Flag of Budapest
We got Budapest!
After we got our Baghdad assignment confirmed, I aggressively worked on finding a “Linked Tandem Assignment”. Megan really wanted to go back to Europe, so I concentrated on that part of the world. Here’s the full story:
When we bid on our normal assignments (after our first two directed assignments, the job of finding a new assignment rests in our hands) we are given a list of available vacancies for the upcoming year (we bid 1 year out) and then compete with everyone else for those assignments. The gaining post first selects us, and then we have to convince the Bureau back in DC to choose us as well. They usually go with what the post wants, but they do have the last say, and they can choose another bidder if they feel it would be best for the Department of State to do so.
So, once both parties (post and bureau) decide that they want you, they send you an email “hand-shake”. If you still want the job, you accept the hand-shake and then HR back in DC has one more process to go through before the assignment is final (paneling). This is the point where HR makes absolutely certain that you can take the job based on a review of your records and other criteria. It usually goes smoothly, but nothing happens until you get paneled. Once you are paneled, the assignment is yours. You can start the process of looking forward to your new home… in a year.
However, when you accept an assignment to a war zone (Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan) you can bid on a follow-on assignment a year earlier – just after you get your hand-shake for the war zone assignment. This means you are bidding on an assignment TWO years out, way ahead of your peers. In fact, the assignments are not even listed in the usual way. Instead, you have contact each Bureau and review the projected vacancies for that year. Notice I said “you”. No one helps here, and you are expected to do all this legwork. You have to find a projected vacancy, contact the post to verify that it is indeed accurate, and then start networking with that post to convince them to hire you. This is where a good resume, and good references come in!
so..
For Megan and I it was a bit tougher. We needed to find TWO vacancies at the same post, for the same assignment period, at the proper pay grades. Since Megan and I are the same job specialty (OMS) we has to find a large enough post that had two projected OMS slots that were not in the same office, otherwise we would never be able to take breaks at the same time!
I did the research with the European Bureau, and found four possible choices: Brussels, Belgium; Berlin, Germany; Budapest, Hungary and Istanbul, Turkey.
I sent emails out to all four, and Brussels was the first to reply. The post liked our resumes!
Berlin wrote back, but they wanted more information and they where a bit slow to respond.
Brussels wrote back quickly, but said no decision could be made for two weeks until their boss came back from leave.
Istanbul never replied. I emailed three times, and even to Ankara but never got a reply.
So I did some research now and started emailing co-workers around the world. I also went on-line to my favorite research site for post research – Tales from a Small Planet, and read their “Real Post reports” which are reviews of postst all over the world written by people who have already been posted there. I looked up Berlin, Brussels and Budapest. I gave up on Turkey.
The “Real Post Reports” pages has one all-important critique field that users fill out about a post they had just lived in. They are asked “knowing what you know now, would you go back to that same post again for a future assignment”? That’s a very probing question, and it sums up a lot. People will write in “yes”0 or “no”, and then they tell why. When you read these statements, and vet them against other factors so that you dismiss posters who are not in a similar situation as you, or do not feel the same way about certain issues, then you get a very clear picture of what to expect about the post.
Brussels came in dead last. Only about half of the people who have been there would ever go back.
Berlin was a bit higher, but Budapest was an overwhelming 90%.
When it came to housing, everyone in Budapest enjoyed their homes, and the distance to work. Brussels did not fare well here. Most posters did not like the long drive to work, and said the homes where not liked that much either. They also ALL complained about the weather.
So we then decided on either Budapest or Berlin… and since we have lived in Germany for 3 years (my USAF days), we decided to go for Hungary.
I then contacted HR in Baghdad for help. Since they had just went through a lengthy and thorough review of our resumes and had actually reached out and interviewed our references, I asked them if they would please send their results to Budapest. They agreed, and that would speed up the whole process for Budapest and reduce a duplication of work on their part!
I then contacted Budapest and told them we really wanted to take that assignment, an informed that that Berlin was also looking at us. They said they would tell Bureau that they wanted Megan and I right away! The next day we had our Hand-shakes, and a day later we got paneled! It was very quick!
So now we have an assignment in the summer of 2011 to Baghdad (at very interesting time!) and a year later we head to Budapest for 3 years. I am now all set until the summer of 2015 when we move to some other place!
