To Promote...or Not to Promote

If you've ever known anyone in State service (no rude comments from the Peanut Gallery please), one of the first things you learn is that to promote, you are always taking tests, interviewing, doing 'self-appraisals' and being placed in a Rank on a list. The State goes by the rule of 3...First 3 ranks are reachable, i.e. can be offered a job, promoted, etc. Any rank below the top 3 has to wait until a rank clears.

I find myself in a curious position. I took a Statewide test for Senior ISA. I'm now Rank 2. I'm getting job notices from other agencies, etc. I just took a position as a Staff ISA with the Network Management Bureau in April, which I love, and I'm learning a lot. Now my Agency has decided to do their own Staff/Senior ISA test, and once a list is determined from it, it will render the statewide test null within my Agency. This means I have to go outside my Agency to be picked up off the Statewide list....unless I take the Agency test also and Rank within the top 3. Makes you feel like all of your studying and test taking was for naught.

So my options are...talk to my boss about getting picked up off the Statewide list after passing probation; taking a position with another agency; or testing within the Agency to get placed on the new list. Hmmmm. Well, unless the other agency is in Lake Tahoe, I guess I'll be doing option 1 and 3.

I feel a little funny about talking to the new boss. He's a fantastic guy and a great boss. I'm just new to the unit, and I feel like I'm saying "Hey, thanks for taking a chance on me with the new job, now I want more". However, if I don't do that, who else is going to fight for me? That's one lesson I learned from my old unit. I need to put my best foot forward, work hard and fight for my opportunities...or someone who's fighting harder, and making more noise, will get it. Don't get me wrong...I have no one to blame but myself when it comes to not speaking up, but I started changing that a little more than 2 to 2 ½ years ago. I started standing up in my personal life, and then my work life...and I'm not going back.

So, I'll talk to the new boss (sounds like a Who song) and see what happens. Wish me luck.