The Foreign Service Journal, September 2003

section. From that experience and others, it appears to me that IRM personnel are not fairly represented on most awards committees (or on post housing boards, for that matter). All award nominations should be given equal weight, no matter what section they come from and irrespective of who is on the awards committee. But I believe the cor- rect approach to resolving this problem would be to require the manager of the IRM section (and every other section at post) to be a member of the awards committee. Let Your Voice Be Heard One characteristic I found in many IRM supervisors overseas, is a lack of desire to attend the administrative staff and country team meetings. The usual reason given is that “meetings are just a waste of time.” No wonder IMS personnel overseas are so frequently overlooked at post — the admin officer doesn’t hear our needs and con- cerns! If you are an IMS working overseas and your supervisor is unwilling to attend these meetings, then by all means, offer to represent your section. Be prepared to provide detailed input, reminding colleagues that, after all, having functional telephone, e-mail and cable systems, and keeping the mail moving are vital to the mission. When it comes to EERs, I don’t know which is worse: being reviewed by an admin officer who knows nothing about what you really do with your time; or by a supervi- sor who does not know how to write an EER. As an IMS, our promotions depend on our evaluations, so it’s often best to write them yourself. A larger post with an InformationManagement Officer overseeing personnel and administrative functions, I have noticed, tends to offer more to the IM specialist as far as recognition is concerned. The IMO position at larger posts is at a higher grade level because the job requires more managerial skill and talent. By contrast, many small- er posts with only two or three IRM personnel would like- ly only have an Information Programs Officer, who not F O C U S S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 51