2 means nothing if they take #1. We'll see!

Bidding Wars: Attack of the Choices

The bid list is finally here! The actual list provided some surprises. One of the posts I was most interested in (Harare) disappeared, but new interesting posts have appeared (Hong Kong)! I've already done much of the leg work in researching my desired assignments, but with the new options, there's always more research to do. I guess I'll be spending some time on the Overseas Briefing Center's website (Post Info To Go) and on Tales Mag's Real Post Reports.

Now that the bidding season has 'officially' started, it's time to start lobbying posts in earnest to convince them that I'm their best choice. This awkward task is made slightly easier if you know people at the place you're bidding, but still includes a bunch of bragging (but not too much!) e-mails. It's not what I would describe as an enjoyable process.

Everyone's bidding process is different. Looking at my cohort mates and friends... some of us are bidding on one bureau, some on multiple. Some are lobbying 20 posts, and some just 3 or 4. Some are bidding based on geographical location, others based on the job. I can't speak to which is best and really, a lot of it is just personal preference. However, I can explain my bidding methodology.

I’m planning to actively lobby/bid on 5 posts.

1) We removed all posts requiring malaria medication. We're not opposed to serving in one of those posts in the future, but don't want to deal with having to remember (and fight) to give our one year old meds every day.

2) We crossed off places with (apparently) low morale. Morale is definitely based on the people (which can change before I arrive), but morale tends to be passed down to incoming officers. Low morale posts often appear to stay that way.

3) We looked at places (rumored to be) good for young kids. Our son has had a particularly rough time in Buenos Aires. The Embassy community is scattered, which makes it hard for him to make friends and most of the locals don't speak English. He has some expat friends, but they're also hard to nail down for regular play dates. All-in-all, we're looking for a place that he will enjoy.

4) As always, we're hoping to go to new (and interesting) places. Buenos Aires feels similar to living in the US. It's not exactly what we were aiming for with the Foreign Service. Also, we're hoping to have a tour in every continent by the end of my career.

All in all, this leads me to bid on (in no particular order): Reykjavik, Ho Chi Min City, Hong Kong, Phnom Penh, and Guangzhou. Apparently we also had a requirement that everywhere be hard to spell correctly... Guangzhou (as with most of China) tends to be light on bidders and will act as a fail-safe of sorts for me. I'd be interested in going there - no malaria, good morale, good community for kids - and I really enjoy China, but the others are slightly higher on our list. Those five posts actually represent 9 positions, which seems like enough for me. I'd rather seriously bid on a few realistic positions than take the scattershot approach. Which is better? I guess we'll see!

Bidding Wars: The Phantom Position

As the pre-bidding season continues, I feel like I should give an update on what I've been up to. This summer... has been rough. I spent about a month as the only IMS (normally we have 4) at post. Covering 4 positions would be a challenge, so naturally I prepared for it by getting walking pneumonia. Also, FUN FACT, did you know: you can break a rib from coughing? I didn't either. I am painfully aware of it now though.

But enough about me! Bidding. At this point in previous bidding cycles, I'd have a decent idea of where I stand with my top bidding choices. This year the bidding cycle has been compressed. Instead of starting in August, it starts September 20th. Post and bureaus seem to be taking this to heart and are holding off on much of their normal bidding contact.

Many of my cohort-mates have been reaching out to incumbents for tentative positions and some of the supervisors anyway, because it can't hurt to start early. How can they contact posts, if the bid list isn't out, you may ask? Well, they use the dubiously accurate Projected Vacancy tool in FSBID (our bidding software). This tool tells you which positions will be open this year, based on when the current occupant arrived at post. I have, of course, been eyeballing the projected vacancy list for months (practically a year, don't judge me), but I have absolutely failed at making first contact. Part of this I can blame on being sick and busy, but part of it is the absolute dread I feel toward cold-calling people to tell them how great I am. Especially when the projected list doesn't account for extensions, curtailments, position freezing or removal, ceding to entry level, or the whims of bureaus and posts. It seems silly to spend all this effort schmoozing a post for a position you can't even bid on.

Who knows, I have an R&R coming up, I should probably get some messages sent before I leave for that. At least... that's what I keep telling myself.

Fair Share and Bidding Privileges

Bidding Bidding Bidding. It has begun. Possibly the worst part of the Foreign Service (or the best?) is the process of determining your next Post. It's not unlike my former life, as a contractor, where we continually interviewed for positions for new contracts, as our old ones ended.

This year marks the beginning of the condensed bidding cycle (more on that later), but today is our first 'surprise' for the season. Many factors play in to determining which positions you are eligible to bid on. Two of those factors changed today and I'll break down each of them:

Fair Share Bidding is a requirement that you serve in a hardship positions every 7(ish) years. The general idea is to keep someone from spending 20 years doing 7 tours in London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, etc. This year the definition of a hardship to fulfill this requirement changed from 15% to 20%. This means that if you are bidding this year and have not served in a 20% hardship position in the last 7 years, you are required to either bid on exclusively domestic assignments or include at least 3 at-grade and in-specialty positions with 20% or higher differential, in at least two geographic regions. Fair share bidders are required to accept any offered handshake (or find another hardship handshake) within two weeks of it being offered. If, by some weird turn of fate, they are continually not offered a handshake for 5 months... then they can accept any position offered. This increase of just 5% therefore drastically changes the 'popularity' of certain posts in the bidding cycle. A 15% post is now substantially less appealing, because it doesn't meet this requirement (and I imagine we'll see a proportional drop in their overall bids.)

Bidding privileges allow a person to bid one grade higher than their current grade if they're bidding on, or currently serving in, a hardship. However, the definition of a hardship for this changed also, but instead of increasing 5%, it went from 15% to 30%! This is a gigantic increase and drastically reduces the viability of stretching into a higher position (which had become quite common among people looking to get promoted early). This change will also effectively hinder bidding at 15% posts, with a possible benefit to 30+% posts. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Bidding privileges are also granted for employees receiving a Meritorious Step Increase award or if the post has been designated as historically hard to staff.

Keep in mind, much like going to a non-fair-share-post as a fair share bidder, it is possible to go just about anywhere, but only at the tail end of the bidding season. Initial handshakes go out ~early November, but in March the restrictions drastically relax for the poor posts and bidders that have been left out in the cold.

It's going to be an interesting next few months.

Hardship Differential

As of today, the hardship differential for Consulate General Chennai has increased from 15% to 20%. This percent represents several things, including extra (incentive) pay, second-tour bidding 'clout,' and student loan repayment eligibility. Since it went to 15% right before I arrived and is changing back to 20% right as I leave, I have to assume this is just an indication of how much I improved morale. Sorry to leave you all in the lurch, so to speak. As a parting gift, I give you 5% more money!

If I sound a little bitter... it's probably because I am. Chennai has only improved in the last two years, which means the people that arrived the year I did spent nearly our entire tour under represented by our hardship differential. Of course, there are worse things. For example, two of the other posts on my original bid list have had terrorist bombings in the last two years. I think I'd rather miss out on a little money... than hear bombs exploding, given the choice.

Anyway, long story short. Congrats to my Chennai colleagues.

Fame and Fortune

It was bound to happen. A handful of people here at post have mentioned my blog to me, but all of them knew me... before they found my blog. For the first time, I met someone who knew me, because of my blog. I was very flattered to be recognized by Ken (pictured), and generally happy to meet him. I'm glad my blog has helped untangle some of the mystery behind becoming an IMS. 

I guess I can check off the "fame" part of "fame and fortune." Unfortunately (for me), the most likely people to read my blog are those who are joining after me. So I have a job for you all. Get promoted quickly, so I can leverage your knowing of me into sweet jobs, AKA "fortune!"

Yeah. Probably not. Anyway, Ken mentioned someone in his cohort was having a hard time. I want to give a shout-out to Tom. Keep in mind you're at a low point on the Menninger Curve and, in some ways, it's best to have your hardest tour first. Not only does it set easily surpass-able expectations for future posts, but it's the only time where "equity" matters for bidding. People posted in the harder posts from my cohort went to places like Sydney, Prague, and London. Also, if I heard the situation correctly, I imagine you have a heartfelt thanks from everyone else in your cohort. Keep up the good work; before you know it, you'll be staring your departure in the face and (hopefully) wondering where the time went. 

Don't Cry for Me, Argentina (is my Next Post!)

Well... I won't say I had a pleasant evening. I must have eaten something that disagreed with me, and I spent all night paying for it. I was so ill that I couldn't walk more than a few feet without a break in the morning... HOWEVER, the one nice thing (?) about being sick in the middle of the night... is checking your work e-mail and seeing your next assignment!

Summer of 2016 will be busy: I'll be packing up, leaving Chennai, spending a summer in the US on home leave, and then settling in my second post, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bidding wise, B.A. was in our top 10 (number 10, to be exact) and was a "high bid." We can't complain with that, especially considering the moderate hardship diffrential rating of Chennai, which directly effects bidding power.

Second Tour Assignment Update

Good news, everybody! We get to wait another week before learning the results of our bidding. I know what you were all thinking... "One week of suspense wasn't nearly enough, we really need to eek out as much anticipation as possible!"

All joking aside, it was kind of a bummer to get the e-mail announcing the delay, but that's how it goes. This is still only a taste of what we'll have to go through next bidding cycle, when we're not entry level anymore. It'll make this year's four weeks start-to-finish look like a cake walk!

Update: I got assigned!

Bids Away!

Map Courtesy of Jeff

Might as well continue my song-based bidding posts.


Yesterday, we listed places that are far away.
Now it looks as though we’ll wait for days.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly, I’m not as stressed as I used to be.
There’s no shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Where we get to go, I don’t know, they wouldn’t say.
I bid somewhere strong, now I long for next Thursday.

Next Thursday, the results will be on display
Now I need a place to pass the days
Oh I believe in next Thursday.

Where we get to go, I don’t know, they wouldn’t say.
I bid somewhere strong, now I long for next Thursday.

Next Thursday, is when the results are on display
Now I need a place to pass the days
Oh I believe in next Thursday.

On a more serious note: Yesterday we submitted our second tour bid list consisting of 42 positions, in 37 countries. We're told we'll get the results no later than next Thursday. The person assigning second tours tries to give priority to people currently in more difficult posts. Chennai is in the upper middle in terms of "difficult," so we should get assigned somewhere between 15th and 25th. We learned in our last bidding cycle that everyone has different priorities... so there's always a chance we'll all get our first pick (but it's highly unlikely)! Anyway, now I get a throw-back to last year (and the year before) as I reacquaint myself with my old nemesis: The Waiting Game.

Corridor Reputation: Bagels and Blogs

Corridor Reputation is a big deal in the Foreign Service. They literally teach you about it in the first 3 week orientation class, heck they even named their internal social networking system "Corridor." I don't think the term is really unique to the Foreign Service, but I'll define it anyway. Corridor Reputation is what precedes you when people ask your former (or current) coworkers about you. As you can imagine, this is always an important thing to maintain in any job. That being said, it's even more crucial in this job, because your future assignments (after your first two) are decided by 'bidding' or 'lobbying' for the position. If people have heard of you (in a good way), you're more likely to get the jobs you want. If you're known as a 'screamer,' well... enjoy getting posted wherever is left.

I'm a pretty friendly guy and generally good at getting things done at work, so I've never had any issues with my reputation preceding me. <brag>In fact, my last job as a contractor, before this job, I literally got the job because some higher up I'd never met or heard of found out I was in the list of candidates and told them to take me. </brag> All boasting aside, Corridor Reputation isn't something I've overly concerned myself with. That being said, I can feel myself being inexorably changed... I'd be lying if I tried to claim that I never consider my reputation while at work. In fact, I've taken on some projects that I probably wouldn't have cared about, except that they'll give me nice exposure to other IMS around the world.

Of course, let's face it. I made bagels for a CLO bake sale (which are unavailable locally) and I have this blog. I should just resign myself to being the "Bagels and Blog" guy. I'm pretty sure it's already begun. The Management Officer here (jokingly?) told me bringing bagels in once a week should be added to my work requirements... and I learned from my social sponsee that my blog had some readers in the 134th Specialist class. I guess the moral of this post is: if you want to succeed in the Foreign Service, learn to bake bagels. Wait no... I mean, be that guy with crazy hobbies... No... that's not it. Oh yeah, be nice and work hard! Yeah, we'll go with that one.

Two Years in India, Week 12: New CG

One dozen weeks in Chennai. That could be a book... I guess... Anyway, week 12 was most notable due to the arrival of the new Consul General. The consulate was a flurry of last minute activity as everyone tried to tie up all their projects before he arrived. 

He is incredibly friendly and invited all of the consulate families to his house for dinner and drinks on Friday. As with every time I've been to the CGR (Consule General's Residence), the food was delicious and the drinks were... included. (Ok, I'm not much of a drinker.)

On the work front, I finished cleaning out the mail room. I was rewarded with (and I quote) "Wow!" from the management officer. I've always been good at cleaning up cluttered work spaces and I'm looking forward to starting in on our storage room. Unfortunately, I've been warned that messy storage rooms are endemic in the Foreign Service. Fortunately, that'll give me a great selling point when it comes to bidding. "Take me, I'll clean the heck out of your Embassy!"

Last but not least, I took the IPO on his first (at this post) pouch run. Nothing like staying up almost all night at the airport. I'm looking forward to doing it again next week when my sponsee comes into town. Though... next week I won't get to take awesome selfies with airplanes and tractors!