Last week, I went to DC to re-take the foreign service oral
assessment. My reasoning was because I want to extend here in Minot but, with my low OA score the first
time around, I’d risk not getting another offer should I turn one down. You
only get 18 months on the register, so by the time I would be free to accept an
offer – November – I would only have six months left in which to get one. With
there only being four offer groups this year (Jan, March, July and Sept), it’s not
really likely there’d be a lot more than that in 2014.
It’s really important to me to finish the Hope Village
project, and we’re thinking it can get done in October. I’ve put in for a
six-month extension with AmeriCorps, so that would leave some leeway for
disassembly time, too. (That could get ugly.)
So I decided to couch my bets and re-take the OA, and man, I
kicked butt. I have no idea, really, what the difference was, but I not only
got another 18 months on the register (after I cleared the review panel again,
anyway) but scored much higher this time, pretty much assuring me an offer for
the next class after getting on the register.
Of course, in light of the fact that I wanted to go on the
do-not-call list until Nov. 1 or so, I was hoping that the final review would
take awhile. There was no reason to think it’d go fast. I mean, the original
clearances took forever and, at that time, they didn’t talk to anyone in Minot yet. I had to
update those changes and re-submit some paperwork.
I figured I’d have a month, at least, before getting re-put
on the register and asking to go on the do-not-call list again.
And I enjoyed DC. Didn’t do anything in particular, but just
wandered a bit. Stayed in Crystal City this time – I think I’ve been totally around
that city – and went to the mall-with-stores in Virginia somewhere, the place with the LL
Bean store.
Didn’t buy anything but tried on some clothes, knowing I
really will need to upgrade my wardrobe. Joy.
At least I know my LL Bean sizes.
DC was gorgeous, with flowers everywhere. It snowed the day
I left Minot
and, even though it was chilly, it was so much better than where I left it
wasn’t funny. And it gradually warmed, with it being maybe 80 by the time I
left.
When I got back, it was 30 again in Minot, but two days later, we hit 60. This
caused massive rapid snow melts and turned my RV (I move back May 10) into
lakefront property. I moved some stuff out there and the boardwalk that cuts
through the mud (not complaining!) actually *floats* right now. My little
trailer is pretty much at the end of a dock.
It’s stunning that a six-day turnaround can do that much as
far as weather goes. And it continues, because tomorrow the high is supposed to
be 39. But the sun has been nice while I’ve had it.
But speaking of six days, that’s how long ago it was that I
took the oral assessment. My goal here, remember, is to assure me that in
January I will not have a problem getting a State job. If not January, then
whenever the first offer group of 2014 happens to be.
My understanding has been that I have to go through any
security updates and then have my file re-submitted to the review panel for
final clearance and then being given a new spot on the register. Based on the
scores that I’ve seen, my new score would put me in the top third of the list,
if not higher. Essentially, I’m confident that, even if I was on the
do-not-call list for both the July and September offers, I will get a spot
after Hope Village’s mission is complete.
And, this being the federal government and me having updates
to investigate, I fully expected weeks to go by before they had enough time to
contact my supervisor and my other contacts here to verify my employment, etc.
Today, on the Yahoo group for this job, someone mentioned he’d
gotten an offer for the July class. Good for him, right? They’re sending out
offers early, so that’s nice and positive. I didn’t think anything of it.
I have multiple email addresses and the junk ones I don’t
check that frequently, maybe twice a day. Around 4 p.m. today, I checked one of
them. And found a note that I’d not only been placed on the hiring register,
but I’d also gotten a job offer.
Holy cow. I’m completely and utterly shocked. And yet I
cannot accept it. I am committed here through Dec. 15, and I’m fine with that.
I’m just stunned I got cleared with no updates and in SIX DAYS.
As I understand it, it’s fine if I turn down one offer and
will do so. I would requested to have gone on the do-not-call list if I had
thought there was any chance of being cleared so quickly.
But six days? This is absolutely insane. I’m not even back
into the groove after being in DC for four days!
So tomorrow I am going to try to call the registrar and get
this fixed. I am not taking the offer, but seeing it in my inbox is just
bizarre.
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