Kathleen Smith  01:00

Hello podcast community. This is Kathleen Smith at ClearedJobs.Net with another episode of Security Cleared Jobs: Who's Hiring & How. I'm by myself here in the studio today, and we're not really quite sure what's going to come out of my mouth. Well, let's get this ball rolling with today's guest Mel Gilpin, Talent Acquisition Specialist with Avian. Mel, welcome to the studio.

Melissa Gilpin  01:25

Thank you. Nice to be here.

Kathleen Smith  01:26

So Mel, you have a degree in theater, and now you're a recruiter. What does that path look like?

Melissa Gilpin  01:34

I don't know that it's really a clear cut path. Theater was a passion that I had, and I really loved it, so I went to school. And truthfully, my theater degree is technical. So it's in stage management. My goal was never to be a star in New York. I wanted to do paperwork. So most people you know with a theater degree, what do they do when they graduate college? They start waitressing. So that's how my career started. I would talk to people. I would get to know them. I got to know my regulars. And somebody mentioned one day that her company, the young lady who was running the front desk, was getting ready to go out on maternity leave. They were going to need somebody during the day. And I was like, I'll do it. And I worked there for about six months before she came back. And I was promoted to an estimator and did that for about six, seven years. Then I took a risk joining a startup that did not end up actually really starting up. So I did the most irresponsible thing and just posted on Facebook, "Hey, who's hiring?" And that's not a tip I would suggest to most folks. But a friend of mine said, "My family business needs somebody to schedule chimney sweeps." And with my musical theater background I was like, oh, chimney sweeps like Mary Poppins. Yes, please! They'll be singing and dancing all over the office-- not actually the case. But the dirt is very accurate. I loved that position, but after about six years or so I had gotten promoted, but when you're the only member of the leadership team in a family-owned business, that is not family, it can lead to a toxic environment, because nobody fights quite like family. We speak to our family differently. So I started a new hunt. And this time, my search was all about culture. I really wanted to enjoy the people and was looking for that kind of positive culture. My sister was working at Avian, because she was the good daughter that went into DOD just like her parents. And she would talk all about the potlucks and the parties and hanging out with her co-workers on the weekend. And as that was not my experience, career-wise thus far, I started applying at Avian. And 17 applications later -- and this is a whole story unto itself -- but I got the call from Avian and joined their team. And I'm about to hit my ninth year with the company, so I'm very happy.

Kathleen Smith  03:39

That's wonderful, especially when you talk about culture, because that's definitely one thing I don't think people think about when they think about the DOD community. And it is a very different culture than what a lot of people assume. But we'll get to that. Another question. So, Avian has about 320 employees and the company was founded by two test pilots in 2005. You're based in Southern Maryland. What type of work does Avian do in the cleared community?

Melissa Gilpin  04:06

Our founders are definitely problem solvers and have always been visionaries and really good at identifying solutions over problems. So when Avian first started, there was a lot of, "just tell us what you need." And they found a lot of success by just kind of tackling the issues that their customers in the area did not want to do. Now our main customer here in Lexington Park is now NAVAIR. And our primary focus is supporting engineering efforts, program management, communications. We have a really, really fantastic communications team. We've got a really robust and growing model based systems engineering group, as well as logistics, and a lot of training, as well in multimedia.

Kathleen Smith  04:51

Well, that dovetails beautifully into our next question. What security cleared positions or skill sets are you typically hiring for?

Melissa Gilpin  04:57

It's always changing, but some of the ones that I'm consistently searching for are communications professionals, engineers, people who have supported NAVAIR programs in the past, or are familiar with naval aviation. We have logistics. And like I said, we're really growing and concentrating a lot on our model based systems engineering contracts at the moment as well. So I would say, if you are somebody who is kind of curious about what else we might have, I would always encourage them to just reach out to me because I can help them kind of navigate all the different types of work that we do. So just to clarify, are all the positions located in the Pax River area? Or are there positions other places? At Avian, we have our main headquarters in Lexington Park. But we also have an office in Panama City Beach. We have employees actually located all around the country, San Diego as well. We have contracts in New Mexico. We also have a subsidiary organization called Level Up that is located out in Reston. And we have a lot of remote employees as well supporting contracts. We have contracts all around the country.

Kathleen Smith  06:10

Awesome. So talking about Pax River being in Southern Maryland, and being where your headquarters are, it's a little removed from the Northern Virginia, DC metro area. Is there a challenge recruiting people for your headquarters location? And how do you overcome that?

Melissa Gilpin  06:27

So I think that there are challenges, yes, but I also think there is some real nice benefits about where we are located. Because there is such a high concentration of cleared employees in the Northern Virginia, DC area - that's a lot of competition. In Southern Maryland, it's a different lifestyle down here. It's a more rural community, it's on the water, it's a little bit kind of tucked back. We don't have the same traffic and commuting headaches that people have. And I grew up in Northern Virginia, so I say that with all the love in the world. It's a horse of a different color, I guess is the expression I will pull from the Wizard of Oz. So what we're able to do is kind of lean in on the folks that are looking to transition out of very expensive and congested DC, Northern Virginia. If they're looking for something quieter, smaller classroom sizes for their children and things like that, then Southern Maryland is a great opportunity. When people come down here, they stay down here in a lot of cases. So it's just a really nice area to live. So going back to the positions that you're hiring for, I heard that there are some specific key skill sets that you're hiring for. What are some things that are your ongoing hiring needs? We are always looking for candidates that are looking to help us grow. So if there are potential opportunities on the horizon for us with other contracts, maybe out in Huntsville or something, sometimes we can connect with candidates that might have ideas on helping us break into those markets, and helping us create some organic growth as well as they will reach out to other Avian employees that they might know that can help facilitate some opportunities. Like I said, we're problem solvers. So we've always kind of got an ear out to listen to, what is the pain for our customers? But also what is hurting somebody that maybe isn't our customer right now? And do we have the ability to make that easier? So it's a lot of research.

Kathleen Smith  08:29

It sounds great. I love being part of problem-solving organizations. It's fun, especially when you have the breadth to be able to do that. So many of your positions require secret or top secret clearances. But I heard you also mentioned earlier that you have remote or hybrid options. Can you tell us a little bit more about those options for your candidates?

Melissa Gilpin  08:50

Sure. And additionally, we hire for cleared roles -- obviously, we're talking on ClearedJobs.Net. And those are important, but we also hire for our corporate positions. So if there's somebody that maybe hasn't been able to obtain a clearance or hasn't had an opportunity, sometimes we can hire them in  a corporate position and kind of help them get up to speed so that they're more prepared to then apply for positions that might not require a clearance in hand or will allow us to grant a clearance to somebody. So we definitely think creatively a lot of times. With remote opportunities, a lot of times what we can build with customers is, if we have a specific candidate that has the need, we can work with our customer to say, "Hey, are you able to support somebody who's full time teleworking?" And some will allow it, some not. The higher the clearances, the harder it gets to telework, for obvious reasons. So it depends a lot of times. I work with my candidates to find out what the work environment is that they want to be in so that I can match them appropriately. Some people love working remote, some people hate it. It's kind of back and forth. Ultimately, in a lot of ways, unless it's a corporate position, it's kind of at the mercy of our customer. Down here in Lexington Park, most of our positions are in a hybrid environment, which means two days in and usually three days teleworking.

Kathleen Smith  10:08

I frequently say, it's a silver lining of the pandemic that we found out that we can support the mission working remotely. So in our pre-call, I understand you talked about jump balls. I'm assuming that's referring to the sports analogy in basketball. Tell us a little bit more about how you see that playing in the government contracting world.

Melissa Gilpin  10:33

Truthfully, I've never played basketball, but I'm assuming it's the part where they throw it up at the beginning, and somebody has to tap it in the right direction for their team. So a jump ball is a position that -- maybe our contract that we're the sub on, and the prime is responsible for filling the position. Well, if the prime can't find a candidate, they don't want their ratings and or their customer to be struggling. So they'll go to their subs and say, "Hey, do you have somebody? If you have somebody, we can give you the billet. We just want the customer to be happy, and the positions to be filled." And vice versa. Sometimes if we're the prime, we'll go out to our subs and say, "Hey, we're struggling to find a candidate for this." So a lot of times the government is our biggest customer and also, one of our biggest reasons I can't fill positions. I want to say they're a competitor, but I fight people pulling into government roles as well. So it gives us an opportunity as contractors to work together to support the customer rather than us always being in a situation where we're trying to work competitively against each other.

Kathleen Smith  11:37

I think that's a great explanation of that. So you're a graduate of the Avian leadership development program. That's a nice sort of viewpoint or window into your company culture. And we talked about company culture a little bit, but give us a little bit of an overview of the development program.

Melissa Gilpin  11:55

Sure. So back a little bit, when I applied at Avian, I applied 17 times. Truthfully, I didn't have a lot of relevant experience specific to DOD. And so when I did finally get a call to come in for an interview, I was very upset because I had to say, "I'm so sorry, I can't come in right now. I'm at the hospital giving birth." So I made it through about three questions, which I still think was an achievement in itself, while in active labor, but I thought, oh my gosh, I've just blown it. I'm never going to hear from this company again. I've already told them I need six to eight weeks off. But I got home from the hospital and on my front porch was a package from Avian. And it had an offer letter and a onesie for the baby that had an Avian logo on it and a box of chocolates. And I was like, oh, I'm sold. I am never leaving this company. Yeah, it is unreal. And those magical moments have not slowed down in my nine years with the company. My initial position, I was supporting a direct customer. I was working on base, doing graphic design and student support for the College of Program Management, which is a college within the Navy. Around five, six years supporting my customer, I was kind of ready for something different, ready for a new challenge. And Avian announced that they were going to be doing a leadership development program and it was a yearlong program. It would culminate with a cohort project that would have an actual effect on the company. It wasn't going to be just in theory, we were going to be doing something. And so I thought, I really want to know how everything works at Avian and how contracts work and what is all the behind the scenes stuff that contributes to that. So the program is a yearlong and ours was the first year. It's now getting ready to kick off its fourth cohort, which I will be the administrator for. Throughout the course of the year, once a month we meet with every C-level executive within the company. And they provide a specialized training for us about not only Avian and their specific roles, but DOD from a higher level too. And it's all about building our leadership skills, building our understanding of all the different players and who's who in the zoo. And at the end of our project, we got to present it to the board of directors at Avian. We graduated from the program and it was within a few months that the company reached out to me for an opportunity to sit in the seat that I am now as a recruiter. I am not a recruiter by trade. But I've said forever that Avian is the only company I would ever recruit for because I want everybody to have the experience that I had with Avian -- that package on the door, those magical moments. My mom had surgery, they sent her a care package. My son cut off a finger, which is an amazing story for another day. But they sent him a package. When it came time to pursue a leadership opportunity, having something that obviously I had talked so much about how great Avian was. And so they said, well, if we're looking for a cheerleader, that's the person. And it didn't matter that my experience wasn't necessarily relevant. By working with me through that leadership program, they got to know me as a whole person. Although truthfully, my managers have always been really wonderful at doing that. And they could then kind of find a unique opportunity when something came up. And now we've just had so many people that have also had that growth come from the program as well. And while it doesn't promise growth, it's really just meant to help you in your personal goals. It really does change the way you think about your job at Avian. It really helps it build into a career. It really gives you every tool that you might need in your toolbox. That's awesome. And I guess what I like about that is, it's hard sometimes when you're on the frontlines, as you are being a talent acquisition specialist, to sort of see how your part fits within the overall picture of the company or the customers you're trying to support, or in even supporting the mission and national security. So it sounds like you got the download on, these are all the key components and where you fit within that process. Wonderful. So since our audience is made up of security cleared job seekers, and you're obviously on the other side of that conversation when someone's looking for a job, what piece of advice would you like to offer to our audience on their job search? So there are several things that I always try to help people with, especially anybody that might be new in DOD. But additionally, those that might be transitioning out of a government career or a military career. A lot of times they don't know where to start. While the government and the military have their own programs, our founders have built a reputation about connecting with individuals one-on-one. Anybody can request sitting down to have coffee with our founder or President Kevin. You can request that kind of career advisement. We call them coffee with Kevin. Or maybe you want a coffee with Kelly, or there are so many people that you can connect with that will provide you guidance about their experience and what it was like to come into Avian. And we try to work really hard to connect people with somebody with a similar background, so that you kind of are building that mentorship before they even come on. We always want to help people find the right roles. So I always suggest that when people are engaging with their recruiter or their talent acquisition specialists, they're going to want to be honest and transparent about their needs, their requirements. It may feel really tempting to be like, "Yeah, of course, I'd be willing to do that" and throw that wide net out there and see what comes in. But ultimately, you want to make sure that your recruiter knows exactly, "Hey, these are my lines in the sand. I will not accept these types of position." I'm a firm believer in not showing the bride a dress outside of her budget. I don't want to get somebody's hopes up about an exciting role that is not going to fit their financial requirement. So be as transparent as you can with your recruiter and don't think that you can't reach out to them. Submit your application online, but also go on to that company's website and, you know, Avian's, it's pretty easy to find who is this specific recruiter or talent acquisition person. How many do they have? Reach out to them, maybe somebody in Human Resources at Avian. We have an employee here -- and again, this speaks to our culture. Their title is, the VP of Employee Experience. And it's all about helping the employee from the day that they are considering to becoming an employee, till they retire, they depart with the company. Making sure that every aspect is catered to supporting that person. So that starts from their very first day of interest, where they can call, they can email me, they can ask me questions about knowing the laws for the state that you live in. And pay transparency is important too. You can ask your recruiters what the pay rates are for roles and things like that. So don't think that you have to be tricky, or you can't be honest. Your recruiter is not ultimately the hiring authority. So they're going to be the ones that take your honesty and they'll be able to help it get nicely packaged for the hiring manager who ultimately is making the decision. But make sure your recruiter knows the straight skinny.

Kathleen Smith  19:08

And Mel, how may our listeners get in touch with you?

Melissa Gilpin  19:11

My email address is melissa.ball@avian.com. And people can reach me there, they can reach me on LinkedIn, as well as just picking up the phone and calling.

Kathleen Smith  19:21

Sounds great. Well, Mel, thank you so much for a delightful conversation this afternoon.

Melissa Gilpin  19:26

Oh, wonderful. Thanks so much for having me.

Kathleen Smith  19:29

So Mel was a lot of fun. She had a lot of interesting stories to tell, especially about the culture of Avian. I'm having a little difficulty picking out my favorite part, but I think it was the Leadership Development Program because I haven't heard about that at any other company. It is an opportunity where you get to learn the big picture, how your position fits within the entire organization, but how it fits within the entire community and in supporting national security. It's time for me to say goodbye. It's been great spending some time with you all. If you have a chance, follow our episodes, share us with your friends, and we look forward to bringing more information to you about other cleared facilities employers in the future.