The Foreign Service Journal, May 2006

I suspect CDP requirements mean the end of an era where an employee can roll into work, put in eight (or 10) hours, and roll back home. Doing the job — even doing it very well — is no longer enough if an OMS wants to be promoted to our most senior ranks. The CDP calls for us to proactively manage our own careers, to set tangible goals for self-improvement, and to work to achieve those goals. No resting on our laurels! Some might describe this as a “parallel job.” We’ll not only work to support our supervisors, but now we must work to strategize and achieve our own professional development. A middle-aged part of me groaned at the size of the task, but another almost-forgotten part of me ignited at the thought of challenging myself and obtain- ing more training. Since the January arrival of the CDP, OMSs at Embassy Pretoria have successfully argued for post fund- ing of local training courses that led to numerous Microsoft certifications in Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook — mandatory requirements. We also success- fully argued for including FSI courses into home leave and transfer travel plans. Some officers groused (“Is this really necessary?”) and some were exceptionally support- ive — isn’t that human nature? It would be naïve to expect anything different. The nature of an OMS’s job is to pay attention to someone else: to meet the needs of our supervisors, help them reach their professional goals (daily or long-term), and to organize them in ways that ensure their success. The CDP provides us with the motivation to pay attention to ourselves . We now must strategize about how we’ll meet our own professional goals, how we’ll get the training we need, how we’ll expand our roles in missions to fulfill leadership requirements, and meet all the other CDP requirements. I’ve noticed another positive side effect of the CDP: previously mild-mannered colleagues have found real backbone. They are firm, but insistent, in seeking pro- fessional development, which is a win-win scenario: OMSs meeting CDP goals make themselves more attrac- tive to a promotion panel, and the department nets OMSs who are better trained than ever before. Initially, I wasn’t sure if the CDP represented a glass that was half-empty or half-full. Now I’m sure. Linda Ingalls Office Management Specialist Pretoria Realistic Expectations “Do you believe the career path is viable?” While it is my intention to strive to make the Senior Foreign Service, I would probably have to answer no to this question. When I was in the Navy, they developed a program whereby a seaman could actually go up through the ranks to admiral. They laid out what you needed to know and do every step of the way. The criteria for making the next pay grade were explained and easily understood. The State Department’s approach is to tell me what I need to know or accomplish to make it into the Senior Foreign Service. But with over 1,000 Information Management Specialists and only about 15 IMS SFS posi- tions, I’d rather they tell me what I need to know and do to make FS-3, FS-2 and FS-1. It should be spelled out what an individual should know, what they should be able to do, and where they should have served to rise to the next pay grade. As for the requirements for professional, technical and language proficiency, it’s been my experience that most IMSers are lucky if they get any language training at all. And I’m not sure how easy it is going to be to get a posi- tion at one of the schools mentioned in the IMS Career Development Program. I still do not understand why the department is enamored enough with the Certified Information Systems Security Professional certification to include it in the CDP, but not the Microsoft Certified Security Engineer certification. Could it be that more of the senior IMSers back in D.C. have that certification than the MCSE? CISSP is a nice certification but it is very specialized, whereas the MCSE covers what we in the field do on a daily basis. I realize that as IMSers move up to FS-2 and above, they become managers. But if you don’t stay current with the technology, you’re not going to be a very good manag- er, and the department will suffer. Dennis D. Graves Information Management Specialist Vientiane u The Importance of Training As a GSO specialist I feel that I am inherently disad- vantaged by the CDP. GSO specialists are in a somewhat unique situation because we compete for positions against generalists, specialists and, in D.C., Civil Service employ- F O C U S 28 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 6