Recruiting for cleared personnel within the defense industry has a reputation for being one of the toughest sourcing and staffing niche markets in the talent acquisition world, with cutthroat sleuths or ‘open source intelligence analysts.’ While most of these individuals that are a part of the national security apparatus are working in the Washington, D.C., metro area for three letter agencies or defense contractors, there are opportunities for becoming a defense recruiter across the country, and even overseas.
While this work can be hard on the soul at times, it also can be very rewarding and well worth the challenge. Throughout my recruiting career, I have supported three different defense contractors, and one staffing agency. On the flip side, I have supported two different companies in the commercial tech space.
Although for both sectors I was recruiting for Program Managers, Software Developers, and DevOps engineers, the process and people were very, very different. If you are looking to enter the IC from a staffing perspective, there are a few differences you should be aware of.
THE OBVIOUS
A lot of jobs in national security require a security clearance, an issuance that allows a person to view classified information. This creates an inherent hurdle in defense recruiting, because there are not enough cleared personnel to fill the amount of open defense billets. These atypical challenges in recruiting cleared professionals – a small, finite talent pool – is what makes this industry so cutthroat. Additionally, some cleared professionals don’t publicize their clearance online (seriously abiding by OPSEC guidelines), making it more problematic to find the best candidates.
Commercial is easy for this – most developers have a GitHub or are on the usual social media sites, networking, sharing articles, and showcasing their skills / past work. While they may be happy in their current position, you at least have a resume to throw into your Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
THE INTERVIEW PROCESS
The additional layer of security clearances starts with bringing your Facility Security Officer (FSO) into the mix. You need to identify candidates that hold the correct level of clearance and from that pool, conduct the initial phone screen to gather a Social Security Number. Following that, you may have a team lead or account manager look over the resume and confirm they are within your salary range. After government or contract officer (COR) approval, an offer is usually sent out and upon return, the process starts to take over the candidate’s clearance. This process, especially in a saturated location like D.C. can actually move pretty quickly.
THE TIMING
Recruiters entering this space should keep in mind that a cleared environment is truly unique. What works on the private side may not work in defense placement. Highly qualified candidates with a TS/SCI probable aren’t sitting around waiting for a staffer to offer them a position. They are most likely weighing a few different offers, even though I’m sure you needed that position filled yesterday. This can sometimes make the time to hire for certain roles crazy long.
While hiring may be slow, hiring in the commercial space is even slower. Because most people in the private companies I supported would all be in the same office building, they would sometimes have candidates come onsite, two, maybe even three times to make sure they were the best fit personality wise, and made sure they were able to meet with every individual team member.
The government absolutely doesn’t do this.
SALARY NEGOTIATION
Salaries for contracts are typically non-negotiable – along with government positions based on the GS scale. Salaries are put together when companies submit pricing proposals in response to government Requests for Proposals (RFP), so a recruiter usually doesn’t have much wiggle room. Recruiters are merely just messengers.
EMPLOYEE WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
This one is cut and dry. While a recruiter is the first face a candidate meets (or speaks with) you may never see that person again after their first day in the DoD at your company – especially if you’re recruiting for deployable roles. While I kept up communication, there are candidates I actually never met in person while supporting defense contractors!
Private is very different…candidates that made a judgement on our company based on our initial conversation said ‘good morning’ every day while staff got their morning cup of coffee.
HOW TO BE SUcCESSFUL as a defense recruiter
A key attribute for a successful security cleared recruiter is the ability to build trust and make meaningful connections. In such a passive market, networking and pipelining are a way of recruiting life in defense. This can potentially take a little longer and is an obstacle for many recruiters who have immediate hiring needs. The best defense recruiters take the time to be caring and nurture a large base of candidates, maintaining relationships with their connections or other ‘friend’ recruiters, because there will be a day when you need to reach out for future opportunities or needs.
