This job stuff is very basic....for defense contractors.
No H1B’s allowed.
Must have the ability to hit the ground running as there is no time to be trained or to learn a task.
Must be a U.S. citizen or you will not be able to get a security clearance.
Some jobs require a clearance to start. If you don’t have it, don’t apply. Some jobs require the ability to gain and maintain govt clearance. If you have a record of domestic violence, don’t apply.
If you have a bankruptcy don’t apply to a job that requires anything over a secret clearance.
There is a job description....ignore it.
There are Basic Qualifications....this is the key.
There should be 4 or 5.
If you do not have the keywords AND experience described in the BQ’s you will not be called for a screening much less an interview. Do not apply. There is no chance for you to get an interview and explain why you would be a great candidate for the job based on things you did not put in your resume or think you COULD do. Let me show you why.
The recruiter designs a Boolean search telling a computer to see who out of the 100 people that applied to the req meet the BQ’s. This drops the people who are qualified vs the people who applied number in half at a minimum. Around 52% of all job applicants apply to jobs they are not qualified for.
So now assume that there are 48 people qualified to do the job left after this search. How do I find the best athlete? I add another search term into the Boolean string. I add the very first DESIRED SKILL to the search.
So under the BQ’s section you will find another section titled DESIRED SKILLS. This where the cream rises. So I add in that 1st desired skill and now I have 20 people that meet all the BQ’s and the 1st Desired Skill. Now a recruiter begins calling and screening people until he gets to a # that he feels will solve for the job. (For most engineering jobs this adding in of the desired skill is not necessary. Do a search for a plasma propulsion engineer with a TS Clearance and tell me how many you find? It won’t be more that 10)
After the screening of the 20, he now knows that these 10 are the best fit. So he sends them to the hiring manager. The hiring manager says I want to interview these 4. He hires one.
The problem is communicating to the other 99 that they did not get the job and doing that well. On the average the company I work for says “NO” to over 1 million people a year and we hire less that 16,000. On the average we and 90% of all companies do their hiring this way and we like the other 90% are still trying to figure out how to say no to the 99% of all applicants and improve the candidate experience.
I’m employed as an engineer, but I’m actually a technician with a title...I’m not “pedigreed” via a 4 year school. More like 20 years of hard knocks in the military.
I find it funny in a way that many employers think or believe that an Engineering Degree is essential for some jobs.
In fact, my discipline requires more analytical and critical thinking skills than anything 4 years of schools could provide.
The problem I see with many of these job postings is that they tend to dismiss or discount actual work experience and skills developled over time vs. a piece of sheepskin.
A bit of elitism as far as I’m concerned...