The Construction Engineer vacancy is
open again and will close on December 4 - jump on it!
Applying might finally help you find the work-anxiety-life-anxiety balance you've been striving for.
(This post written while listening to The Clash Career Opportunities.)
I applied during the last round - any idea when they will start inviting people to DC for interviews? My status still shows "Eligible – Referred to Next Step in Selection Process". My current plan is to apply again if I don't hear back by Dec. 1...
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you applied! I'm afraid I'm not an authority on hiring, which is managed by a human resources department. You can contact the phone number and email in the vacancy announcement: 202-203-5160 and CONVacancyInfo@state.gov. You can also check/post questions on the state.gov forums: http://careers.state.gov/engage/forums/careers-state-gov. Sometimes administrators post information about the vacancy status. I don't see anything on there right now though.
ReplyDeleteIt took about 3 months from the date the vacancy closed in Dec 2011 to get an email saying I would be scheduled for an interview. I received the email out of the blue; the USAJobs status hadn't changed.
The vacancy announcement states, "You may only apply once per 365 day period regardless of the outcome of your application." I'm not sure if re-entering your application would cause a problem - hopefully the HR people will give you a better idea of where things are at. I think it's just a slow process with minimal feedback in the early stages - I know it's frustrating, please hang in there.
I hope this helps. Good luck!
Hi Mark, I applied to this position and i'm looking forward to see if i make the short list. Could you share more information on the hiring process with the Foreing Service; things like, if the FSOT exam will be required? or if the application selection goes from a phone interview to face interview in DC. Any other hiring experience tips that you can share would be appreciated. Also, the announcement showed that "many vacancies" were available and i was wondering if that demand for construction engineers is because of an uptick on embassy construction or due staff fleeing the agency? Thanks for the info that you can provide and look forward to hopefully become co-workers.
ReplyDeleteHi Mario! Congrats on giving it a shot, I know completing the application alone took a long time! On the hiring process and tips, I'd recommend reading Chris Grawburg's blog posts from back in October 2008, which was basically the same as my experience. I added some of my own notes back in around June 2012 on my blog.
ReplyDeleteNo, the FSOT isn't needed for specialists - we take a simplified version during our Oral Assessment. No phone interview, it goes straight from written application to face-to-face in DC (Oral Assessment).
OBO hasn't had a full compliment of construction engineers for a while - no particular uptick or fleeing, it's just been that way since I joined. We're approaching our maximum number of construction engineers though.
Hope it works out!