PPP

Latest jobs list out today, good to see that once again the APC took absolutely no notice whatsoever of my PPP (Posting Preference Proforma) and decided to post me into a job which I am not qualified for, not interested in and is not in the area of my choice!! I Know, before anyone says it, "needs of the Army must come first". Has anyone ever been posted to one of their PPP top 3 choices?

 

Mate, unfortunately, when I was in - I did, both times!!

It depends on what you ask for (I hasten to add that I am not asking you to break OPSEC or PERSEC here). If you ask to be SO3 Really Crunchy job in a really popular place like London - forget it unless you know that the 2nd RO has said that you should be a Bde COS as future employment.

However, if you ask for SO3 Tea and Biscuits in some really cushy like Cyprus you can also forget it.

If you volunteer for SO3 reasonable job in somewhere like Germany and means you will definitely deploy - more often than not they will say that a volunteer is 1000 time better than a pressed man for ops.

There is another option and that is selct places that you can be "the rose in a bed of sh!t" as a friend once put it - so he got a job in UKSC(G)!!!

 

My last 3 posts have been

1. A suggestion by MCM that suited me fine
2. My first choice
3. My perfect posting a tour earlier than expected (with a large slice of luck admittedly)

...so there is a sh1t sandwich lurking possibly

 

In those distant days I did very well in getting posting of choice ...

As Mysteron so nicely expressed it, you volunteer for something reasonable. My offer to be CAS was [wisely] rejected, but otherwise a carefuly analysis of how "they" would see your choices seemed to work for me. I got the area [more exactly, co-location with serving spouse] and generally jobs that fitted my profile.

I was, however, once told I was going to a quite unsuitable post along the lines of GrumpyGit's "bad deal". The conversation with my desk officer [as one senior officer to another] was "robust" to say the least, including the guarantee that I would PVR, fail any relevant courses and generally create more trouble than his ill-judged choice would justify. I did not go to that job.

Sadly, with MUCH smaller forces than we used to have, it must get difficult moving the various pegs around the board.

 

Yeah - blackmail your MCM Div desk officer with your PVR - that always works. Or not.... we have had several guys recently throw their toys out of the pram and despite shortages of people, they were not given jobs they wanted. In fact told "go on then sign off - we don't mind".

 

I hate to say it but feel I must; there's a hard way and a clever way of doing most things and PPPs are one of them. If you're clever about how you go about preparing your desk officer for the board, you're almost guaranteed one of your top 3. I don't mean by bribing him (although that may not hurt), I mean by giving him a call and discussing the reailities of the situation before submitting a PPP that helps him and the board to place you appropriately (ie you should have a feel for what the 'top jobs' are (ie the most competed for) and your desk officer should show you the 'star chart' from a recent board and which star you are in order to give you a feel for how you relate to the competition). For example, there is absolutely no point in listing the top 3 jobs on the list if you are not in the top percentile. Much better to try and spot where you approximately sit in the batting order and then select jobs you like that fall in around that (ie, one a little high (you never know, it might not be as popular a choice as you think), one more realistic and one a little bit lower down as a safety). Otherwise, you give the board nowhere to go when you get gazumped by others who score higher and with no realistic options listed, you'll just become a a spare officer who needs placing (ie you may as well have no bothered writing a PP in the first place). Remember that you should write the PPP for your desk officer's benefit, not yours. Make it easy for him to give you your choice.

 

Well said from the MCM desk officer above!!

Joking aside - it is true.

 

OK, this was .... aaargh, over 15 years ago.
In my defence, I actually ran the Branch personnel shop, so I knew who was where and available for what.
The "offer" was, IMHO, a pop at the fact that I'd collocation with serving spouse for a long time. As it happened, I was utterly unqualified for the "magnificent offer" anyway, as I pointed out quite forcefully to the [subsequently] Air Marshal. I'd known him for years!!
To66er ... how did you get so far up the pipe?

 

Blue - understood - and that makes more sense. I sometimes wish I had more sight of the great minds of MCM...unfortunately it always strikes me as a little bit of hit and miss, coupled with needs of the service at the precise second you speak to them and very little flexibility. Oh and just a smidgen of bitterness on my part!!

 

Indeed, some of the decisions [and policies] are mind-blowing. I had a good friend who worked in the Air Secretary's empire, who subsequently told me a little snippet.

I had made 1st reserve on the Promotion Board. A vacancy arose, and as 1st reserve I should have got acting rank and the job. But ... acting rank required you to fit the Job Description, which I didn't in any respect at all!! So another guy, further down the reserve list, got acting rank and the job.

Two years later [ ] I got substantive promotion. I was then posted to the job for which I was utterly unqualified [but it's now OK, because I'm substantive] and replaced the guy who had remained in acting rank throughout his tour, and was now on the same substantive promotion list with the same seniority as me.

Two years higher rank pay and seniority down the tubes ....