Phoebe Wells
Hello and welcome. Thanks for joining us today. I’m Phoebe Wells with ClearanceJobs. Today we’re continuing the four-part series highlighting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
On today’s episode, we hear from CISA’s Veterans Program Manager, Keith Cassant. Keith is an Army veteran, and being able to continue serving the country attracted him to CISA.
Keith Cassant
Being a part of CISA and being able to fulfill the mission of leading the country and trying to reduce our risk in not just critical infrastructure and cybersecurity, but also the physical infrastructures as well. So being a part of that is something near and dear to me as it is for many veterans.
Phoebe Wells
CISA values its veterans. While federal benefits are pretty standard across agencies, 40% of CISA’s workforce are veterans, a number much higher than the average in the general federal workforce.
Keith Cassant
We’re kind of putting our money where our mouth is in that regard and the statistics speak for themselves. This is an absolutely amazing place for veterans to come work.
Phoebe Wells
While a large part of CISA’s work focuses on cybersecurity, open roles span a broad spectrum.
Keith Cassant
Everybody thinks cybersecurity because they hear “Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,” which we are absolutely that. That’s a very large part of what we do and who we are.
But we also have the infrastructure security side. So that physical security element where folks with that sort of background can come to work. And then obviously, CISA, just like any other organization needs H.R. support. So we have H.R. opportunities, finance and pay, budgeting, contracting, all that kind of stuff that would help entice somebody to come work that maybe would otherwise be deterred by the term cybersecurity.
Phoebe Wells
When we initially spoke to Keith, he was working as the Management and Program Analyst for the Outreach and Employee Experience Team. But he has since become the Veterans Program Manager, an opportunity that matches his background and natural skills and abilities to help other former service members continuing serving the county’s mission at CISA.
CISA partners with the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program, which allows service members to spend the last six months of active-duty training at the agency.
Keith Cassant
They would come work at CISA for a particular role, whichever role the hiring manager wants to recruit a SkillBridge candidate for. But they would come and work for six months, learn the skills within that role, and it’s an amazing resume builder. Even if they don’t find employment with CISA at the end of their SkillBridge program, they’ve got that experience that they can put on their resume and a lot of private entities will definitely scoop them up.
Phoebe Wells
And as a federal agency, CISA takes part in Veterans Preference.
Keith Cassant
The main Veterans Preference that all federal positions have is the five point preference for any veteran who has been discharged under honorable conditions, and then ten point preference for any veteran that has a 30% or more VA disability. And that’s applied across the board to any type of position within the federal government, of course, CISA is included in that.
So it helps give them a slight leg up, maybe on some of the other applicants in the competition. In addition to that, CISA is able to leverage what we call special hiring authorities or noncompetitive hiring authorities, in which case, we can open some jobs that you must be 30% VA disabled or in many cases schedule a disability for civilians.
So if you don’t meet that requirement, you can’t apply for that particular role. But in doing that, that gives them a much more competitive edge in applying for a lot of our positions and that just 30% VA disability. We also have what’s called VRA noncompetitive authority that we can also leverage where any, again, any veteran that’s been discharged under honorable conditions would be able to compete for that position.
Phoebe Wells
Along with veterans, CISA focuses recruiting efforts on military spouses – a crucial demographic of candidates.
Keith Cassant
Just like veterans, CISA absolutely values the unique perspective that military spouses can bring to the table. And as far as military spouses wanting to work at CISA, we have some special hiring authorities to hire military spouses specifically that we can leverage. But in addition, just the nature of a lot of the work, a lot of positions within CISA are remote.
And for a military spouse, that can be a very valuable aspect of a role because their spouse serving their country might have to relocate quite a bit. And so, yeah, having that remote capability to follow their spouse during their military career is very, very enticing for military spouses.
Phoebe Wells
When Keith retired from the Army four years ago, he had a plan post-service, but that plan fell through.
Keith Cassant
That’s what gave me such a passion for the veteran community. My transition out four years ago was extremely tumultuous, mostly self-induced as I came to find. But in doing so, you know, I’ve learned a lot about the SkillBridge program and all the other opportunities that are out there for veterans, all the nonprofits and everything, and I do a lot of mentorship in that space for that reason.
Phoebe Wells
In addition to being a SkillBridge partner, CISA offers numerous resources for the veteran community.
Keith Cassant
Google “CISA veterans” and it will bring you to the primary landing page, which will have a lot of information both for spouses as well as service members and veterans. How to apply, things to consider, it’s a very, very thorough website
Phoebe Wells
Once hired, CISA continues to support its veteran population, including the opportunity to join the Employee Resource Group dedicated to the veteran community.
Keith Cassant
There’s a lot of camaraderie along that. Even some ribbing, of course, with branches. But in addition to that, depending on your VA disability when you come out, there’s also a possible opportunity for disabled veteran extra leave in which you’re offered leave that can be used within your first year of employment.
The intent is, just like the military and federal system, you have to earn leave over time and so this is given to you upfront because you may have a certain disability rating, you may have some medical issues, you’re going to have a lot of doctor’s appointments maybe early on, and you wouldn’t have normally have the leave or the sick time saved up to go to those appointments. So this is one of those things that is given right out the gate to assist with that.
Phoebe Wells
When hiring veterans, CISA doesn’t focus on a candidates’s MOS.
Keith Cassant
Personally, I think any veteran makes a good employee. Just the values and the morals that we were instilled with in service and strengthened what we already had. I think all veterans personally are top notch candidates.
But all that to say, we don’t necessarily target one MOS, because the great thing about military transition when you come out is the ability to reinvent yourself. So I’ve seen literally an Army musician in ten months go from playing guitar to being a SOC analyst in the cybersecurity industry. So that ability to transform yourself and the resources that are out there for service members to do that is phenomenal.
Obviously, you know, on the cybersecurity side, yeah, if you’ve done that aspect, those would certainly bode well for a cybersecurity type position. But again, infrastructure security, if you have that type of an MOS, maybe military police or something along those lines or even intelligence. Maybe you’re not so cybersecurity heavy. But if you have an intelligence background, we have roles like that within CISA.
And then again, you know, as I mentioned before, we have all these other roles like human resources and contracting. Those other MOSs related to that in the military could obviously still help you find employment with us as well.
Phoebe Wells
As Keith reflected on his life four years post-Army, he shared just how much CISA has helped him get to where he is today.
Keith Cassant
When I came out, I was going to go law enforcement. As it turned out for me in my V.A. disability journey, they found some stuff that we didn’t previously know about that basically disqualified me from that field. So I had to reinvent myself like so many of us do. So in the end, I decided on H.R. So I completely reinvented myself in the human resources field.
So when I came over to CISA, that ability to not only work in the H.R. field, but also my passion for helping service members was supported. It was encouraged even. I’m actually on my second role within the agency, and I’m pretty sure this agency is my forever home at this point. I don’t want to leave this agency. So all that to say, even in my previous role within CISA, my supervisor was very supportive of my outreach and everything.
And so just the fact that CISA noticed that and actually brought me over to a new team to do more of that for CISA, I think just goes to show that they value their employees. They see their employees and they have this culture and this environment of “Where do your passions lie and how can we help cultivate that?” and let you operate in those roles even more.
So all that to say, being able to come to an agency where you can fulfill your passion is an amazing opportunity.
Phoebe Wells
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