Vet hiring and the civ/mil divide: in which nittany03 threadjacks a threadjack

[exNavyOffRec]

Interesting experience from an interview that I just had.

The position was for a senior supervisory analyst position. The interview question asked me to explain my supervisory experience. Don't have any has a civilian. That's why I'm applying for this job. I told the interview panel that I served in the Navy as an Officer and supervised 40 people. I was a divo and dept. head. So obviously I wasn't new to being in a leadership position. This job was supervising 3 GS-13 analysts. Anyways, I didn't get the job. But, I did ask for feedback from the nice person that interviewed me.

One sticking point for the hiring panel was my lack of supervisory experience. I asked for more information and the person told me that "supervising people in the military isn't the same as civilian experience". Fair enough. Nothing I could do. Thanked the person for his time and went back to work.

The organization?

The U.S. Navy. More specifically, a command run by senior GS employees that were never in the military.

Hmmmmm. ?

My old neighbor works for Boeing, he has told me some pretty messed up things about their hiring, specifically how inept the recruiters are. The 2 examples he had that have stuck with me are a person that worked for him in a specific position, the person left for another job, then a year later decided she wanted to return, her old position was open so she applied but didn't make the screening through the recruiter, when questioned the recruiter said the person didn't meet the qualifications, they were puzzled as her resume was clear she was. The other was a person that worked for him was on a TDY filling a position, the person who had the position decided not to return so the TDY applied and was denied an interview, when questioned the recruiter said the person did not have the experience to do the job, when the recruiter looked at the resume again the recruiter didn't budge however her supervisor was stumped as he said the person was clearly qualified.

Stupid shit happens everywhere.

 

[MIDNJAC]

My old neighbor works for Boeing, he has told me some pretty messed up things about their hiring, specifically how inept the recruiters are. The 2 examples he had that have stuck with me are a person that worked for him in a specific position, the person left for another job, then a year later decided she wanted to return, her old position was open so she applied but didn't make the screening through the recruiter, when questioned the recruiter said the person didn't meet the qualifications, they were puzzled as her resume was clear she was. The other was a person that worked for him was on a TDY filling a position, the person who had the position decided not to return so the TDY applied and was denied an interview, when questioned the recruiter said the person did not have the experience to do the job, when the recruiter looked at the resume again the recruiter didn't budge however her supervisor was stumped as he said the person was clearly qualified.

Stupid shit happens everywhere.

I think YMMV applies here. I probably got lucky because I was interviewed by every member of the team I currently work with, rather than some rando HR type. After the offer, I'll agree, HR was a little vague and repetitive. I think I signed at least 10x conflict of interest statements that were all the same during the process. To be fair, I definitely did not work with a recruiter at all.....twas an inside job, if you will.

 

[nittany03]

I think YMMV applies here. I probably got lucky because I was interviewed by every member of the team I currently work with, rather than some rando HR type. After the offer, I'll agree, HR was a little vague and repetitive. I think I signed at least 10x conflict of interest statements that were all the same during the process. To be fair, I definitely did not work with a recruiter at all.....twas an inside job, if you will.

Any large company is actually a collection of small tribes that are all on the continuum between "cool, smart, driven people" and "fucking morons." Execs can make a lot of money skewing their company towards the former and not the latter, because that's where people want to work. But ultimately, Glassdoor notwithstanding, your job satisfaction has a lot to do with your immediate manager, peers, and direct reports if you have them.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I think YMMV applies here. I probably got lucky because I was interviewed by every member of the team I currently work with, rather than some rando HR type. After the offer, I'll agree, HR was a little vague and repetitive. I think I signed at least 10x conflict of interest statements that were all the same during the process. To be fair, I definitely did not work with a recruiter at all.....twas an inside job, if you will.

after they went to ask what was going on they had the entire batch of applicants sent to them so they could pull the resumes out of those 2 and hire them, this was several years ago and Boeing did some pretty significant cuts of recruiters about 3 years ago, not sure if they knew something was coming, of course now hiring is not Boeings focus as we all now, it reminds me of the sign they had many years ago on I5 when Boeing had another huge slump, it said "will the last person please leaving Seattle please turn out the lights"

 

[MIDNJAC]

it reminds me of the sign they had many years ago on I5 when Boeing had another huge slump, it said "will the last person please leaving Seattle please turn out the lights"

Hah, I think that was about 50 years ago now, but still funny. I was also just at that place today (think it was Everett specific if I recall the story before my life began correctly).

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Hah, I think that was about 50 years ago now, but still funny. I was also just at that place today

I have some friends sweating right now, one has 12 years there, in his shop everyone "below" him was or has been given layoff notices, I was hoping to get on there, but thinking now that may not happen.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I have some friends sweating right now, one has 12 years there, in his shop everyone "below" him was or has been given layoff notices, I was hoping to get on there, but thinking now that may not happen.

Yeah, very rough times for our SEA/commercial friends. Second VLO came out last week. I'm fortunate to be STL based/former MDC side, but of course the worry of the company as a whole is a thing. So far, I have been impressed from my perspective. It's big/old business, but there are some definite plusses to that. They have some really competitive offerings with 401k/retirement and health care options. And for me, pay is on par with year 2-3 major FO. Can't argue with that as a remote worker.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Yeah, very rough times for our SEA/commercial friends. Second VLO came out last week. I'm fortunate to be STL based/former MDC side, but of course the worry of the company as a whole is a thing. So far, I have been impressed from my perspective. It's big/old business, but there are some definite plusses to that. They have some really competitive offerings with 401k/retirement and health care options. And for me, pay is on par with year 2-3 major FO. Can't argue with that as a remote worker.

I am concerned about the effect that this will have on all the other businesses that supply Boeing, I hope this turns around fast, talking to my counterparts in different parts of the country they are seeing good opportunities in their areas, Seattle is a big tougher, talking to some local recruiters I know they went from a few dozen applicants for HR and recruiting type jobs to low/mid 100's

 

[nittany03]

after they went to ask what was going on they had the entire batch of applicants sent to them so they could pull the resumes out of those 2 and hire them, this was several years ago and Boeing did some pretty significant cuts of recruiters about 3 years ago, not sure if they knew something was coming, of course now hiring is not Boeings focus as we all now, it reminds me of the sign they had many years ago on I5 when Boeing had another huge slump, it said "will the last person please leaving Seattle please turn out the lights"

Hiring is nobody's focus right now. If you're lucky, all you have is a pay and headcount freeze with management being essentially told "do what you can with who you have, only bring someone on board if someone leaves the company, and don't even ask about raises or training."

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Hiring is nobody's focus right now. If you're lucky, all you have is a pay and headcount freeze with management being essentially told "do what you can with who you have, only bring someone on board if someone leaves the company, and don't even ask about raises or training."

In Seattle I would agree, now I work(ed) with several who have recently left my company for better jobs, but they are not in the Seattle area, they are in the MW to the east coast, they started looking when we started going through a restructure, I ended up being in the one area of the company that is not affected, that info wasn't found out until a few jumped.

The one exception in the Seattle area is Amazon, they are still hiring at a pretty good rate, not just in the warehouses but on the corporate side as well.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I am concerned about the effect that this will have on all the other businesses that supply Boeing, I hope this turns around fast, talking to my counterparts in different parts of the country they are seeing good opportunities in their areas, Seattle is a big tougher, talking to some local recruiters I know they went from a few dozen applicants for HR and recruiting type jobs to low/mid 100's

Yeah, that is a realistic concern. There are 2x 777EX birds on the ramp at BFI.......not even sure why, they are built at Everett and tested at Moses Lake but there they sit. Maybe BFI is just the node for all basic testing. But nothing really seems to make sense on the commercial side right now. I walked through the Renton offices a few weeks ago and it was literally miles of empty cubes with the lights turned off (as you quoted, perhaps the last someone did turn the lights off).

 

[IKE]

Any large company is actually a collection of small tribes that are all on the continuum between "cool, smart, driven people" and "fucking morons." Execs can make a lot of money skewing their company towards the former and not the latter, because that's where people want to work. But ultimately, Glassdoor notwithstanding, your job satisfaction has a lot to do with your immediate manager, peers, and direct reports if you have them.

...and the Navy is just another large company.

 

[squorch2]

Some places are hiring...

Experienced folks are nearly always in demand. (This is why it's so important to get your foot in the door)

 

[nittany03]

I walked through the Renton offices a few weeks ago and it was literally miles of empty cubes with the lights turned off (as you quoted, perhaps the last someone did turn the lights off).

I’m sure the work from home bit is part of that . . . I haven’t physically been to the office since probably April, and that was just to swap out my company laptop.

Of course, with all the ongoing shenanigans downtown, that’s probably not a bad thing, even if most of said shenanigans are closer to Cap Hill.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I’m sure the work from home bit is part of that . . . I haven’t physically been to the office since probably April, and that was just to swap out my company laptop.

Of course, with all the ongoing shenanigans downtown, that’s probably not a bad thing, even if most of said shenanigans are closer to Cap Hill.

good point, I guess it depends if "empty desk" means monitors, keyboards, and anything else is just gone, or if just the person isn't there while you can tell the desk is still "assigned".