Kathleen Smith 00:42
Greetings to our listeners and welcome to the show. A big virtual high five to you! Rachel, how are you doing today?
Rachel Bozeman 00:49
Right back at ya sister. You know, I can't help it. It's a beautiful day. And hopefully our listeners are having an equally beautiful day and they are buckled up and ready to learn from today's cleared employer.
Kathleen Smith 01:06
True story, Rachel. Today's guest is Sebastian Lambert, Director of Staffing at Iron EagleX. Welcome Sebastian. Thanks for joining us today.
Sebastian Lambert 01:14
Absolutely great to be here, Kathleen and Rachel. Thanks for having me.
Rachel Bozeman 01:18
Well, we are so excited to be here. And we like to start the conversation with learning more about you. So if you don't mind just telling us a little bit about your career journey to Iron EagleX. How'd you get where you are today, my friend?
Sebastian Lambert 01:36
Absolutely. So it all really started at L3. L3 was my first job in defense contracting. I was supporting satellite communications equipment used by Special Operations Command. That contract ended and they said, you can go to Fayetteville, North Carolina or Afghanistan. I was like, I'll go to Afghanistan. So I went there. And when I came back, there was still no real SATCOM opportunity that I liked in Florida, so I made the transition to recruiting at that time to step back in the career, but switched over to something I was really passionate about. And that was with a small company, fell in love with it. We were purchased by a large, as happens. So Michael, the current owner of Iron EagleX, poached me out of that large company, and I joined him at another company, another small. And when he purchased Iron EagleX, I followed him right over, and here we are today.
Kathleen Smith 02:37
Sounds great. Thanks for sharing that story. So tell us a little bit more since Iron EagleX is sort of on the smaller side, it may not be on everyone's radar. So tell us a little bit more about Iron EagleX and what the company does.
Sebastian Lambert 02:52
Absolutely. So that's it. You know, we're a small defense contracting company headquartered out of Tampa, Florida. Primary reason why we are here is because of our primary customer being Special Operations Command and them having their headquarters at MacDill Air Force base here in Tampa. So that's the customer that we support. And then what we try to focus on is really anything high level technical solutions. So really, a lot of our work falls under that computer science umbrella. We have a lot of data scientists, software developers. We try to do as much as we can with AI and ML. That's artificial intelligence machine learning. So that's really our focus. Right now, hovering right around 200 employees, and we're spread out all over the country. And then we just recently placed a couple of folks in Germany as well.
Rachel Bozeman 03:45
Going international with a name like Iron Eagle, I kind of feel like that's very fitting. So, really cool. So tell us a little about what you're hiring for. That's what the people want to know, what kind of cleared positions or skill sets are you currently looking for?
Sebastian Lambert 04:01
Probably the biggest push right now, we just submitted a proposal for a data science contract here at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. We'll be hiring data analysts, software engineers, data scientists, and data engineers on that contract. It is coming up, but it should be a quick turn. As far as immediate openings, a lot of software developers and platform engineers in the DC and North Carolina area.
Rachel Bozeman 04:30
Nice. So you did mention, Tampa, DC, Germany, a couple of those. So two questions. Are there other locations? And what about remote?
Sebastian Lambert 04:41
For sure. So we have people in place on contract everywhere from San Diego to Stuttgart, Germany right now. Really the theater special operations commands, so with our primary customer being SOCOM, supporting all those TSOCs as well, all those major locations. So San Diego, Virginia Beach, Fort liberty, North Carolina. Those are really a lot of the hotspots for us and where we often have rotating opportunities. As far as remote options, those are more common with us than a lot of other defense contractors. Even though we do still require that TS/SCI clearance, we do have opportunities where people can work primarily remote. We have one fully remote job open right now, outside of the fact that they deploy OCONUS (outside of the United States) twice a year. That's kind of cool. I mean, you're working from your couch, and then you fly out to Jordan for a couple of weeks, work with some really cool people, and get back to your couch.
Kathleen Smith 05:51
Always about the couch surfing, but you know, we all do important work, remote or on site. So, when you and I were talking, we talked about many different hiring challenges. So can you share with our listeners, what are some of your biggest hiring challenges? What are the jobs that are difficult to fill that you feel like when you got that position filled that that was a really great success?
Sebastian Lambert 06:14
I mean, being in the cleared space, that's the biggest hurdle, right? Finding people with that clearance. A lot of times, we need the Top Secret SCI clearance. We don't necessarily go after a lot of polygraph work, so that's great for us. But finding that clearance, and then specifically for the folks that we're looking for, you know, we're looking for high level technical individuals that are not only in high demand by other defense customers and government entities, but out in the commercial space as well. Especially in the DC area, you've got Amazon's headquarters right there. They're constantly competing with us, trying to steal our best folks. So that's probably the biggest challenge, is just having those high level technical folks with the clearance and then also understanding that with the clearance, there is going to be an amount of on-site work that goes with this too, which I know can be a real drag for some people that are really used to the fully remote element at this point.
Rachel Bozeman 07:21
Awesome. Love it. Everyone's excited over here. We got the puppies excited. You say remote and the crowd goes wild over here. Absolutely.
Kathleen Smith 07:31
Do you want me to take this Rachel?
Rachel Bozeman 07:33
Yes, that would be great.
Kathleen Smith 07:39
So one of our favorite things to learn about on our show is more about your company's culture, and who you really think would fit in well. So how would you answer that question for Iron EagleX?
Sebastian Lambert 07:52
The culture, as it is everywhere, is driven from the top down, right? So our majority owners, Michael and Meelo, both were senior NCOs in the Special Operations community. And they've really carried a lot of that and what they've learned and how they operated there, to our workspace here. And at the end of the day, they promote an environment where we are hiring the best of the best, we're hiring the most experienced people for their specific functions, and to be really good at your job, be really good at the fundamentals. We're not here to tell you what to do, or how to do it. We're here to remove hurdles for you and make sure that you can do the best job that we know you can do. It really ends up being a select in, select out culture. I hate kind of saying you've got to be a self-starter. You know, a lot of times that just means that there's nonexistent management. That's not the case here. If you need the guidance, if you need some additional support, we're here for you. But we're not here to tell you how to do your job. And so at the end of the day, people kind of realize that and understand that this is the culture for me, or no, it's not the culture for me. But that's really what drives it at the core.
Rachel Bozeman 09:06
Really cool. And I heard you mention your CEO, Michael, just a second ago. And something that I know you shared with Kathleen previously was that he really has an empathetic mindset when it comes to thinking about the benefits and the way that you're really shaping the culture of the company, which is just really cool, but that he's constantly thinking about the challenges his employees may be facing. Tell us a little bit more. What do you mean by that?
Sebastian Lambert 09:31
Absolutely. So I feel like that's the easiest to do here in Tampa, as far as the inflation rate that we have compared to the rest of the country, and everything that's been happening as people come in droves down to Florida and Tampa specifically. So throughout the last three years, he's kept an eye on the market. He's had me doing constant market analysis and trying to help understand, where are we at? Are our employees as well compensated as they can be? What do we need to do to be better, to do more? We're constantly striving towards getting to 100% of medical, dental, vision. That's a goal that he has set, as far as like, hey, I want to take that burden off the employees. We're not there yet. We're getting very close. As we grow, we get that additional revenue to drive the resources that will pay for that. And then constantly looking at what benefits do the employees care about? What is going to impact them? Especially compared to our competitors and other teammates also out there in the market. Understanding that if we do a contract transition, how does the team as a whole transition? How do we compare to the other companies that are on our team? Or is there one team that's just highly elevated over others? Or can we kind of even it across the board? So we're constantly looking at little things like that, that have a large impact on individuals and their families.
Rachel Bozeman 11:05
Something else that's just really cool is stopping and looking at it from the individual. There's so many things going on and so many companies are throwing the best and the latest and greatest in terms of benefits. And we often hear about unlimited PTO. And something that recently came up on LinkedIn that we saw Michael really was kind of the aggregator for the conversation, was about the unlimited PTO, that it's not necessarily of benefit to the employee as much as it benefits the organization. So walk us through that. It sounds highly interesting. Tell us more.
Sebastian Lambert 11:39
So yeah, I agree with him 100% on that, specifically, as it applies to our industry. The reason for that is, you talk about unlimited PTO, and that looks fantastic on paper, absolutely. You give me unlimited PTO, and I'm like, alright, I'm out for the summer, I'll see you guys in two months. But it doesn't work like that. And especially in our industry, especially the 24/7 operations, if you want to take over a week of paid time off, you're gonna have to go and get approval. If you want to take more than that, that approval gets elevated even higher. So you're putting yourself kind of a target on your back as far as your management, leadership, everything else. Oh, this guy, you know, he's trying to take 100 days off this year. And then a major thing that some folks don't think about, but other folks think about often is the way that government contracts work, and the length of them. So you talk about a three year contract, five year contract. At the end of that contract, it's not a guarantee that your current company is going to win that again, there's a good chance that you're going to turn over to another company. In that event, that's not your decision, hey, I don't want to work at IEX anymore, I'm out. You just really enjoy supporting that customer, you enjoy doing what you're doing. You enjoy having money to pay for food and rent and stuff like that. So you decide to stay on and continue doing the job that you're doing, but it's for another company. If your current company has unlimited PTO, it's just, alright, see you later, have a good time. Whereas if you've accrued paid time off, then you get paid out for that. And a lot of contractors treat that as a severance bonus. And there are other companies that even allow you to sell back paid time off throughout the year if you're not using it. So if you're one of those hard chargers, or if you're on a shift, then you have the ability to really stack up that paid time off and then use it as a bonus for yourself. Whereas unlimited PTO, there's no amount of savings account that ever comes into play with that.
Kathleen Smith 13:51
Yeah, I really appreciated that conversation that Michael sort of spearheaded on LinkedIn, because I don't think many of our transitioning military or job seekers really think about the benefits. And as you said, unlimited PTO sounds very attractive, very sexy, but in reality, it's not going to benefit you. So let's switch over to some of your hiring success stories or nifty experiences that you have had, and maybe a tip to some of our job seekers on how they can have a really good successful hiring.
Sebastian Lambert 14:33
Yeah, so I think that probably all boils down to actually one individual. Our resident data scientist here in Tampa, this was early on in IEX history, we were kind of clawing for work, scrambling, and it was an early data science contract that we were working to staff. And he was a referral from another individual that I worked with. He was like, I've heard you're looking for a data scientist and, you know, Brett's looking for a job, why don't you give them a call? So I call them and am like, Hey, man, what are you doing? And he still had an active clearance and he was just working on another degree. He's always learning, always trying to be smarter. I wish I was half as smart as him, and he's getting smarter every day. It's insane. So just immediately hit it off and brought him on contract. He did a phenomenal job, made friends with everybody, was just fantastic at what he did there. And then a little bit down the road, he got an opportunity to go to a larger company, great opportunity, a lot more money. We were like, Brett, if you don't take this job, we're gonna fire you. So you have to take this job, because it's a great opportunity for you. And so he did. And then, it was a little over a year later, we ended up having this opportunity at headquarters. And I was like, Brett, what's going on? And so he's back. And we're working together again. So I mean, I always say that I'm in it for the long game. I'm not just trying to do anything quickly to fulfill one position. I'm all about establishing a relationship, learning what people want to do, what their career aspirations are, and helping them along that path. And hey, how are you gonna get there? A word of wisdom for anybody listening is just build relationships first, those are so important. That's the foundation that everything will sprout from, so just focus on that human relationship element.
Kathleen Smith 16:28
That's really great. So, Rachel, do you have canine relationships going on right now? Would you like me to continue with the question?
Rachel Bozeman 16:37
Yes, I would love to see if you're also hiring in headquarters for a four legged really hairy beast.
Kathleen Smith 16:48
So when we were talking before, you know, we have a lot of transitioning military who listen to our podcast. So when we talk about how your company supports transitioning military, you talked about the importance of mentoring and support. So can you talk a little bit more about that?
Sebastian Lambert 17:06
Absolutely. So again, going to the top, the majority of our C suite is former military. So a lot of veterans in the C suite, veterans at the director level here, and then we really pack them into the program management office. So those are the individuals that are indirect support assigned to every contract. So all those direct support folks who got get hired on the contract at different military installations, have direct communication into these program managers. These program managers, a few of them, we've actually hired through Hiring Our Heroes or Warrior Care Foundation. So they were fellows who kind of did the transition journey with us, with Iron EagleX specifically. And they're always happy to jump on the phone, even jump on a plane to provide whatever is necessary for our employees all over the place. So we understand how difficult that transition can be. And we're here to support. I think that defense contracting specifically is a great place for those folks to transition to. A lot of times you're in that same environment, you're working with a lot of the same folks, you're just wearing a really cool Nike polo instead of your fatigues.
Kathleen Smith 18:26
Yeah, that was something really great that I remember when we were chatting before about how many veterans you have throughout your organization, and they're always they're willing to reach out and support people.
Rachel Bozeman 18:39
So a question that does come up quite often, especially from our career professionals, when they're thinking about applying to that job is like, it's all about the ATS. How can they get past the stinkin ATS? I know it's an acronym. It's an applicant tracking system, but break it down. How can they get past the ATS?
Sebastian Lambert 18:59
The best way to beat an ATS is to be qualified for the position. I mean, at the end of the day, just meet the qualifications. You are going to be reviewed by a human at some point. I've worked in recruiting at smalls, at larges, there are certain filters that may throw you in a specific bucket, but at the end of the day, someone is going to look at your resume and make that determination of, do they meet the qualifications or do they not? The best way that you can beat an ATS is to really review the job description of the position that you're applying for before you apply. Make sure that you're matching up those keywords. I always joke that I'm just a caveman recruiter over here. I gotta look and there's not the keywords I don't see them. You know, if I don't see those keywords, then how do I translate to the program manager that, hey, this person is qualified?
Kathleen Smith 19:57
Yes, I was just coaching a young professional in our community today. And they unfortunately were doing their resume based on one of those templates that they found from Google or Microsoft. And then they just sort of threw in a bunch of words. And I just said, wow, you have 15 years’ experience, and you don't talk about it. You don't talk about what you're doing. So yes, I think that this is the hardest thing for people who are looking for a job is that they don't understand they have to customize their resume that every single job that they apply for, they have to find out what the keywords are. How does that work in your resume? How do you customize it? Long are gone the days when you wrote one resume and you sent it everywhere.
Sebastian Lambert 20:49
And I would say that, because that scares people, they're like, oh, man, I may have 20 resumes! No, you're really at the core, you're probably really qualified for, you know, a handful of positions. So those three, four or five positions, and you're just tweaking it. You're just changing those keywords, moving some bullets, moving them up to the top. It's minor tweaks, it's not starting all over. Everybody hates writing a resume. I think it's something about kind of trying to self-promote, writing about yourself, there's something that's difficult about it, and it just seems like the worst kind of homework. Don't let that scare you. It's really just tweaking the same core of a resume. And then, once you save that, hey, here's my data analyst resume, here's my business analyst resume, here's my data science resume. Having those templates and then you're throwing in different bullets as you work on projects and get different school and classes and stuff like that.
Kathleen Smith 21:47
Yes, I always love saying, customize, and people are like, no, I have one and that's all I want to have. So you and I are on the same page about the importance of stepping back and figuring out what you want to do next, before looking at your next job, or transitioning out of the military. Can you sort of expand upon that for our listeners, because I know so many times either transitioning military, or a cleared professional, they just sort of want to go to the next step, they just, they're not looking at the long game, or the full scope of what they can do with their career.
Sebastian Lambert 22:23
Getting back to that point of identifying the position that you want, and then really targeting in on it, and not only tailoring your resume, but also using LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great OSINT tool. You can go on there, alright, hey, where did these positions exist? What companies are hiring for them? Alright, I'm gonna go and connect with as many of the people that I can in those companies, specifically recruiters, anyone who looks like a hiring manager, other people who do that job, and make sure that you're putting out a warm, personal invite to those individuals. Hey, I really want to do this at your company. Let me know if there's ever any opportunity to do that. You also get a lot of intel as far as like, hey, I want to be a data analyst. You're a data analyst. Can you give me any insight as to salary? What should I be asking for? What can I get? What can I expect? You know, maybe you even start down that path. And you're like, oh, well, it seems like the ceiling on this is not what I need for me and my family. Maybe this career path isn't really what I want. And you're figuring that out on the front end, as opposed to getting 1, 2, 3 years into a career and then you're like, wait, I don't like this at all. So being able to do that research, being able to do that intelligence gathering on the front end, is so much easier nowadays with LinkedIn, and the other tools that are out there. And even just old school in person networking, you know, walking around with a martini in your hand and talking to people about what they do.
Rachel Bozeman 23:58
Love it, and I really just appreciate just the down to earth approach that you're taking on just explaining it to people. And I know people are going to appreciate that. And so with that in mind, how in the heck can they get a hold of you because you know the people are going to want to talk to you.
Sebastian Lambert 24:13
Absolutely, so I'm that giant ginger on LinkedIn. You can see a big old mug of mine. And then so are all the recruiters here at Iron EagleX, big presence on LinkedIn. Again, use the crap out of that to network, to connect with people, everything else. And then my personal contact information, just slambert@ironeaglex.com. Reach out to me anytime, I'm happy to help transitioning veterans. That was actually what I was doing 30 minutes ago. I constantly get resumes of, hey, my friend is transitioning, or hey, they're in the guard or the reserves and they're looking to break into this. If I can't help you, I'm going to talk to you and see what I can do to maybe tweak your resume or give you some insight as to companies or jobs to go after in the industry.
Kathleen Smith 25:06
We've all enjoyed this. We love all people here, and our canines, and a few felines too. So thank you so much for joining us today. We loved chatting with you.
Sebastian Lambert 25:23
Absolutely. Thanks, Kathleen. Thanks, Rachel.
Kathleen Smith 25:27
So I really enjoyed talking with Sebastian, because there are different defense contractors who support special operations, and special operations is a very unique kind of work to do. But it's also nice to know that you have veterans who are in the leadership suite, who are there willing to help other veterans by mentoring them, by helping them when they join the company, with their networking. Sebastian was even doing some coaching right before he got on the call with us. So I really liked that mentality of, we're gonna reach out and support the veterans. What about you, Rachel?
Rachel Bozeman 26:06
I thought he had so many great things to share. But I really loved the conversation and kind of the poking in on getting that resume in front of the recruiter. The reminder that they're human beings, and that it has to appeal in that certain way. And it just kind of reminded me, it's like going to McDonald's and trying to order with your Burger King order. It's never gonna work out. Yeah, you might get some food, but you want to make sure that you are ordering the right thing, presenting the right information. And I thought he did just a really nice job of just kind of that great reminder of what's necessary to get the job and how to beat the ATS. So thanks so much for listening to us today. So happy you were here to join us. Gold stars are going to you and you and you and you and you for listening all the way to the end. Make sure you get out there and follow, and next time it'll be a platinum star.
Kathleen Smith 27:00
Bye. Thanks for listening.