Foreign Service Update
Things are not looking great right now. There was a surge of people getting security clearances in October. I was at the beginning of that surge and got onto the list ranked 28/35. Unfortunately, many other people also got on the list - quite a few of them with higher scores. As of 3 weeks ago, I was 41/66.
In 2009, almost all of the classes were around 95-100 people, which means that approximately 19-20 people from each cone would get a call (I am in the Consular cone). There is, however, a slight emphasis on Consular and management cones, so they may get a few more spots than average. At 41, and given that an unknown number of people would decline appointments and/or be on the ‘do not call’ list, I thought I had an outside chance to get into the January class.
Last week, the calls for the January 2010 class started. I found out today that the number of offers actually decreased for this class. Instead of 95 positions, they only had 76 positions. And the cuts weren’t uniform. Consular reportedly only had 12 offers go out. Needless to say, I wasn’t one of those offers.
The reported rationale for the smaller class is budget restrictions due to the late passage of the State Department’s Appropriations bill. When an appropriations bill isn’t passed by 9/30, the Department runs on a continuing resolution, which allows the Department to run at the same rate as the prior year’s funding. Since part of last year’s hiring increase was funded by the supplemental funding (Iraq and Afghanistan), it wasn’t included in the CR this year. Therefore, the Department has fewer billets to allocate under this year’s CR.
If that is true, it could be good news for me. An appropriations bill has been passed and signed. It could very well be that today, November 16, they don’t have the funding for a full class. But, the funding may be released as soon as it clears all the appropriate hurdles (it takes a bit of time to go from Congress to spending, which is one of the reasons October is so slow in my office). If the funding is released between now and January 4, 2010, they may make more offers. With short notice, there is a very good chance that many people above me may not be able to accept the short-notice offer, and I could get called.
If none of that happens, offers for the February 16, 2009 class are expected to go out in early December. At 35/65, I have an outside chance (assuming 20 consular hires). There are, of course many variables (how many people added, number of do not calls, class size). The next class (I just looked this up) is March 29, followed by May 10, and June 21. In my best guess, it is very unlikely I would go past March.
In other news, I just moved to Fredericksburg, VA. When I found out I had to move, I wanted to be outside of the local hire area for when I became an FSO, I could get per diem. I went down a couple of weeks ago and found an apartment and I moved my stuff there yesterday. Tomorrow will be my first day on the long commute. If I get into the January class, it will be at most 28 days of commuting (without taking any vacation/sick/snow days). Totally worth it. In the February class, it will add another 26 days of commuting, for a total of 54 days. Still probably worth it. If I don’t get in until March or later, it may not be worth having moved.
