GEO whaaaat? The GEOREPS Blog

Santa gives Toys, GEOREPS gives jobs - get one

2011-12-14T17:06:00.002-05:00

Hi readers!

The last 3 months have been some of the most productive months for GEOREPS and its members. During this time, we've landed jobs for brand new members and for some of our very first members from over 3 years ago.

I just received a new batch of opportunities, some of which I hand picked because these jobs are ready to be filled. Please visit the GEOREPS website to see all of the new jobs posted.

Here are the hottest openings, ALL supporting a variety of Geospatial customers:

- System administrators with Full Scope Polygraphs and/or CI Poly
- Deployed System Admins (Afghanistan) - TS/SCI Clearances
- Software Engineers w/ Full Scope Polygraphs
- SharePoint Engineers w/ Full Scope Polygraphs
- GIS Project Manager (15 years experience, secret clearance)

If you think you qualify, please send your resume to sterling@georeps.com and Please title the subject line with the job opening.

NOTE** If you don't have the proper clearance, no experience in the job for which you are applying, then you probably won't hear from GEOREPS. We get hundreds of inquiries a week and we make our best effort to focus on truly qualified and available candidates.

I look forward to the response and good luck to all.

Also, stay tuned for a 4 part series discussing the opportunities and work roles within the geospatial community. Great info provided by true professionals within the industry.

See ya soon!

Dave

GEOINT Training - Can I do this?

2011-06-28T11:46:00.000-04:00

I often get job openings from clients looking for GEOINT trainers/instructors. These are always interesting jobs to fill due to the fact that a lot of people really know GIS and Intel. The twist to filling these positions is how many of these folks can actually teach.

Typically, the candidate knows how comfortable he/she is in front of an audience of 6 - 12 people. This is especially true if you've been an instructor before. For all you folks new to teaching, that's usually something you have to discover on your own. If new, have no fear, there are ways to get training experience within your own organization in front of people you trust.

First, talk with your management about taking the lead on a training workshop within your current company. You could teach new software, GIS skills, intel production, imagery techniques, etc. Regardless of the topics, it's great experience and something to put in the resume.

Second, go to other organizations within your shop that do not support your current mission. Let their management know you can provide an info brief and you can also explain the benefits of your mission to theirs. It's a great way to get speaking experience and working in front of groups.

Lastly, if you've tried both of these options. Talk with management/peers and determine your strengths / weaknesses. If they say you're a little fidgety on stage, take a proactive effort to control this while speaking. If they think your subject content is weak, determine what needs improvement. It could be that you actually know the material but conveyed it poorly in your presentation. Find out what will work to remedy the situation.

Training other GEOINT / Intel professionals is a very rewarding task. It is especially rewarding when you help your students be a better analyst in the field, supporting the Warfighter. If you think this job is for you, please check out www.GEOREPS.com and look at our openings for trainer positions in St. Louis, MO. If you don't think you'll like training, but enjoy being an analyst, we'd love to hear from you as well.

Until next time.....

www.GEOREPS.com

GEOINT contract convergence - what a mess (you decide)

2011-03-21T21:46:00.000-04:00

One thing that is always consistent in government contracting; nothing seems as it appears in regards to new and continuing government contracts. They get awarded, cancelled, delayed, protested, extended and sometimes never happen. We are staring at continuing resolution right in the eye, facing significant budget cuts due to BRAC cost overruns, but still have several large offices within our main GEOINT customer releasing new contracts. New contracts that have made incumbency a tricky situation. Long story short, several large, old contract vehicles will be merged into new multi-award ID/IQ contracts or old single-award contracts are being broken into multiple smaller contracts with completely new teaming structures. Companies that were teammates before, may now face head to head to battle for positions they've held for years. Such is the life for a defense contractor supporting federal government work. This is not the first time this has happened and it surely won't be the last.

This year, we are on the brink of one the most aggressive staffing calls for GEOINT professionals in some time. This spring, the EPASS contract, focused primarily on analytical skill sets, will begin and is scheduled to be quite aggressive in nature. Also, the old contract supporting the GEOINT training for DoD and the IC is currently being broken into 3 smaller contracts with awards running from this late spring until labor day. A large technical services contract (SMARTS) is being re-competed this year with a whole new set of companies jocking for position and actively forming teams as we speak. An then there is ITEMS (managed services implementation of its Infrastructure Service Provider (ISP)) and GEOINT Data Services (GDS). GDS will consist of primarily supporting standard geospatial data and mapping efforts. Don't forget TASER, a $1 Billion multiple award contract for engineering, development, ops & sustainment and whatever else you can think of. It's mostly IT and software/hardware centric in nature.

What in the heck does this mean for the job market? Several things. First of all, the days of getting the cushy 6 figure salary with little or no effort is becoming a bigger challenge than before. Significant pressure is made by the government to proactively lower rates for its contracts. This is in direct correlation with continuing resolution. Lower rates = lower salaries. The up side to this, the amount of companies actively competing for these contracts is quite large and with enough effort and the right qualifications, you should have no problem getting offers from legitimate companies in the GEOINT sector. Check out www.georeps.com for job listings that describe some of the new work that is hitting the streets. Read the skills, take some training, sharpen up your business acumen and polish up your resume for what could be one of the most aggressive years for the GEOINT job market in some time.

Until next time.....

Dave

GEOINT Conference 2010 - Hand shakes, wheelin' and dealin'

2010-10-18T16:21:00.002-04:00

All,
I just want to remind everyone that the GEOINT 2010 conference is fast approaching. This year's conference will take place in New Orleans, LA. This being my 4th GEOINT conference, I've realized that this event is single-handily one of the best business development outings for the GIS, Geospatial and overall GEOINT community. If you have never been, do your self a favor and GO.

If I go, what should I expect?
An A list of speakers, great networking events, excellent breakout sessions and charity/educational events. For a full listing, go to the USGIF's site: http://geoint2010.com/

If you are interested in developing more business contacts, creating a team for future GEOINT projects, checking out new software/hardware and seeing some of the biggest leaders in the Intel Community and DoD, go to GEOINT 2010.

Next post will come during this year's conference. If you are at this year's conference, I'll be moderating the Monday breakout session on USGIF Accreditation Process for University Programs. Come by and say Hi.

Take Care,
Dave

Dave Sterling
President/CEO
www.GEOREPS.com
sterling@georeps.com
GIS Job Hunter LLC

Top Secret America

2010-08-25T10:29:00.000-04:00

Check out this article that was highlighted in this morning's GOTGEOINT blog, written by the Washington Post.

Wanted: Those with top secret clearances

Outside a hotel ballroom near Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, about three dozen men and a handful of women lined up one recent morning to have a colored dot -- green, blue or red -- affixed to their suits and dresses.
The colors were key to what's known as the "meal ticket" for landing a job in the intelligence community: a top-secret clearance.
We hung out (yes, we were cleared to attend) at two TechExpo Top Secret job fairs - one near Fort Meade and the other in Reston.
The job fairs are run by a New York-based firm that specializes in helping those with clearances connect with companies doing intelligence work under U.S. government contracts. At a check-in booth, organizers asked, "What's your clearance level?" and passed each candidate an appropriately colored sticker. FULL ARTICLE

"I don't have a security clearance so how do I get one?

2010-08-24T10:55:00.000-04:00

Hello!!
How are ya doing!? This is my first adventure in blogging and I'm told if I keep this short and sweet, you're more likely to read all of this. Well this is the long version. I'll have a shorter version posted sometime soon! This week's blog focuses on security clearances and the "Dark" or "Spooky Side" of GEOINT (geospatial-intelligence).

Security clearances can often be someone's meal ticket within the geospatial community, specifically GEOINT. With the explosion of GEOINT over the last 7 years, thousands of jobs specializing in geospatial and imagery related fields have enabled the common geospatial guru, with no military experience to join a workforce supporting mostly classified missions. It's a beautiful thing. You get to support your country and work a job that others will never get to experience. As an entry level college graduate or a 20 year geospatial veteran obtaining a clearance, you truly get to use an abundance of your GIS education/training. Few professions can stake that claim to new talent entering the workforce.

Here's the downside, if you don't have a security clearance, you don't pass go, collect $200 or get a job supporting the "dark side" of GEOINT. So how does one get a security clearance? I receive over 1000 email applications a year (GEOREPS) from candidates, applying for jobs requiring a clearance, but the candidate that is applying, lacks a clearance. They follow-up by saying, "I don't have a clearance, but I'm willing to get one!" That's great, but in this current market, it's not as easy as one would think.

There are a number of ways to get a clearance, none of which are quick, painless, and did I mention it's a slow process. You must be patient, this is most important. In most cases, the clearance process takes 6 - 18 months. Length of time is determined by many factors, some of which I will touch on in later posts. But have no fear my friends! There are ways to position yourself to not only get considered for a clearance, but also use that time while getting cleared to hone your craft. Here are my experiences as a GEOINT recruiter and GEOINT professional in tackling this process.

#1 COLLEGE:
Seize the opportunity during your junior year or finishing your first semester of your senior year. Often, government agencies and large defense contracting firms will visit universities, interview new talent, make job offers and begin the security clearance process. For you English, history and other liberal arts majors, your highest probability to get hired is with the GOV spy agencies vice big corporate GEOINT. Most agencies will provide technical training needed in areas other than GIS. As expected, GIS, software engineering, and programming is in great demand with GEOINT Corporate America and the Intel Community. Most agencies like NGA, CIA, DIA, NSA, etc... will be gunning for folks with technical backgrounds, especially if you have decent geospatial programming/ scripting experience. By the way, all mentioned spooky agencies participate in college job fairs. If you go to a small school lacking these job fairs, visit a friend at his/her large university and go to their job fair. Also, these agencies interview on the spot so bring plenty of resumes and be prepared for a potential follow-up interview the next day or week!

#2 CORPORATE AMERICA:
Have you been working a corporate geospatial job, spending countless hours digitizing building footprints, coastal shorelines, interpreting imagery, quality checking geospatial databases, blah blah blah......? Guess what, you're not alone. Some of the biggest GEOINT data production contracts out there do just that type of work. One of the largest contracts supporting a US Gov Intelligence Agency has been running for about eight years, is worth over $800 Million and supports over 50 companies. That's a lot of extraction, map making and quality control performed by thousands of employees. Here's something to think about, all of those aforementioned tasks are also needed when supporting a spooky GEOINT customer inside of his house. So if your company has positions that require clearances, make your supervisor aware that you want to get your clearance and make it a record on your evaluation. That way, your request is documented, your upper management knows this and management can begin to groom you for work within a spooky customer site while you are beginning the clearance process. This is the time (6 - 12 months) where you refresh your knowledge on ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, working with DEMs like LiDAR and brushing up on network analysis. Yeah, you'll still do data collection/management, but now you get to do the fun stuff too.... you know, analysis.

#3 GRAD SCHOOL, GIS CERTIFICATES, INTERNSHIPS and HOW TO COMBINE FOR SUCCESS:
Grad School works like this. If you have a great GPA in geography during undergrad, decent GRE scores and have 3 professors who will write you outstanding letters of recommendation, apply to grad school. It is the best decision you'll ever make and for the most part, it's free. hmmmmm...but how? Apply to schools that offer teaching assistantships / scholarships. While applying, lobby for assistantships by calling each school making sure they have a "voice" to go with the name on your application. If possible, visit each school's geography/engineering department during the application submission process. This works. Period. You will receive a scholarship, work about 15 hours a week and be extremely marketable in those campus job fairs where NGA, DIA, CIA, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and SAIC will be willing to give you an offer on the spot. Make sure they know you want to work on-site supporting a GEOINT customer, aka "I want a clearance."
I was never a fan of internships unless I knew there was a guaranteed payout at the end. In other words, will I get a permanent job at the end of this? But internships are great if you are in Grad school or taking a GIS certificate course. This is another way to make yourself marketable and it helps pay the bills while in school. While in school and working an internship, you can document the year(s) spent on an internship as "work experience", which will ultimately be used as leverage for negotiating a salary once hired full-time. Also, during this period, a company can begin the clearance process and when you complete your academic program, your clearance should be complete. Keep in mind, you may have to sign an agreement promising to stay with the company for an allotted period of time. Clearances are not cheap and companies don't want you "jumping ship" as soon as you acquire one.

Well, now that your eyeballs have fallen out from reading this lengthy post, feel free to comment with any other stories, strategies, or experiences in obtaining clearances. Please remember to check out GEOREPS for all new job opportunities as well.

www.GEOREPS.com