Kathleen Smith 00:53
Good afternoon podcast world. This is Kathleen and hello to all of our listeners. Our guest on today's show is Michele Randall, the Senior Advisor for Talent Acquisition at BCubed Engineering. Hi, Michele. It's so great to hear from you.
Michele Randall 01:08
Hi, Kathleen.
Rachel Bozeman 01:09
Hello, world. We're excited you're here with us again, and super excited to have Michele here too. So Michele, I heard this might be Oscar worthy. I've heard your career may have started with some red carpets. I've heard all sorts of lights and glamour, but definitely would love to learn a little bit more about how you ended up with BCubed. So I understand you started at a talent agency in Hollywood or Hollyweird, whatever. And now you're working in the National Capital Region. So tell us a little about that journey.
Michele Randall 01:42
Well, thank you so much for having me. I did start out in Los Angeles, in Hollywood. I worked for a large talent agency. And at that time, they were looking for somebody to run their operations for the motion picture production division, which I took on with great gusto. And I ended up learning so much, from accounting to agency contracts, to the liaison for our agents and the different commissions that were entailed and so much more, that I realized that I had a great love for people and excitement. Over the years, that's kind of where I've found my passion is, just working with people. So I ended up moving back to the Washington DC area. I had attended college in this area. And I was recruited into the defense contracting field pretty quickly with my operations skill set. And I was hired to run operations for the capital network for a company. And from that point, I loved my job. And one day they came in and they needed nuclear smuggling analysts for a contract they we're bidding, and really just didn't know where to look and hadn't been successful. And they asked me if I had any ideas. And I said, "Let me think about it and I'll get back to you the next day." And the next day, I was able to present to them multiple candidates to their shock and surprise. And after that, which we did win that contract, they asked me to take over the recruiting. And although I had never been a recruiter, I dove right in and I really wanted to take care of the candidates. I'm an empathetic person. And I felt that I wanted to do a little bit more. And so what I started doing was keeping a special talent network database, in which I kept candidates that we couldn't use at that time, and then reach back to them when we could. And if for any reason they couldn't take the job, I asked if they could recommend friends. And this became really popular to the point where I took that talent network and created an initiative with the next company which was GDIT, which is a beloved company of mine, and really was successful there with creating the talent network initiative, and then just kept going up in my career. And eventually that led to me starting my own company with corporate clients that I had worked with in the past. And eventually I decided to take some time off, travel the world a little bit, and then came back in. I wanted to make sure I was with the right company that matched my views and my culture, and I found the perfect company, which is BCubed Engineering. And that's who I work with now. I head up their talent acquisition.
Kathleen Smith 02:00
Awesome. Great journey. I remember working with you at GDIT. We had some great fun there. So tell us little bit more about BCubed Engineering. It's a smaller employee-owned firm. What kind of work do you do in the cleared community?
Michele Randall 05:07
We do software engineering, advanced software engineering. I can tell you why this company is so great in what they do. They were started in 2015, by engineers for the main purpose of keeping a company intact, that would really put the engineers first and that would allow them to work hands-on with research and lab and development. And because of doing that, they tried to stay small, but they were so successful, honestly, they've created some terrific products. And their contracts are being expanded. And they had the opportunity to take on more contracts. And because of that, they really have maintained keeping the employee first. And might I add that we are an employee-owned company, so every decision that's made regarding new employees, usually a good portion of the company has a say. And because of that, we really have a great culture. There's no toxicity, everybody gets along. It's a very collaborative environment. We work specifically with digital signal processing, machine learning, advanced software wavelengths -- everything that an engineer would want to work on nowadays -- and cutting edge technology. We offer that to candidates, honestly. And on top of that, we offer a really great, fun place to work that's very successful.
Kathleen Smith 06:37
That's really great being employee-owned. So tell me a little bit more about how that impacts the hiring process. You said that the employees have a say in the hiring. So what is the process? What are candidates going to experience when they go through that hiring process?
Michele Randall 06:52
First of all, they'll talk to me. So I will have a conversation, a nice short chat, that really just gives us time to get to know each other. My primary reason for doing that is to see if you're a match for our culture. There are terrific candidates out there, but everybody fits in somewhere. And we're trying to find the people that want a long career, staying at the same company, with a career path, a leadership path, a management path. We want to offer them the opportunity to work on new technology, if they'd like to learn new technology. If they want to be in management, we give them a career track for that. We do give the pay scales within our company so that if you would like to move up in the future, you know where you have your goals set for you. There's so much to explain why it's so great to work for the company. But the interview process, thank you for asking. Back to that again, is after they talk to me, if I feel that they'll be a good match, and they meet the requirements and the qualifications, then I will set up a review by the hiring managers, actual engineers. They'll take a look at the resume and the feedback from my conversation. And if that goes well, they'll be invited to the office for an in-person interview, in which they'll meet the office administrator, they'll go over their benefits, they'll get a tour of the facility. And then they'll have two 45-minute meetings with engineers that work for us. And then they'll end up meeting leadership at the end of the three hours. It's a really great way to find out if they would fit in the company. We have a lot of fun during the interview process as well. In fact, when I did my interview process, I played ping pong in between interviews and ended up winning, and still got the job.
Kathleen Smith 08:44
I haven't done ping pong for an interview in a long time. It was way back when I was in the Silicon Valley and doing some interviewing.
Rachel Bozeman 08:52
I would never get a job if it was based on ping pong skills, because I have none. So glad to know. So you shared a little bit about why the culture is so good. And I know our listeners are now probably very interested in learning a little bit more about what type of cleared positions are you currently hiring for?
Michele Randall 09:11
Currently, we have a couple of positions that we have multiple spots for. One of those is for our software engineers. And of course, that entails having to work with programming languages such as C, C++, Python, Java. But more importantly, we just opened up another two positions for full stack developers, which are also software engineers. And we're excited about that because we want to give the opportunity for them to come in and write code and have a great collaborative team to support them. We'd like them to develop and maintain the operations in Kubernetes Docker that we have right now. If you're an engineer, these things are what you want to hear. And we also, as I want to stress, we do have hands-on research and development. So we find that it's a very collaborative group, really fun. We tend to set up an environment within the office, which includes a ping pong table, a foosball table, open collaborative areas, close collaborative areas, free snacks, drinks, kitchens, multiple ones. We really want to encourage our employees to get up and walk around and collaborate with each other. And it's been a really great success. We do offer hybrid work. And I find that the offices are normally full compared to empty, which I've heard some people have experienced going back to work. I don't find that at all. That's beautiful. It is an interesting dynamic, the world we live in now. So you did mention that folks can work hybrid. But tell us, where are these positions located? Are they just in the office? You mentioned hybrid, tell us more. Well, most of the positions at this time are located out of our headquarters, which is in Warrenton, Virginia. It's actually Vint Hill. It is a technology campus, gorgeous campus. It used to be a World War II military base. And on this technology compound are other companies doing extremely well. And we also have a vineyard on the compound. We have a brewery on the compound. We have a very famous inn. We are about to renovate a store barn, a very large barn that the military utilized for offices. We are growing so much that we're going to expand that. And a lot of fun ideas about that. We even joked that there was a connection between the vineyard and the barn and they were discussing shutting it down and I said, "Why don't we make a speakeasy door and go along the historic idea of the barn" and they loved that idea. That's the other thing. They're very encouraging of ideas, whether it's work related, software engineering, if you have an idea, they want to hear it. And we also get performance bonuses if you come up with a great idea. And it doesn't go by seniority, it goes by contribution, which is also a very fair way of looking at things.
Rachel Bozeman 12:36
So to take us back to the beginning of the conversation, we've mentioned Hollywood. And I heard that you may have described your environment as The Big Bang Theory?
Michele Randall 12:49
I always compare a part of my life to different shows and movies, because that's what I come from.
Kathleen Smith 12:57
Let me guess. We've got a Wollowitz there?
Michele Randall 13:02
We probably have a couple of Wollowitzes in there and some Leonard's, and we have a couple Pennies, I'm sure as well. But I would say The Big Bang Theory because the employees are so nice and friendly and funny. And we only require business casual, so it's not unheard of to see the guys dressed similarly to the Big Bang Theory, whether it be jeans or slacks and a nice polo and shirt. But I can't tell you how much they make me smile every day because we're on teams and you'll see the team's going back and forth. And there's always joking going on. It's a really light hearted group, which I find fun. I actually wake up in the morning, and I look forward to coming to work. But even more impressive is you have the intelligence of the characters of the Big Bang Theory. Everybody is extremely smart. But nobody acts as if they're above the other. It's really a collaborative environment. I wouldn't see any reason not to run to go work at this company.
Kathleen Smith 14:18
That's great. When you and I have worked together in the past, we talked a lot about the Best Recruiter program and how you were always part of a team that won Best Recruiter almost every year. So I know you value the candidate experience and treating cleared job seekers as individuals. Can you share a little bit more of your philosophy on this?
Michele Randall 14:37
My philosophy on candidates in general is that they are just like you and I, and they deserve the respect that should be given to them. We're so lucky to have great employees - all companies are, honestly. My theory is, treat them very well. I pick up the phone, I call them, I text them, I stay in touch with them, I update them. And I think that the candidate should have just as good of experience as the recruiter, in my opinion. And I keep relationships for many years. I still do. And I keep relationships with my old companies. As you know, this company is such a great company to work for, because I get to put that theory in practice, but I get to see it firsthand every single day versus a large scale company, where I don't have that advantage. So if I can't help you, I'll help you get a job somewhere else. The great thing about my long experience in this industry is, I have created relationships with other recruiters, other hiring managers, other companies, and we do share good candidates. And that's what makes us all work together well. And I know there's other recruiters that are just like me, that really care about the candidates, that really treat them with respect. It may take extra time, but it's worth it. And I believe that my work shows that for sure.
Rachel Bozeman 16:08
Love it. Something else we heard that was pretty special is that BCubed is offering an individual benefit account or IBA, as the cool kids are calling it. So why is this important to someone in the cleared space?
Michele Randall 16:23
What's great about IBAs is that they're not common anymore. And what an IBA is, say that you come and work for us. And we pay very well, we do. And we pay well, because we retain our employees, and we pay what we think they're worth. And for most companies, they then will in turn offer you benefits, whether it's medical or dental or vision, PTO, they offer you benefits, and then they deduct that out of your paycheck. And that's the way I always worked. And that was what was normal. But with an IBA benefit, it's completely different. What they do is they pay you an excellent salary, and then on top of that, they take 25% of your yearly salary, and they put it into an account for you. And out of that account, you would pay your medical, dental, vision, PTO, but everybody differs sometimes on what kind of insurance they need. Some people may need a high-level insurance, some may need a low-level, some people may not need insurance, they may be under their partner, they may be under their parents. The PTO part of that is, say you take a day off, then you take that out of this account as well. But our company encourages flex time. So you can make up the hours on another day. But going back to the IBA and what makes it so incredible -- and you can also take your deductibles out of it and everything -- is any money that is leftover in your IBA account, is refunded to you in a bonus at the end of the fiscal year. That is what makes it so incredible. And I've heard nothing but praise about the IBA program. And in fact, sometimes when companies discontinue that, it's usually the case of larger companies, we tend to get an influx of resumes because they know that we are one of the few companies that do offer the IBA accounts. Again, we want to offer the very best for our employees. What we can do for them, we will. We really do want to keep our employees long term.
Kathleen Smith 18:29
Awesome. And since you have been in the defense contracting community for quite some time, I was wondering if you had any really specific tips you would offer to our cleared professionals in ways that they can improve their job search?
Michele Randall 18:46
I mean, it's a little controversial, but here's some things. If you feel comfortable enough, put that you have a clearance on your resume, because we're going to ask you anyways, if you have one. I tend to go through resumes so much quicker if they have a clearance. I know some people are hesitant about doing that, but if you're specifically applying for a job, please put it on your resume. The other thing is, if you see job advertisements, apply. I think I sometimes cleared people kind of hold back. They're not quite 100% sure they want apply, or they wait for somebody to come to them. But I get that too because every recruiter is different. And every company and the way they recruit is different. And sometimes it's just very machine oriented. But when you're looking to work with BCubed Engineering, you're going to speak to me directly and I'm going to be looking at your resumes.
Rachel Bozeman 19:39
She's not a robot folks. She is really going to talk to you. She's the real deal. Well, I know they probably do want to talk to you. So how in the world can our listeners get in touch with you, Michele?
Michele Randall 19:51
Well, I will give out my email right on the air because I would be happy to do so. So my email is mgrandall@bcubed-corp.com. And I look at every resume that is sent to me whether I have to work late into the evening or early in the morning. I review every resume sent to me.
Kathleen Smith 20:23
Awesome. Well, Michele, it's been great catching up with you. And we have loved having you on the show and learning a lot more about BCubed Engineering.
Michele Randall 20:31
Thank you so much.
Kathleen Smith 20:35
Michele has been a longtime customer, a longtime friend here in the cleared community, and it was really great to catch up with her today. She had so many interesting things to say. I was just really intrigued with the fact that they really do hands-on research. I mean, a lot of engineers are looking for places where they can be collaborative, work on all of the really cool projects, and they're doing that at BCubed. Rachel, what did you enjoy?
Rachel Bozeman 21:04
Yeah, I thought that was awesome. But I really appreciated how they saw the employees as their most important asset, rewarding them with a brewery on site or a vineyard or ping pong, if that's your jam, but really just making sure that they're holistically caring for the employee, because the employees ultimately are the owners of the company, which I think is pretty dang cool. You know what else I think is pretty dang cool? You, Kathleen. And you, listeners, I think you're pretty dang cool for listening to our show today. So thanks so much for coming by and giving us a listen. And you know what? Do it again. I promise, you won't regret it.
Kathleen Smith 21:45
And if you're looking for more information on cleared jobs, upcoming events, or ways to improve your career search, be sure to check out our LinkedIn company page or sign up for our newsletter. Thanks for listening. Till next time.