The Foreign Service Journal, January 2013

22 JANUARY 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FOREIGN SERVICE TRANSFER REALITIES As with all aspects of a Foreign Service career, it is crucial to take charge of a move. You are your own best advocate. BY METTE BEECROF T FOCUS TRANSFER TIPS B y January, another transfer season is over and there is a bit of a lull before the next onslaught. So it is a good time to take stock of how all of us—travelers and those who support them—could work together to improve the process. My own exposure to the Foreign Service, spanning more than 40 years, has shown me that while things will never be perfect, many aspects of the process have improved. Now there is greater awareness that people‘s morale is deeply affected by being able to travel comfortably and by receiving their possessions in good condi- tion in a reasonable amount of time. Management also understands that if employees and family members get off to a bad start at a new post, they may never adjust to the new environment and the employee will be unlikely to perform at top capacity. Thus, it is to the benefit both of the individual and the Foreign Service as a whole for things to work well the first time. Mette Beecroft has been a Foreign Service family member, volunteer or employee for 42 years, serving in Paris, Bonn, Cairo, Ouagadougou, Brussels, Amman and Washington, D.C. (Her husband, Robert, also spent four years in Sarajevo on unaccompanied tours.) One of two people who opened the State Department Family Liaison Office, she is a member and three-time past president of the Associates of the Foreign Service Worldwide, and is well-known for her deep involve- ment in safeguarding and advocating for Foreign Service-specific quality-of-life issues. She writes here as a private individual; the views and advice presented here are her own.