Tandem bidding 3

Updated: 7 days ago

Uh-oh, it’s almost time to move on again! As much as I enjoy living in Mumbai, every Foreign Service tour meets its inevitable end. We have only ten months to go. The big question is: what’s next?

Serving in seven different countries so far has done a real number on me. I still like the idea of serving abroad again, but the energy to come up with a new list and fight for a great new assignment totally eludes me. If I learned one thing in the past 15 years it’s that there’s no telling which place trumps another. What makes a posting great depends wholly on circumstance; good colleagues and nice new friends, and perhaps breathable air, but none of those things are listed in a job description.

So what to do? It seemed only fair to me to let my spouse take the lead on bidding this time. For several reasons. First of all, he’s been very good in accompanying me to my first two assignments and making the best of it, even if it meant extremely limited choice and opportunity for him. Secondly, he’s been in the Foreign Service much longer than me and is in the stage of his career where he should “make a move” if he wants to get promoted again. If he wants a genuine shot at reaching the Senior Foreign Service, he needs a job to show off his leadership skills.

For me, unfortunately, that gives little clarity. In Foreign Service speak he’s called the “lead bidder,” which means I just have to try to get a job wherever he gets one. Looking at the list of available jobs for me in the consular world, that leaves me with few options. So I have to look beyond consular. The problem is that I’m not necessarily competitive for non-consular jobs, because I haven’t done them in ages, and the list of jobs in general is more limited than usual this time, for bureaucratic reasons. My fall back option is doing a telework job, where my home office is in DC but I can still accompany my spouse overseas. Such jobs exist, but many bureaus aren’t exactly keen on permitting it and provide only non-committal answers when I ask.

All of this has forced me to cast a wide net when looking for my next assignment, which means a lot of application letters, a lot of interviews, and a lot of uncertainty. Right now, I think the most likely scenarios are as follows:

1: A telework (DETO) position. This would allow me to work from anywhere, including DC. If my spouse gets a senior position, I’d most likely require it due to hierarchy/nepotism rules. To complicate things for myself (but also to increase my chance of a good job) I’m bidding on both consular and non-consular jobs, which both have different application requirements (aka: steps to take).

2: A consular, political, or management position. If my spouse gets posted abroad, I have to scramble to find a job at the same post, which most likely won’t be consular, because very few of those are available at this time. And the ones that are available are extremely competitive. But a non-consular position is hard to get because I’m consular-coned, so either way this is tricky.

3: A job in DC. If everything else fails, we’re probably headed to DC. I’m not opposed to this idea—there are lots of job options there, and the kids practically beg for it. But my spouse—the lead bidder, remember—isn’t looking at DC right now. And while there are no guarantees, he tends to be much wanted wherever he applies, for good reason I think.

My spouse already had a few interviews by now, and some of them reportedly went well. But before he gets any indication about where he is, or isn’t, competitive, I’ll have to complete my own string of interviews. I’ll have to explain to hiring managers why I’d be an amazing political reporting officer, fixer of management issues, humanitarian assistance coordinator, or child adoption-gone-wrong case worker. Sigh.

Job interviews are probably my least favorite thing in the world when it comes to my job. I’d rather do anything else. The only hope I have right now is that doing a series of interviews will somehow make me better at it, so it won’t be so painful the next time we bid… TBC.