Kathleen Smith  00:44

Hello listeners, and welcome back to another episode of Security Cleared Jobs: Who's Hiring & How. I'm Kathleen, and always by my side is my dear friend and a very talented talent acquisition professional, Rachel. How are you doing today?

Rachel Bozeman  01:00

So great. And I mean, you could have kept going with all the accolades there, Kathleen. That's okay. I can give you a couple more titles to add in there. It'll be great. But it's not about me. We have a great guest here for all of you listeners. Kathleen, tell us. Who are we gonna meet today?

Kathleen Smith  01:15

Today we're meeting Bill Engel, Founder and Owner of Rapid Cycle Solutions. Bill, welcome to the show. It's so good to have you.

Bill Engel  01:22

Good morning, Kathleen and Rachel. Glad to be here. Thank you.

Rachel Bozeman  01:25

Well Bill, we are so excited that you are here today, and we always like to start the conversation about you. So tell us a little bit about your career and how you came about founding Rapid Cycle Solutions.

Bill Engel  01:39

That's a great way to start. So I've been in IT consulting, believe it or not, 44 years. And so I've always been in technology. I got exposed to programming very early in my adulthood, and stayed with it ever since. So I'm an IT software guy at heart, and I have been in IT consulting for most of that stretch of time. So I have a real affinity for technology. I like to write software, although I don't write as much recently as I used to, but I really do like it, and I've always liked working with customers and solving tough technical challenges. This is actually the second company that I have founded over the years and doing consulting. So it's just a passion of mine. I love working with great teams and great customers, solving tough technical problems.

Kathleen Smith  02:24

This being your second company, one, congrats. Being a serial entrepreneur is hard, especially here in the cleared community. So tell us, what does your company do in the cleared community?

Bill Engel  02:36

At the 100,000 foot view, it's IT consulting. It's very strategic-level consulting. We work at the highest levels of some of the organizations we work with. We're doing very much hands on kind of technical work, so fingers on keyboards, so to speak. And we also do a lot of strategy advisory, helping guide our customers in the IT space. Cloud computing is a big area. And in the cleared space, we also do a lot in the data analysis, data analytics realm.

Kathleen Smith  03:04

I understand a little birdie told me that you have a goal to double the size of your company over the next year. So is that correct? And any insights on how you plan to do that?

Bill Engel  03:15

The little birdie is correct. We believe in some stretch goals, and so that's ours for the next 12 months, is to try to double the company in the areas where we are currently serving - the same skills and services. And so we rely on venues like ClearedJobs.Net. We need these other avenues to try to find the right talent, to make them aware of what we're doing and what we're offering and the mission support that we're providing to our customers. And so the best way we can go about doing it is traditional venues, word of mouth, friends of friends kind of a thing, but also getting us out so we're a little bit more known and candidates become a lot more aware of what we do and what we're about, and become interested in the mission we're supporting.

Rachel Bozeman  03:56

Speaking of candidates, they're listening to you today, Bill. And they have one very important question for you. What positions and skill sets are you currently hiring for?

Bill Engel  04:07

That is great. I would categorize them in two fairly big buckets. One is data analytics, taking large amounts of unstructured, disparate data and making sense of it to support our mission customers. The other is all things cloud computing, whether it's engineering solutions, engineers designing solutions to problems in the cloud, and also expertise around the financial side of cloud computing. So we hear a lot about the technologies. A big challenge for our customers right now, and they're asking us to help solve these problems is, how do they manage the finances, the budgets, and where does the money come from? Where does it go to? And especially as you start to look across multiple cloud environments, tracking the money back to its budgetary source is becoming a bigger challenge for our agencies and customers, both in the cleared space and in the uncleared space. And so that is a perfect example of the agencies turning to us and asking us to try to help sort that out for them. So those are the three areas, cloud computing, data analysis, emphasis across the cloud spectrum. We're looking for all that expertise.

Rachel Bozeman  05:13

Pretty incredible career opportunities, for sure. And I know a lot of folks have a lot of interest in those, but something else that they have interest in, Bill, and you know it's coming. Where are these positions located?

Kathleen Smith  05:25

And are there any hybrid or remote opportunities?

Bill Engel  05:29

Great question, and that is a hot topic. And the answer is, it depends. So for our highest level clearances -- Full Scope Polygraph, Top Secret -- there are SCIF requirements. And so that does require you to be in an approved SCIF location, not necessarily always on the customer site. Sometimes our primes, if we're a sub, have a SCIF facility, and some of our highest-level clearance folks can work there. And some of those are spread around the Virginia, Maryland and sometimes even West Virginia area. And so those require you to be on an approved site. As the clearance levels go down all the way to public trust for instance, there are hybrid opportunities, remote work. For some of those, we have people working up and down the East Coast and some people out west. And so depending on the clearance level and the customer, there are hybrid opportunities. At the highest level, we're still working with our customer to make that happen, but most people don't have a SCIF at their home. But there is some flexibility, and we do offer -- if someone says, "Look, I'm tired of being in a SCIF, I'd like to go do some work with the IRS." Then that's something we can support, is transitioning people across customer spaces that allow them to maybe pick up and be able to work remotely.

Kathleen Smith  06:39

That's a really great opportunity, being able to sort of move within one employer but be on different projects. But then also, not everyone likes being in a windowless SCIF and being able to be a little bit more -- you know, I don't want to say this, but I guess this is what it is -- out there, being able to be part of the real world. Rachel, what's your next question?

Rachel Bozeman  07:04

Well, I want to dig into something that I found super interesting in talking to a lot of our different guests on this show, and it's about hiring that technical talent. We know that they're wildly talented when it comes to all of those different skills, but why are the soft skills so important for your company when you're hiring this new talent?

Bill Engel  07:22

Because of the type of work we do and the problems we're asked to solve with our customers, it requires those, we call them soft skills, but they're consulting skills. So they need to have the technical ability to write software or whatever. But we also have to be able to be that advisor, that strategic advisor, which requires us to be able to brief in a presentation across many levels of the organization, different technical levels, and we need someone who can read that room and change their presentation to that room. We need folks that have the ability to make hard decisions and brief that to our customers in a somewhat compassionate way, because sometimes we have to give advice that the customer may not like, and you need folks that can present that material in a way that isn't confrontational. So it's those soft consulting skills, because we are asked to, not only hands on keyboard, but we are asked to provide those higher level advisory skills, work in an integrated team environment. So it may be multiple contractors, multiple agencies, and so you need to be able to work together, and it does require those kinds of consulting type of skills.

Kathleen Smith  08:27

So building upon that question, people can talk about having soft skills in their profile or on a resume, but when you get into the nitty gritty of the phone screening interview or the face-to-face interview, how do cleared professionals showcase those soft skills during the interview process?

Bill Engel  08:47

That's a great question, because you can't test for it traditionally. You can't give them a coding problem and suss that out. And so it's through our conversations. When they talk to our recruiter, we're going to try to understand a lot more about not only the certifications they have and the technical successes, but we're going to ask them about previous work environments. What kind of a team dynamic was it? What's the highest level of an organization you briefed? What is the hardest challenge you've had to face when you've worked with a customer? And how did you get through it? And so it's through conversations that aren't just technical. It's more to understand how they think, how they operate, what situations they've been working in, how did they get through it? What worked, what didn't work? So it's through just conversation that we're able to really be able to tell who are just hardcore heads down technical folks, which we need, but also we need that heavy dose of soft skills that can write some code and then go work with the customer and explain it and do it in a very engaging way.

Rachel Bozeman  09:41

And I love the way you frame that. I think sometimes people may miss the value of those quote, unquote, soft skills, but to see it as a value add kind of in that consultative space, I think, is incredible. So thanks for giving us that new way to look at it. I think that's great. And because we can't stop talking about skills, I think I've got another question. Question for you directly related to some skills here. So a lot of people place a lot of value in really continuously learning and updating their skills. And so why do you think that's so critical for your business? And how do you your training benefits work?

Bill Engel  10:16

So let me start with why it's important. It's important because at the end of the day, when you really distill what we do, we're selling our expertise and our skills. They're intangible. They're not a fixed product, per se. So we sell what we know, what we've done, and training is a big part of that. It's somewhat like opening a store and never stocking the shelves. Well, eventually you have nothing to sell, and so our store shelves, and that analogy is our expertise, our skills and our past experiences, and so we have to continually feed that fire, keep that going, otherwise, some point we are not going to have a value product to sell to our customers. And so training is a big part of that. And we have somewhat of an undefined training program, and it really depends on what the person needs to do, what career path they're on. It just has to relate to what we offer our customers in general, which is IT consulting. So it can be cloud, it can be data analytics, it can be machine learning, it can be anything, as long as it translates into supporting our business. And you submit an approval. We get approved, we send you on your way. We just had a couple of weeks ago. Five of our teammates, our company, go to San Diego for a cloud financial Ops finops conference, for immersive training on finops, and get really immersed in that problem space, because that's becoming very important. So we encourage it. We actually will have conversations with employees if they're not taking training as to what's the issue, why aren't you taking advantage of some of the training that's offer, because it's very important that they keep their skills sharp and relevant. I'm

Kathleen Smith  11:44

really glad to hear you say that, because having that as part of the discussion with a current employer or a prospective employer that you know, that's a big piece of it. If you're going to be in the tech space, you need to stay up to date on certification to new technology and cutting edge. And you know, a lot of people do it on their own time because they enjoy it, but they don't believe that they need to integrate that with their conversations of prospective employers or current employers. So kudos to you for really focusing on that. And

Bill Engel  12:18

I have a pro I have a pro tip for your listeners, I will ask you in an interview, how do you stay abreast of current technologies? I will look for, are you investing in yourself? Because if you invest in yourself, then I'll invest in you as well. And so I will ask, you, know, with the vast changes occurring every day, how do you invest in yourself? And so be prepared if you and I are sitting across from one another, I will likely want to understand how you learn, especially in the tech space.

Kathleen Smith  12:42

Thank you for bringing that up as a pro tip. Really appreciate that. So one of the benefits of being in a small business is being able to adapt and evolve and move quickly, depending on sort of the business environment. And one of the things that you have the opportunity to do is to refine your benefit offerings. So going back to that 10,000 foot level, what are some of the benefit trends that you've seen over the last several years? And what are the benefits you believe really motivate a cleared professional? Yeah,

Bill Engel  13:15

that's a good question. And so we are small, and we look at our benefits across every year, across the company, and then how we can continue to offer what I consider fortune 500 benefits. But we're a small business, and so we do that analysis every year, and we've seen some trends early on. Years ago, it was, I want stock options. Well, that's not really in vogue anymore. Nobody's looking to own, you know, stock options. And so it really has been come around financial security. So beyond just their salary compensation, they're looking for the all in what do you provide? And so we pay 100% of employee medical, for instance, and we do 401, K with a matching and immediate vesting. And so we've seen their thing. The trend seems to be more towards the future. They're thinking about retirement. They're thinking about their wellness, and less about BMWs and fancy cars or whatever. It's more thinking down the road. And so that's been interesting. And so we start to look at what other benefits can we offer that would augment that mentality of their thinking of the future? So things like financial services advice, financial management advice. You know, we provide access to a financial planner if you want to engage in that. We can, we offer extended life insurance and disability insurances. And so there's a menu of things that, if that particular element is important to you, you have access to it at a group rate. So we were able to offer that to our employees, because they're very important to that. It's very much thinking about, you know, as I get towards retirement, I want to make sure I'm safe and sound, and so that's been a good trend, in my mind, that people are thinking like that.

Kathleen Smith  14:43

And is there any particular benefit you think is important to a cleared professional? A

Bill Engel  14:47

big benefit that I'm a big believer in is making sure we have really sound healthcare, and that's for everybody. Everybody that's full time gets access to the full suite of healthcare benefits. And it's, you know, with the United Healthcare so it's a top line. Actually offer three programs so that you have three different options you can choose from, as far as healthcare. But that's not necessarily limited to the cleared professional. That's for everybody that comes into the company. Well,

Kathleen Smith  15:11

that's great, especially some of us here in the sound booth remember the days where I think only 10% was covered by the employer, and then the remainder was picked up by the employee. And all of us had very poor health care because we wanted the cheapest one possible. So right, thank you for providing 100% health care on that one. Rachel, back to you.

Rachel Bozeman  15:37

Well, thank you. Yes, that is pretty dang important and pretty amazing overall. So you already gave us one bonus pro tip, but I'm going to ask you for another one here. If you don't mind, we would love to hear maybe some advice or pro tips that you would give to cleared professionals or the job seekers out there. What are just some overall tips that you would give them in their job search?

Bill Engel  15:58

I think I have two. One is we did tend to do all virtual interviews, and we do them on camera. I'd like to see people if I'm interviewing them, so I know what they look like if I pass them on the street. So in that scenario, take it serious. And what I mean by that is make sure you're in a place it's quiet, you have good audio, and that way you're not distracted. I'm not distracted, and we can have a nice conversation. So I'd say put a little effort into that. Now I will say to our top secret cleared folks that tend to be in a skiff all day, and I'm trying to talk to them at five o'clock at night, they may be in their car, and that's okay. I understand that. You know, they've just come out of the office, and this may be the first opportunity that we have to talk and so I have had many interviews with candidates from their car. It usually starts with me ensuring that they're not driving, make sure they're pulled over and in a parking lot or whatever, and safe. And the second pro tip would be, don't forget, it's a two way conversation. You know, I'm interviewing you. You're interviewing me. So come with some questions. Learn a little bit about the company, maybe before you go ask me, you know, how are we doing financially, ask me about the technologies we're investing in, but remember, you're interviewing us as much as we're interviewing you, and so be okay with asking questions

Kathleen Smith  17:09

talking about interviews. What are some of the sort of interview stories that you would like to share with us about what has happened with you. Now I just want to make a disclaimer here for our audience and for our guests, that we're not trying to make fun of people. We're trying to outline what is generally considered professional behavior, and what some people might find is questionable, and sort of draw that line as to semi questionable to definitely professional. Bill, you want to share something with us? Yeah,

Bill Engel  17:40

it sort of piggybacks off my previous pro tip around making sure you're in a good spot when you do an interview. I think this was somewhere in the covid. So not too long ago, I had an interview, video interview. Knew it was going to be on camera, and the candidate was, you know, very casually dressed. I think it was a t shirt, maybe even a tank top. I can't exactly remember, but he took the call from out his front yard in a lawn chair, a legitimate 70s era lawn chair, and his he was babysitting. His kids were running around. Dog was running around, and he was hand it was holding the hand in his phone. So a lot of times I was looking at the top of his head, or I was looking out in the yard. And so that's one that, you know, I ended pretty quickly. They're not serious about it. I'm not serious about them. And so, no, don't do that. If you really are serious about it, be in a good spot so we can have a good, active dialog back and forth. But that one ended in about two minutes and got flagged, as you know, probably not a candidate that we would consider in the future.

Rachel Bozeman  18:38

I mean, I love a dog story as much as the next, but not the right time to do it when you're interviewing. That is for certain something that gets me excited, both for the candidates and as a recruiter, at heart, is something that you do kind of unique in your hiring process, and something that may be kind of different from what others do. But I've heard that you like to move pretty quickly in your hiring process. Tell us more. Bill,

Bill Engel  19:07

sure we definitely do. We don't make you wait weeks and go through rounds and rounds of interviews and psychological tests, and we move quick. We're a small organization. We pride ourselves on being agile, which is why the company's named rapid cycle solutions. We move quick, and so we have a very flat interviewing process, and a short of us being at a trade show where we're like, interviewing on the spot where we can make an offer, like that minute, traditionally, you know, we make first contact with the candidate, get some basic information, and then you're gonna go right to the hiring manager, and that hiring manager can make a decision, can make an offer. There's usually never, oh, we'll get back to you in a week. And I got another person, I can get another person to meet with you. It's a two-step process, and we move quickly because it frustrates a candidate to have to be drunk around that long. So it's two steps generally,

Kathleen Smith  19:54

that's awesome to hear because, yes, I know there are some people in our community. Will take 18 months and go from interview to hiring, and that's just not well appreciated by many people. Bill, this has been a really great conversation. How can our cleared professionals in the audience be in touch with you and your team? The

Bill Engel  20:14

absolute best way is through our website, our join our team part of our website, because it's all automated on the back end. Once someone comes in, it springs people into action, if you like. You can look at me on LinkedIn. I'm not that hard to find, and you can connect with me. Maybe just mention that you saw me unclear jobs or on this. And so that way I make a connection in my mind how you found me. But really the most expeditious way is probably through our website, through that, and all of our positions are out there, and you'll get an immediate response. Awesome,

Kathleen Smith  20:44

Bill. Thank you so much for joining us today. It was really great chatting with you.

Bill Engel  20:49

Thank you, Kathleen and Rachel. I appreciate

Kathleen Smith  20:53

it. So it was really great talking with Bill Engle, and he really demonstrated some of the advantages of working with a smaller company. And I know you're not going to like this, Rachel, but I'm going to steal what you're going to say, which is that two step hiring process. I mean, that was amazing. That was amazing. I know a lot of people are going to be excited about that. So Rachel, what were you impressed with by Bill?

Rachel Bozeman  21:17

Well, you were right. That was pretty stinking amazing. You know me all too well. I get super jazzed when there is something that's on the right side of the candidate, but something else that I really appreciated, because soft skills have kind of gotten that negative connotation now, like, ooh, soft skills ooey gooey. But I love the way that he framed it as a consultative benefit to being able to talk to folks and understand that and just kind of changing the word from us, you know, an ooey gooey soft skill to something that's super valuable in the workplace. So Bill, good on you. Great conversation all the way around. Amazingness there. But you know what else is amazing all of you listeners. So thanks for learning with us today. We hope that you found the show useful and informative and, dare I say, fun, to make sure you catch all our shows. Please follow us on your favorite listening platform, Hasta la vista, see you later.

Kathleen Smith  22:19

Bye folks.