Promotion Bridesmaid

I'm a bridesmaid. You can add that term to other odd Foreign Service terms like the "air kiss" used during the assignment process. Obviously it isn't official terminology. However, many people use it to mean a person selected for promotion but not actually promoted because there aren't enough to go around.

The promotion board ranked me high this year. If they had unlimited promotions then they'd promote everyone on the high-ranked list. They don't, so they have to cut off the list somewhere. I wasn't ranked high enough so I'm just a bridesmaid instead of the bride. They'll put a numbered ranking in my record so I should see how close I was to the cut line.

I was mid-ranked last year during my first promotion review so that's an improvement. Mid-ranked doesn't receive a numbered ranking. I was just one of the lumps in the middle not yet worthy of promotion.

Being a bridesmaid doesn't get me anything. Well, it's supposed to allow me to bid on an assignment as if I was promoted, but I already have my next assignment. It used to give us a Meritorious Step Increase (MSI) which would be a pay raise, but they split that program off to a separate process.

Bridesmaid is an appropriate term because it doesn't mean I'm any more likely to get promoted next year. There will be a different promotion board evaluating a changing group of promotables next year. You could remain always a bridesmaid and never the bride. This might be me down the road: