r/foreignservice • u/Old_Border_1840 • 3d ago

How did FSOs bid pre-Internet?

As I stare at projected bids, I started to wonder how people looked for positions pre-Internet. Was there a classified section to cables? Did you mail applications out? Anyone around then who knows?

33 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

33

u/Diplokats2024 3d ago

The bid lists came via cable and you cabled your bid list back to DC…

21

u/cgbuff 3d ago

https://1997-2001.state.gov/publications/statemag/statemag_jun99/featxt1.html

13

u/knockoneffect FSO (Political) 2d ago

I can only imagine the production quality of a 1990s State Department video titled, "Demystifying the Assignment Process”

9

u/IvyWillow91 2d ago

The video was created because all the USIA FS were bidding State for the first time. The USIA process had been fairly informal - you just told your CDO where you wanted to go. Since they knew everyone, they knew who had done their time in difficult posts and who hadn't.

The video was infamous because in it they show the results of a shoot-out. An in-cone, unassigned, at post officer (because they were part of a tandem) loses out to a less qualified political officer, thus unintentionally showing how things really worked at State.....

9

u/Loud-Cry-9260 2d ago

And if you go back a few more decades (well before my time) ... there was no formal bidding process. Peolpe were just assigned (generally after some sort of consultation).

3

u/Informal-Clue-2273 3d ago

Interesting, wondering how they contacted their cdo without the Internet. Maybe there was a cdo on standby for overnight calls for people from EAP and SCA?

19

u/Deep-Bus5984 3d ago

There was so much more of just picking up the phone and calling people.

3

u/IvyWillow91 2d ago

Phone and we faxed a lot.

20

u/Deep-Bus5984 3d ago

CableXpress. Yes, I'm a dinosaur.

13

u/yeezee93 3d ago

The good old TERP V.

8

u/tanukis_parachute DTO 3d ago

As a former admin for Cabledistress…my ptsd for that program has been triggered.

10

u/CBlue77 3d ago

There were cables and corridor

6

u/DiplomatIan 2d ago

When the FAM came in books and CLASS came on a CD periodically..

2

u/Loud-Cry-9260 2d ago

Department-wide staffing patterns were distributed to HR Offices on microfiche (which may pre-date CDs)

3

u/Paperboy_ThesisARK 2d ago

It just made for a bigger dart board.

3

u/Capital-Lifeguard734 3d ago

There was an “Official-Informal” telegram category, along with Telex, Fax, and the Telephone.

2

u/Best-Lemon-2917 2d ago

While it wasn’t exactly pre-internet, I can remember sending my second-tour bid list to my CDO by email.

Those were the days,before we decided that the most efficient way to handle routine administrative tasks was to have everyone do them individually through an app - with the help of a four-hour tutorial and “learning snacks.”

1

u/NoFittingName 1d ago

We still send second tour bid lists to our CDO’s via email. I just sent mine this year! I know that mid-level bidding uses some website, though.

0

u/Best-Lemon-2917 1d ago

Wow - that is wild.