Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Still Overwhelmed

A lot has happened since the last DiploLife post, which is why it has taken a while for me to post again:

We counted the days until A-100 started
We attended a 138th A-100 Class Welcome party
Alan started A-100
We signed up for new health care, life insurance, and a flexible spending account
I attended a two day spouse/partner training at FSI
Sicily started daycare at FSI
We changed our commute time and route to travel as a family
We received the bid list
We researched posts
We met with a Career Development Officer to discuss our post preferences
We bid high, medium and low on each of the 68 posts available
Alan attended his A-100 retreat in West Virginia

Whew!

And now we are spending much of our time trying to guess where and when we will be going.

4 comments:

Mom said...

What does it mean to bid high, medium, and low on the bid list?

I found your blog through research because my husband just registered to take the FSOT at the end of January/beginning of February. I've already read the first two months of your posts. I'm hoping it will bring me a great deal of insight...

Natalie Buda Smith said...

Hi Mom!

Please keep on posting your questions, and I will do my best to answer since it helps others who may have the same.

In A-100, you receive a list of possible places that they may send you, for your first post. They usually give the list at the beginning of training, so that you have time to research the places and prioritize them.

When you prioritize your preferences, you rank them: High, Medium and Low to show which one you prefer most to least. There are usually a few more places than people in the class to give the Career Development Officers (CDOs) some flexibility.

There are no set definitions for what makes a High, Medium and Low – you and/or your family decide what you need in order to assign a post to one of those categories.

For us, a “High” meant a good place for Alan’s career, Sicily as a toddler and our large dog, Coco. I was less concerned about my employment, since I have been able to work at a distance.

Hope that answers your question!

Natalie

Mom said...

Thank you, Natalie. One big big question I have - that I can't seem to locate the answer to...

At what point would my husband be considered "employed" and start receiving pay? Does this start at the beginning of the A-100 class or after?

It sounds like a silly question to me, but we are both wondering.

Natalie Buda Smith said...

A good question. Your pay plus benefits start at the beginning of A-100 (you may sign up for some of the benefits during A-100).

Send more questions my way!