What’s in Play

Even though I am now leaving Baghdad earlier than planned, I’m not leaving anytime soon. As I understand it, I can leave between Sept. 21-30. By all but historical and Biblical accounts, that’s pretty much a long way off. There is no rush for me to find my next assignment.

And that is one of the silly things (I was going to say “the silly thing” but reconsidered) about my job. Every few years, I have to apply to another job, except it’s not a job, it’s an assignment. No matter what happens (God bless tenure), I have a paycheck, even if no one wants me. The saying goes something like, “You have a job; you have to find an assignment.”

Finding an assignment is basically finding a job. There are lists of assignments that are due to come out, list of ones that are open now and then there’s word of mouth about assignments that might be coming out. There also seem to be some one-off heads-ups about others; I’m not sure if those wind up on some official list later or not.

My position, basically the bottom on the totem pole, has a bunch of openings. Unfortunately, the way it shakes down is that the ones that are at my paygrade are mostly in DC. Well, being on the bottom of the totem pole, even if it’s the higher portion of that bottom level, doesn’t afford me the ability to both live and eat in DC. I like visiting DC, particular when I am getting per diem, but those jobs don’t allow for that and I’d prefer not to. Plus, seeing as how I’d either have to live in Virginia or Maryland and thus give up my Florida residency, I just don’t want to go there. Literally.

Most of the jobs at my level are in DC. The few that aren’t require a language that I don’t have. In many cases, jobs have time to learn the language built in, but these particular ones don’t What’s happened is that all those jobs have been spoken for; the main list I’m looking at came out in September and what’s left is what doesn’t appeal to most people and what has had people sign up but bail out.

I really don’t want another job not at my level. The base pay is the same and the “differentials” vary according to site, not position, so in some cases, the lower-graded jobs wind up taking home more, but it’s a lot harder to look ready for the next-higher level when you’re not even working at your current level. And since I got promoted my first year in Istanbul and this job is also a “downstretch,” technically by the time I leave here I’ll have already been at a lower level for three years.

I realize it makes no sense to normal people, but those who work for my employer understand it, but it boils down to there are not a lot of jobs out there at the moment for my pay grade. There are jobs popping up all the time and I’m content to wait, but I’m being pressured to lock something in.

Since I’m not hot for DC, I found four alternatives and, geeklily enough, hammered out the facts. For me, the job is more important that the location, so I left those out:

Posts currently available

A

·         05 DCM OMS position

·         Winter –TED December

·         Zero differential

·         No language time built in, but FAST language course available 11/4-12/20

·         Three years

·         OK’d cruise

·         Post gets rave reviews

B

·         06 POL position

·         Summer – September 2019 TED

·         15 percent differential

·         Language-designated 2/2 Spanish

·         Area of the world I haven’t visited

·         Three years

·         Interviewing tonight

C

·         06 P/E position

·         Summer – August, but is vacant now due to coverage switch

·         25 percent differential

·         No language

·         Not a position I’d look at otherwise; incumbent said it’s 80 percent travel arranging

·         Three years

·         I know hiring person and will interview tomorrow.

·         Same bureau as a previous tour

·         Post gets rave reviews

D

·         04 HRO position

·         Summer – August/Sept 2019

·         Has been officially ceded to EL but is still showing on NOW list. (

·         Would require curtailing for 7/8 HRO course

·         30 percent differential

·         No language

·         Desired skill; would provide training

·         Two years

Of course, as soon as the figurative ink dried (does anyone use ink anymore?), option D got yanked. (The “ceded” part; apparently there are no takebacks.) And option A, the only one at my grade, was also ruled out of play.

So that leaves B and C. Quite honestly, if I had seen the full list at the beginning, not just the leftovers, I wouldn’t have looked at either. It’s not the cities themselves, it’s that B requires language and C just doesn’t scream my name, plus I’ve lived and traveled that part of the world heavily. But C pays the most because of the differential.

Since I spelled out the options there, I’ve had both interviews and both are heavily recruiting me. For B, Spanish is the stumbling block; it’s not just one of those things that’s nice to have when you take taxis or grocery-shop; the person in the position right now used language, especially written, in her work on a daily basis. And I don’t have it. I could start tomorrow and work at it, but if Peace Corps taught me nothing about myself, it’s that I am not a good language learner. It scares me.

The other job doesn’t sound interesting, but I know the people there and they like me and were trying to come up with a different position. Both those jobs are open because the person penciled in have lined up a different job in Foreign Service. The B one is trying to find someone who speaks Spanish. If they can’t, there’s paperwork they can go through to try to exempt the recruit to get in with out it, but it’s not a slam-dunk.

What happened for the C one is that of the two admin positions, the big-league person changed sports altogether, C simply called up the next person down to fill the spot. The position that’s open is, in a way, the AAA spot. Since they found out I’m available, they’ve offered to ask the call-up if she’d prefer to stick to her original minor-league team, so to speak, or stay in the majors. Since the paperwork has already been done, it’s her call, not the coach’s, although the league gets a say. I’ve said if that big-league jobs comes open I’d take it, but right now I don’t know if it is.

If it is, it’s an easy decision because the job is “at-grade,” plus it’s in the 25 percent differential city and they’ve OK’d me to basically take off January to take my cruise. But, like option D, it might be too little, too late.