MSI

Further to my previous post on promotion within the Foreign Service, another way the Department rewards hard workers is through the process called a Meritorious Service Increase, or MSI (we have lots of acronyms in the Department).

As a bit of a background, up until a few years ago MSI's were rewarded to those employees whom the promotion boards deemed "doing a good job, but not enough to be promoted". This was the bridesmaid list. You did a very good job, but not enough for promotion, so we will give you an additional step increase. For Federal employment, pay is determined by your grade. In each grade there are steps. For IMS (like me) we all come in at a FS-05 (that is our grade). Our initial step is determined by many factors - prior Federal service, job experience, education, etc. The more of those "things" you have the higher step. After 1 year of service, we are all administratively promoted to an FS-04, step whatever. The "whatever" is determined by what step you were previously. So as an example, if you came in at an FS-05 step 14 (14 is the highest step you can have), when you are administratively promoted (or promoted to the next higher grade in general), you go up one grade to your closest step and over 2. So for FS-05 step 14 the pay is $79070/yr. Promoted to the next step you would be FS-04 step 9, or $84176/yr. You get an automatic step increase each year up until step 10, which then becomes every 2 years. If you want to look at the FS pay chart you can visit it here (look at the Overseas Comparability chart).

So back to my story. As I said up until a few years ago MSI's were rewarded by the promotions board if you did a good job but not good enough to warrant promotion. Then the Dept. changed the rules where MSI's are a separate process. Posts nominate worthy staff for an MSI. Before I departed Fiji the cable (a cable is official communication within the Department) came out for nominations for MSI's. I mentioned to my supervisor that I'd like to be nominated for an MSI, as I felt like I had done a bang up job. He said "sure thing, give me a list of bullet points". So I put together a list of accomplishments that I had done during my tour that I felt warranted me to be considered for an MSI.

My supervisor wrote it up (after I departed in April), I sent it off to Washington. There, our Bureau (the Bureau is the group in Washington that is responsible for a particular geographic region) reviews the nominations. If they agree the MSI is warranted, it is passed to the MSI review panel. If they disagree (or if the MSI panel disagrees) it is sent back to Post. The MSI panel convened in September.

About a week ago the results from the MSI panel came out. And I was on it. So for my tour in Fiji, I was promoted AND received an MSI. Double bonus!!

Now what?! I can't sit back on my laurels. Even though I'm not eligible for promotion for another 2-3 years, I can get another MSI during my current tour. The promotion panels look at all of your EER's, so I have to keep performing at a high level to increase the odds of promotion as soon as I'm eligible again.

Onward and upward....

Promotion In the Foreign Service

Promotion within the Foreign Service is different than the private sector. You aren't promoted just on doing a good job - you are promoted based on continuously proving you are/can work at a higher level AND there is a slot open in at the higher level for you.

Here is how it works. For IMS, we all come in at a Grade 5 Step whatever. In 1 year, you are administratively (ie automatically) promoted to a 4. Then you get in line and wait to be promoted to a 3 (then to a 2, then 1, etc). Every year all State Department Foreign Service officers submit what is called an EER (Employee Evaluation Report). EER's are different, in that you write about what you did. Then your supervisor (called a rater) "rates" you. Hopefully he or she will say how awesome you are and you deserve to be promoted. Then another section has a "reviewer" write about you. For IRM, usually that is the Management Officer but depending on the Post and your position it could be the IPO, IMO, DCM. Who knows. Again you want them to say how awesome you are and you deserve to be promoted.

All of our evaluations are due each May. So from March - April everyone is frantically writing, and rewriting their EERs. Then it is submitted to an internal (Embassy) panel for review. Basically they are looking for grammatical errors, things that are inadmissible, etc. Once panel approves it, your EER goes off to Washington. Each summer the Department convenes the Promotion Panels. It's a group of about 4-5 individuals who look at hundreds (thousands) of EERs. I've heard they only have about 5 minutes to read and make a decision. So it all comes down to how well you write and convey what you've done for the past year (why you are the most super awesome person in the world and deserve to be promoted). If you pass the first round, they put you in the pile to be reviewed again. If you are in that pile they go back and read it a bit more carefully, and the board can even go back and look at previous EER's. As I mentioned above, there are only so many promotion slots. So you want to be the best shining star you can be.

Last year, I didn't even make the bridesmaids list. The bridesmaids list (not an official term) means the promotion board liked what they saw but you didn't make the final cut. In years past making the bridesmaids list got you an MSI, or Meritorious Service Increase (ie more money). Now the MSI is a separate process. Being a bridesmaids means you get bidding privileges and a "way to go" pat on the back. Last year I was mid-ranked, meaning I was doing my job right but not to the point of promotion.

The promotion results usually come out the Friday of Labor Day weekend. If you are in a different time zone than Washington, you usually find out you got promoted (or not) from friends sending you emails/texts etc. This past Friday night Deb and I were watching tv. About 1045pm my time I glanced at my phone and saw an email from a colleague who is in Washington. I know this person doesn't email a lot, so I was intrigued. I opened it up and there was the "congratulations" email! Next thing I know the congrats started flowing in.

So now what? Well the 03 grade (for IRM) is the "sweet spot" when it comes to overseas Posts. There are lots of opportunities out there. However, for those wanting to move up the 03 can also be considered "the wall". Making that jump from 03 to 02 can be challenging, and take a long time. But for now, I will just enjoy the moment.

Onward and upward....

Tenure...Finally!

An important milestone in ones Foreign Service career is obtaining tenure. For specialists, one goes up for tenure after 24-36 months of service. To be granted tenure by the tenure board, you have to show the ability to successfully perform throughout ones career (see 3 FAM 2250 for more details). You get three shots at tenure, and after the third try if you aren't granted tenured you are separated from the Service (ie shown the door). Sounds easy, right? For my class, it wasn't that easy.

My class (the 130th Specialist) went up for tenure the first time in September 2014. When the cable (a cable is State Department speak for an "official email") came out, we submitted our EERs (Employee Performance Review documents) to HR in Washington. Most people had 2 EERs. Myself, due to having multiple supervisors during my first tour, I had 2 EERs and 2 Memorandums of Performance. All of my performance documents said I was performing superbly and at a high level and should be granted tenure. 

On the day we were traveling to Suva, I got the email one doesn't want to see. Our CDO (Career Development Officer) emailed almost our entire class saying we were denied tenure. Needless to say, my class was in shock. Traditionally (for IRM at least) tenure was granted for the first time to 90-95% of those eligible. This time, 80% of my class was denied tenure. The reasoning from the board was (for all of us) was they wanted to see "more overseas experience" - whatever that means.

I will admit being denied tenure was a blow to my ego. But I was determined to get tenure the second time up. When I arrived in Suva and had my first meetings with both of my supervisors, I mentioned to them I didn't get tenure and wanted to get it the second time, and wanted to work closely with them to ensure I was doing everything possible to get it. I also had some phone conversations with my CDO (who by the way was excellent and reassuring to me) on what I needed to do. 

This past August the cable came out saying I was up for tenure again. This time, I spent a lot of time reflecting on not only my current EER, but my past EER's as well. One suggestion my CDO had was the tenure board looks closely at a section of your EER call "area for improvement". This is an area that your supervisor writes and says where you may have a weakness and what you should improve upon. There are about 7 categories to chose from. In my last EER, my supervisor said I needed to get more confidence in expressing my ideas to those at a higher grade than me. In discussions with my CDO, he said the board really wants to see how you are addressing your previous area for improvement. Before my EER was written, I had spent my time in Suva working on my area for improvement, ie gaining confidence in myself when expressing ideas to those at a higher grade. Due to Suva being a small Post, I have the luxury of having almost daily interactions with the Management Officer, Deputy Chief of Mission and Ambassador. 

When I wrote my EER, I made it a point to mention that I had taken the previous area for improvement to heart and what I was doing to work on it, with concrete examples. Also, at the suggestion of some colleagues, I wrote examples of what I was doing to impact not only Post but "big Washington". All in all, I spent about a month writing and editing my EER. In September, it was sent in to Washington and the wait began.

I was hoping to find out before Christmas if I had gotten tenure or not. One thing I failed to mention is before the cable saying you got tenure comes out, those who did not receive tenure had to be contacted by their CDO advising them they did not get it. That is the email/phone call one does not want to get. Every day I would wake up hoping not to see an email from my current CDO. A few weeks ago, a few of my classmates received the dreaded email. Since we all keep in touch, we were all scrambling to look and see if we got one. Nothing was in my inbox. For the next 3 days I held my breath hoping not to get the email. Nothing came in. A coworker of mine finally told me if I hadn't heard by now, I'm safe. Nothing is safe until I see the cable.

Finally about a week or so ago I got the news. It was via Facebook from a friend of mine. The post said "congratulations on tenure". I grabbed by Blackberry and sure enough there was the cable, saying I was granted tenure! I can't tell you how happy I was to have this lingering cloud gone.

So what happens now. Well I've sent in my information to Washington so they can send me a certificate (signed by the Secretary of State) saying I am a career member of the Foreign Service. When Officers are granted tenure, their tenure certificate is signed by the President. Also by being tenured, I am considered a mid-level officer. If need be, we can extend or curtail our tours without having to jump through as many hoops. We are also subject to time in class/time in service requirements for the current grade you are. Also, I am considered as "competitive service" in the Federal hiring process. 

In closing, it has been a somewhat stressful 3 years while waiting for tenure. I want to thank all of those who have helped me and given me suggestions along the way. I couldn't have done it without you. Also, a big thanks to Deb for having faith in me and keeping my spirits up when they were down. We did it!