Recruiters are the firsthand professionals in staffing for the national security industry. Many of these conversations surround security clearance topics and missions, but it is rare that classified information enters the recruiting funnel in phone screens and interviews.
That being said, a valid question as recruiters are flooded with LinkedIn messages from offshore staffing firms, is offshoring your recruiting efforts an OPSEC issue?
A veteran recruiter in the DoD space joins the Security Clearance Careers Podcast to discuss the implications of offshoring your cleared sourcing or recruiting efforts.
Why do some defense contractors outsource their cleared recruiting? If it’s a bandwidth issue, why not just hire another recruiter? Tommy Weinert of Mount Indie says, “It’s not a bandwidth issue and more of a cost saving issue.” Outsourcing recruiting to offshore companies can be relatively inexpensive. But if your company is thinking about outsourcing any piece of the cleared recruiting lifecycle, you will want to be sure that you are working with a US based recruiter.
Does any classified info make it into the recruiting funnel? Weinert says it depends on what your FSO probably deems as classified, but he says it more so enters this part of the hiring process from a candidate divulging too much information or having something sensitive on their resume that got through if they weren’t required to undergo pre publication review.
Does the FAR have anything to do with recruiting? The Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR, is a set of rules and guidelines that govern the acquisition process in the United States federal government. The FAR is a comprehensive document that outlines the policies and procedures that federal agencies must follow when purchasing goods and services. It covers everything from the initial planning stages of a procurement to the award of a contract and beyond, including contract administration and closeout. The FAR is designed to ensure that the government obtains the best value for the taxpayer’s money while adhering to ethical and legal standards. It is a complex and ever-evolving set of rules, but it is essential for any business that wants to do business with the federal government to understand and comply with the FAR. Weinert notes, “It matters to recruiting in how the contract was originally built and competition,” among a few other things.
Making Sure Cleared Recruiting Stays with U.S.-Based Recruiters
What have you seen online about foreign companies trying to provide 3rd party recruiting services? Cleared candidates are already guarded (and rightfully so). So, if you outsource your cleared recruiting to a company with recruiters across the pond, they could become a potential branding issue with a population that is already secret squirrelish.
Recommendations for how recruiters should act (particularly on open-source platforms like LinkedIn)? If foreign companies reach out? “I strictly do not engage,” Weinert says. Any other engagement takes precious time away from your recruiting efforts, and prevents you from being cuckolded by phishing scams.
Final thoughts, why should U.S. recruiting NOT be outsourced, especially in the cleared space? Weinert says that “It just makes no sense to send these jobs overseas.” Considering the space we work in, why would we not employ U.S. citizens to recruit the candidates that safeguard this nation?
