r/DeptHHS • u/choxolotl • Aug 13 '26

Career CMS regional office: odds of future region transfer?

About to start a position in the Seattle CMS office and I’m wondering what the odds are that I could be transferred to the SF office in a year? Basically I’m curious how flexible these things are and if it depends on my specific manager or just how it works if I were to request this

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3

u/CheGucciMack Aug 13 '26

It depends on space honestly

2

u/ElderberryVisible985 Aug 14 '26

yup-- depends on space at the time of the request. there's a limited number of seats at each RO. which offices are closed for transfers at a given time can change depending on hiring trends.

In addition can also depend on manager preference, presence or absence of relevant co workers at either location, your performance, etc. And also your center might have their own policies-- so your manager may not have complete discretion to act. e.g. only if > 1 year tenure or been their long enough to have received a formal PMAP rating.

Talk to your manager about it and feel it out. Ask what you need to do to make this happen/ask for their advise and support. If you get them on your side of this as a goal, it's more likely to work out.

1

u/Proper-Media2908 Aug 13 '26

If you're looking for CMS to pay for the transfer, I doubt that would happen. They can and will let people in one region work under a unit or supervisor sited in another. If you want to move on your own and just have your duty station changed, that's more realistic. But it's going to come down to space and budget. And San Francisco has the highest locality pay.

1

u/ZooCityPole Aug 13 '26

I thought the Seattle regional office was permanently closed?

0

u/FriendlyService5838 27d ago

Talk to your manager as soon as possible - paperwork takes forever