Rachel Bozeman 00:49
Well, hello, everyone. Yes, you know this voice. It's Rachel. And I'm so glad you're here today for some more career insights and all sorts of fun on today's show. And speaking of fun, and joining us for all of the goodness today, is the one and only Mr. Bob Wheeler. How are you doing, my friend?
Bob Wheeler 01:13
Hey, Rachel. I'm doing great. I'm so excited to be here. And I want to say hello to everybody out in the audience there. Today on the show, we're gonna be talking to Uri Robinson. He is the co-founder of the Robinson Consulting Group. Hey, Uri. How are you doing? You wanna say hello to everybody?
Uri Robinson 01:25
Yeah, I'm happy to be here.
Rachel Bozeman 01:27
Well, we are so glad that you're happy to be here. And I know something that all of our audience members love to understand first -- so that you can kind of get that street cred with all of these listeners -- is to understand a little bit of your background. So if you don't mind, just tell us a little bit about your career journey, how you ended up helping to create the Robinson Consulting Group, and what brought you around? Tell us a little bit more about you, Uri.
Uri Robinson 01:52
I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, on the beach, awesome scenery. Got my degree in computer science. And I would have told you, I would have been the next developer for the John Madden football game. I thought I was gonna be a video game developer. So I'm interviewing for all these different companies, no specific offers or anything. And I made a decision to upgrade my Career Builder account 15 years ago to platinum for like 30 days. And at that time, I got a call from every defense contractor in the Washington DC area. And so I moved up here with a job coming straight out of college, had no clue about the intelligence community. All I knew was that my teammates from track and field and some of my professors were getting interviewed by investigators. When I moved up here, I spent about nine to 10 years within the industry for various jobs that require clearances. And at that point, just based off my experience, based on relationships across government, I decided to take a leap with my father actually. And we started a consulting company helping with systems engineering and systems integration across DoD and intelligence community customers.
Bob Wheeler 03:17
That's a great story, Uri. It's always got to be great to work with family. To start something with your pops is really cool. What is it that Robinson Consulting Group does? What's the focus of the organization? What's your mission?
Rachel Bozeman 03:31
Love it. And something you mentioned that I know our listeners will be interested in is the human side of it. And so we would like to spend a little time talking about are the type of positions that you're currently looking to fill. So what are the different cleared positions that you currently have posted and are seeking amazing talent for?
Uri Robinson 03:31
Yeah, definitely. I would consider us as the trusted advisors of government. And we usually sit in between government and a service delivery contract, whether it's a software developer, an IT contractor that is deploying hardware, we're usually that middle ground to translate technical speak into reality, per se. From a technical perspective, I'll say we're in the systems engineering industry. So that includes what a lot of folks will know of the Systems Engineering V. So you can just imagine the letter V. The left of it is kind of like the beginning of your process. The right side is the end of your process. So we helped with the initial requirements engineering, where we're actually documenting what government actually wants. And that is a process because sometimes they don't know what they want. And so we help them get that documented. Once all that is in place, there is obviously some form of acquisition or transaction to help actually procure the services or equipment that's needed. From there, we help with testing, verification, and validation to make sure what was delivered actually works to the expectations of government. And then at that point, there's an operational rollout. There are various readiness reviews that are coordinated by consultants like us to make sure that we are prepared after actions are in place. And then sometimes there may be systems that may be in place for a year, decade, and there may be at some point in time to decommission it. In between all of that there's relationship building, there's communication that has to be had to make sure that folks are on the same page. And so while it is very technical, there is a human communication aspect that's required to make projects successful. Kind of to the five phases that I described with that System Engineering V, so we're looking for people that are big on supporting documentation, that help write requirements. We have positions that are open to testers. So there are test engineers that we're looking for, whether it is manual testing, whether there are various automated test tools that you may be familiar with. I would also require people to write test plans in general, because usually government wants to be prepared for things they're going to test for. Also operational sides of things, so the term systems engineer, systems integrator are interchangeable across our industry, and really helps across all of the phases, but it can be nuanced. And so there may be systems engineers that only may be focused on capabilities that are about to deploy, or there may be systems engineers that spend time doing analysis of alternatives to determine what direction we can go in the future. So I would say, overall, the term systems engineer, system integrators, is what you will see for job listings within our company, but also it includes just kind of across the gambit that skill set.
Rachel Bozeman 06:12
Awesome. And so what security level are you currently hiring for?
Uri Robinson 07:06
Usually our positions are TS/SCI, just based off of the customers that we're supporting. Some will require a polygraph, some don't. Don't be scared, the polygraph is completely fine. But some positions do require it.
Rachel Bozeman 07:21
Just tell the truth, right? Just tell the truth, and you'll be fine. And one last question that doesn't require a polygraph, are these positions located in north Virginia? Where are they located?
Uri Robinson 07:33
Yeah. All across the DC metro area.
Bob Wheeler 07:35
That's awesome. In the pre-call, you talked about one of the positions -- and you mentioned it a little bit earlier -- but in the pre-call, you talked about the position of requirements engineering. And you said that can sometimes be a tough thing for you guys to fill because it's not the sexiest job, I think was the way you said it. Can you tell us a bit more about what a requirements engineer is? And what kind of person would be a good fit for that position?
Uri Robinson 07:57
Yeah, and I've actually thought about when I made that statement as well. Requirements engineering, in general, when you think about any type of system that is going to deploy, there's always a quote I think of. You measure twice, cut once, instead of measure once, cut twice, right? You want to be as precise as possible before you start putting anything into action. So from that aspect, there could be requirements documents that are five pages long, there could be requirements documents that are 500 pages long. And so there is a level of patience being in front of a computer typing up that amount of documentation. But those are usually the smartest people in the industry, because they know what the requirements are, because they wrote it at the end of the day. And so from that aspect, that type of person that's open to that is usually from what I've noticed in my personal experience, are introverts, because they don't have to go out and talk to a lot of people a lot of times because they're focused on making sure documentation is up to par. But there's some form of human interaction because you have to make sure that what you're writing down is accurate at the end of the day, so potentially an extroverted introvert, if that even exists, right?
Rachel Bozeman 09:20
That could be sexy. I think you could sell it. That's the job of a recruiter, right? We could make it happen. Something else I wanted to pick your brain about a little bit - while Robinson Consulting Group might be a smaller organization and company, you've also personally had the opportunity to work for some very large contractors. So you kind of have both of the best worlds, right? You know what it's like to work for really big and then being able to have more of that smaller organization. So talking about selling, sell me on why a small company is a great fit.
Bob Wheeler 09:54
Yeah, when you talk about those small companies, the ability to be seen, for good or bad. You can't hide in a small company, right? So if somebody's coming to Robinson Consulting, or any other small company, and they want to make that positive impact, are there any tips that you have for employees so that they can put themselves in a position to make that positive impact and any wisdom in that regard on how they should be setting themselves up for success?
Uri Robinson 09:54
For the most part with small businesses, you have direct access to the C-suite, usually the cofounders, the CEOs, the vice presidents. And there may be things that you may recommend to help the employee experience within the company that you will immediately see come to fruition in comparison to working with large company where you have various processes and procedures that come into play. I think those are just some of the initial advantages to where you can see change happen. And then especially for those that are willing to spend time to truly understand the company and the goals, the level of promotion is actually at a greater chance with a smaller company, in comparison with the larger company. And so from that aspect, you can make immediate impact very quickly. Yeah, definitely. The first thing I always think about is, ask questions. At the end of the day, try to understand how the company operates. Every small business needs resources, because that's one thing they don't have, in comparison to these large companies. So if there's a proposal that our company is working on, more than likely, it's a handful of people in comparison to these large companies that have entire floors of buildings ready to put together a proposal to win new work. So one of the things that has made me successful is that I have a knack for writing proposals and helping write proposals because not everybody wants to do it. At the end of the day, it's very time consuming. And so for any employees that are going into a company, I think all you have to ask is, hey, is there any proposal work I can help support? And folks will be like, absolutely, come on board. And you will learn a lot about the back-end portion of government contracting, as far as what does it take to actually win work, build relationships, and kind of go from there.
Rachel Bozeman 12:21
Awesome. Well, something else we want to talk about is some of the recent hiring experiences that you've had that would help our listeners.
Uri Robinson 12:28
My best employee was Ubering when we met. He had recently been let go from a contract because the company had not won the follow on. And I kind of understood what he was trying to do. His skill set just off of conversation happened to be the exact thing that I needed for a position we were trying to fill. It's amazing how your future can just go in any direction. Never give up, things can change in a matter of 24 hours. And so one of my favorite employees, he went from Uber in one day to being an integrated program team lead for a very successful project. On the other side, I've had scenarios where people come on board onto a contract and their expectations are a little different. Or they may have behaviors that violate policy at different sites. And so employers should always focus on trying to be the easiest to work with, with their employer. If you don't give your employer headaches, it's kind of like you're automatically asking for a raise, because it just makes their life so much easier. Depending on the type of program, a person may be responsible for 50 people, five people, but just imagine that program manager who you may be working for in the future responsible for 49 other people, and being the one that's the easiest to work with. It'll make his or her life easier, and your life so much easier.
Rachel Bozeman 14:06
I learned to always be nice to your Uber drivers. And if you're a driver, always carry your resume. I think that's what I heard. I don't know about you, Bob.
Bob Wheeler 14:15
We can use that as a great segue because we were going to talk a bit about transitioning military folks. I think you've always got to be prepared. I was in the Navy for 20 years. And I know Uri, you said that you got to UNCW because you were in Fayetteville because your dad was in the army. So I guess you're a veteran-owned company or a half veteran-owned company, however you want to describe it, but you're definitely tied to the military. You've got some deep roots to the military. So what kind of tips -- besides always be prepared to have your resume -- what kind of tips do you have for some of those transitioning veterans out there? Because you guys have hired some veterans, I assume, right?
Uri Robinson 14:45
Yeah, absolutely. That one story as an example on the good side, he was a Navy veteran. And so especially coming up to the DC area, they say your network is your net worth at the end of the day and so you never know who has access to what. Build those relationships across the board with any and everybody, because somebody knows somebody who knows somebody. I always think about the story of like the Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon. It's very true here in the DC area. You may be seven relationships away from the President at any moment. And so that is one thing to think about is to make sure you are building meaningful relationships related to your industry, or even not in your industry. Definitely making sure you are expanding your network on a consistent basis. It could be going to happy hours, having a drink with somebody, just being out there. Staying in your house is not the best thing to do. Get out there and make sure people know who you are.
Rachel Bozeman 15:50
It's not often that we get to talk about Kevin Bacon, but when we do, I feel like it's always amazing. So as we're getting kind of close to the end of this conversation, just wanted to come back and pick that amazing brain up there about careers and job search. So is there anything that you can think of or that one tip or trick that you would like to give these listeners on how they can take their career or their job search to the next level - besides being related to Kevin Bacon?
Uri Robinson 16:21
Yeah, definitely, I made a mission for myself. This is about five years ago. There are so many different associations, depending on what your industry is. I told myself five years ago, any association I joined, I'm going to attempt to be a life member, so that for one, it was a financial decision, so I didn't have to pay dues every year. But then at that point, it allows you to keep constant communication with people within the organization. A lot of these associations receive either publications or you can go to events for free. Join these associations, because you will be surprised who are members, who are part of Board of Directors of these organizations. There are all types of associations. And if you know of any of your colleagues that are part of the associations, ask them about their experience within the organization. Ask them if it would be beneficial. Do your own research, and kind of go from there because it can drastically benefit your job search in the future.
Bob Wheeler 17:21
This has been some really great information, Uri. It's been really fun to learn about you, the organization that you've got there, and some great tips. If any of our listeners want to get in touch with you, how do they get in touch with Uri Robinson?
Uri Robinson 17:33
The primary way is through LinkedIn. You can just look me up, Uri Robinson. As well as my email address uri.robinson@robinsoncg.net. We're actively looking for people in the systems engineering, systems integration field that can help contribute to the mission. At the end of the day, we want to make sure we are impactful. And so if you're ready to deliver, if you're ready to make impact, get in contact with me.
Rachel Bozeman 18:04
Deliver, make an impact, give them a call. Uri, it was an absolute pleasure getting to speak and learn with you today. Thanks so much for spending a little time with us this afternoon.
Uri Robinson 18:15
Glad to be here. I appreciate it. This was a good call.
Rachel Bozeman 18:19
What a great conversation and an all-around good time with our friend Uri. Something I really appreciated was just a reminder from Uri about the importance of always being on go or at ready when it comes to looking for that next career. Whether you're in the back of an Uber, driving Uber, wherever it may be, wherever the opportunity may present itself, it's about being ready to have that conversation, knowing your value, and taking every opportunity to network. And I just thought that was such a great reminder and such an encouragement for so many folks out there that just aren't sure how to get their foot in the door. What about you, Bob?
Bob Wheeler 18:55
I took a little note. What I circled was, ask questions. I loved when he said, when you're in a new company and you're like, how can I help on our proposal, offering to do things, asking those questions. And I think that tied into to the fact that he must have used the word relationship four or five times too. How do you build relationships, asking questions, being engaged, that kind of thing. So that tip for asking questions and relationship, that's what I took out of that.
Rachel Bozeman 19:18
Wonderful. Well, we're always so glad when you've made it this far into the show with us. You're undoubtedly all rock stars. So thanks for listening. Make sure you go out there, follow the show and have yourself a fantastic little week.