Last Friday I took the leap and submitted my bid list to my Career Development Officer (CDO). There were some last minute modifications to the official list - Baghdad was added and Port-Au-Prince made a reappearance after being dropped off. I had to bid on 15 of the 27 offered and had to rank them as High, Medium, or Low. Here is my final list (city, country, and office):
High
1. Baghdad, Iraq RSO
2. Tegucigalpa, Honduras RSO
3. Algiers, Algieria RSO
Medium
4. Accra, Ghanna RSO
Low
5. Port-Au-Prince, Haiti POL
6. Jakarta, Indonesia ROVER
7. Lima, Peru ECON
8. Lima, Peru RSO
9. Managua, Nicaragua RSO
10. Kuwait, Kuwait ECON
11. Brussels, Belgium ECON
12. Mexico City, Mexico POL
13. Guatemala, Guatemala RSO
14. Quito, Ecuador RSO
15. Beijing, China RSO
Offices
RSO = Regional Security Office
POL = Political Affairs Office
ROVER = Roving position between several offices
ECON = Economic Affairs Office
There are days when I get pretty attached to my list, especially the top 3, and can't imagine going anywhere else but for the most I don't feel as though I have much invested in it. Because I don't. The decision will be made solely based on my departure date from Istanbul and the brief narratives I submitted with my top choices, without any feedback regarding my job performance or input from my supervisors or peers. So now I wait. Hopefully I will hear back from my CDO in mid-April.
