Could your profile on the Cleared Network use a refresh? How about your job search? In honor of ClearanceJobs’ 10th anniversary this month, we awarded 10 individuals an extreme career makeover – just for refreshing their profile on the Cleared Network. Operation: Extreme Career Makeover awarded 10 job seekers $10,000 in prizes, including an Android tablet, professional resume review, new suit, lots of coffee, and the chance to attend a once-in-a-lifetime networking event.
Four lucky Washington, D.C. area winners joined ClearanceJobs and over 60 human capital professionals to watch a Nationals game in a luxury skybox. It was a networking event few ever get to take advantage of, and gave contest winners the opportunity to get insight and advice from recruiters, in an informal setting. Before the game, however, came notifying the winners. For most, skepticism was the first thing they thought when they were contacted about the contest.
“I honestly thought it was a scam when I first got the email,” said Amy Weinbaum, a cleared project manager. That was a sentiment shared by most of the contest winners, some of whom hadn’t even realized they’d been entered to win just by refreshing their profile on the Cleared Network.
Some are actively considering new positions, many are currently employed but looking to improve their resume, network and professional skills.
Andrew Robb is at the beginning of his career as a cleared professional and appreciated the opportunity to speak with recruiters about how to effectively transition into new opportunities, and expand your skillsets into emerging areas of interest.
“Most of the value-added for me will be the contacts that I gained during the networking event,” said Robb. “Seeing as I am very early in my career and truly seeking a path in the cleared community, any insight gained helps guide my choices going forward. Using Clearancejobs.com gets me more exposure to the best people to help me in my career and provide a young professional a lot of valuable advice.”
Not all of the winners are at the start of their cleared career. Like many in the defense industry, however, they understand the transitional nature of contract work, and the need to stay in-the-know on new opportunities. Martha Bodyfeldt served as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army before working in the private sector in counterterrorism and intelligence analysis. Having recently taken time off to travel, she said she was looking to ClearanceJobs.com to keep her resume current in the industry.
For every contest winner, it was the opportunity for casual, no pressure conversation with recruiters that seemed to be one of the biggest contest perks. Attending an event where celebrating and networking were both on the agenda enabled an information exchange that will pay-off down the road.
“I talked to a number of different recruiters who gave me honest views on what they were looking for in candidates interested in language and analysis positions,” said Stephanie Kim. “I have a much better sense of what to emphasize in my resume, and I feel better knowing that many recruiters will pass around resumes within their networks if they think that the candidate could be eligible for another position somewhere else. Overall, it was an excellent networking event where both recruiters and job seekers were felt more relaxed and casual conversing with one another.”
