You make your own luck
I keep finding this out as I look for jobs. I've gone through lots of the standard methods trying to find some cool engineering work that will maybe use my clearances -- hopefully in the Philly or Baltwash commuter corridor -- and for every good lead I get on my own, I get five or six from friends. I run into a college acquaintance (Mark Smith!) in the sub shop today getting lunch, mention I'm almost out, and he hands me his card. One of the lieutenants in my office asks me for advice on his next assignment and I tell him what I know, but also tell him I'm not looking very hard, and he says "That's great - I just got this mailer from these guys, check out their job fair. If you've got a clearance, you're in." I've signed up for the job fair tomorrow, and it looks like any of these places might hire me at a considerable raise.
As soon as I make moves to make myself available, to commit to one path, I get a flood of e-mails from various monster.com sifters and sorters, all promising me great jobs. Some of these e-mails have not been of the highest caliber. For example:
Can we talk I have a couple Roles that I would like to discuss with you internal. I support and represent within the [DELETED] Business Group based in VA. Our forte is high end systems engineering in support of vital National systems. We have about 9,000 people in [DELETED] and are a 2.3 billion dollar unit inside [COMPANY] including [DELETED] employs 150,000 people worldwide. Please give me a call when you can talk if you have time, we would like to share a few roles with you if you do indeed wish to explore opportunities with [COMPANY].[DELETED].
Thanks.
Name Withheld
[DELETED] Business Unit
[COMPANY], Inc.
I honestly thought this was sent out by a SpamBot or by that company's main competitor in the local area. I was appalled at how poorly written it was. Anyhow, today a lady named Marla e-mails me and wants to do a phone interview about placing me in the Ft. Meade area of Maryland. As I finish setting up the interview, Erica calls and says she's got an interview in downtown B'more. Also, I just found out today that because of the way things were scheduled at my old job, my clearances are all still current. So tomorrow I will be a prized candidate.
Addendum: just got an e-mail from another college classmate, mentioning that he's working for a company in the BWI/Laurel area, doing cleared work. Here goes my reply...
As soon as I make moves to make myself available, to commit to one path, I get a flood of e-mails from various monster.com sifters and sorters, all promising me great jobs. Some of these e-mails have not been of the highest caliber. For example:
Can we talk I have a couple Roles that I would like to discuss with you internal. I support and represent within the [DELETED] Business Group based in VA. Our forte is high end systems engineering in support of vital National systems. We have about 9,000 people in [DELETED] and are a 2.3 billion dollar unit inside [COMPANY] including [DELETED] employs 150,000 people worldwide. Please give me a call when you can talk if you have time, we would like to share a few roles with you if you do indeed wish to explore opportunities with [COMPANY].[DELETED].
Thanks.
Name Withheld
[DELETED] Business Unit
[COMPANY], Inc.
I honestly thought this was sent out by a SpamBot or by that company's main competitor in the local area. I was appalled at how poorly written it was. Anyhow, today a lady named Marla e-mails me and wants to do a phone interview about placing me in the Ft. Meade area of Maryland. As I finish setting up the interview, Erica calls and says she's got an interview in downtown B'more. Also, I just found out today that because of the way things were scheduled at my old job, my clearances are all still current. So tomorrow I will be a prized candidate.
Addendum: just got an e-mail from another college classmate, mentioning that he's working for a company in the BWI/Laurel area, doing cleared work. Here goes my reply...