Kathleen Smith 00:51
This is Kathleen, and I am so grateful to be here today. It's especially fabulous because I am here in the podcast studio with my one and only, my fabulous friend, Rachel. Rachel, how are you doing today?
Rachel Bozeman
01:03
With an introduction like that, it can't get much better. So excited to be
here. Who's our guest on the show today?
Kathleen Smith
01:10
Well, it's great that we have dogs in the background because we're going to
have a Devil Dog theme going on today. Joining us is Nick Brown. He's the Chief
Operating Officer at Semper Valens Solutions. Nick, welcome to our crazy show
today.
Nick Brown
01:25
Thanks for having me.
Rachel Bozeman
01:26
We like to start the show with one simple thing. Can you tell us a little bit
about your career journey? How did you end up as the COO at Semper Valens
Solutions?
Nick Brown
01:36
Sure. So, out of college, I ended up working for the DoD, doing financial stuff
for the Navy. From there, I moved to Austin and was introduced to my boss, the
CEO of Semper Valens Solutions, back in 2014. I started helping him as he was
setting up the company. Then I moved over full-time almost to the day, nine
years ago, back in 2016. From there, I was running all the financials, and then
I started doing some PM work. I got involved with some of the functional
departments, and about two years ago, he made me the COO. So, it’s been a fun
journey. I have a blast in all the roles I’ve held at Semper Valens. Outside of
the COO role, I’m still also the CFO. So, it’s good to wear a couple of hats.
Kathleen Smith
02:20
Well, we always love when people have many different hats because I think
people think that careers within the cleared community are rather boring, but
they're not. We get the opportunity to do a variety of things and support the
overall mission. Semper Valens Solutions has about 225 employees and three
divisions. How would you describe this diverse portfolio of contracts that you
have? What does the company actually do with each one of those contracts in the
cleared community?
Nick Brown
02:48
Great question. We have over 20 prime contracts, and some are subcontracts. We
support the Army, Air Force, DHA, VA, DISA, and a lot of different agencies,
whether as a prime or as a sub. We’re doing a lot of different things, from
high-end software engineering and development to logistician-type work to
maintaining fielded systems. We do a lot of training and are working on cyber
hunt kits. We’re all over the place in terms of where those jobs are located.
We’re broken up into three different divisions. One is focused more on health
and civil, which is DHA and VA. Another is focused on some of the training
we’re doing and logistical-type work. We’re managing a warehouse for the
government between New Jersey and Aberdeen, Maryland. And then we’re doing cyber
and training on cyber hunt kits. So, we’re very much diversified and doing a
lot of great work all over the place.
Rachel Bozeman
04:00
A lot of options, a lot of customers, a lot of things going on. You kind of
hinted at this, but I want to dig in a little bit deeper for all those
currently on their career hunt out there. What are the types of
security-cleared positions that you’re hiring for? You mentioned a couple of
locations, but I’m going to challenge you to say where other places these
positions might be located as well.
Nick Brown
04:20
Great. Most of our positions are Secret or higher. We do have some uncleared
positions, primarily within the VA and DHA space, so the health space, but most
are Secret and then Top Secret. We also have TS/SCI. We are hiring today in San
Antonio, supporting some Air Force customers, Aberdeen, Maryland, as mentioned,
and Fort Belvoir in Virginia is another big area. We do have quite a few remote
positions as well, though most of those are uncleared. Focusing on cleared
positions, which is what this podcast is about, our big areas are the
Northeast, the DC Beltway with Belvoir, Fort Meade, and Aberdeen. Then we have
Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where we have a large contract as a prime, as well as
some subcontract work, and San Antonio. It’s always changing. You never know
when a new contract is going to hit or new requirements are going to come out,
but today, those are where those jobs are located.
Kathleen Smith
05:21
Some of my favorite places to go. San Antonio, I have lots of great friends
down there. Just a hello to BSides San Antonio. So, Semper Valens means “always
strong,” and your founder is a Marine. With over 50% of your workforce made up
of veterans and active participation in the SkillBridge program, how does this
strong veteran focus shape your overall company culture?
Nick Brown
05:48
It has a huge impact on company culture, starting from the top with our CEO. As
you mentioned, our name means a lot to him in supporting the warfighter. That’s
supporting soldiers in the field with different systems that we are either
deploying, fielding, or training soldiers on, as well as developing new
systems. On the health side, we’re supporting veterans and their families with
different benefit programs and website maintenance, like tricare.mil or
help.mil, providing them with an easier time after everything they’ve done.
Rachel Bozeman
06:34
I want to dig in a little bit about something we hear all day long from so many
different candidates and customers alike: the shift of returning to the office
for Secret clearance or higher roles that might have previously been hybrid or
remote. Are you experiencing that shift, and where do you see this trend
continuing to evolve?
Nick Brown
06:58
Yes, we are. The current administration has pushed on that quite a bit with
federal employees, and that has started flowing down to contractors as well. As
an example, if you go onto APG, the base there, you used to be able to park
right next to the building. Those parking lots, for the last handful of years
as COVID hit in 2020, were fairly empty. Now, they are absolutely full. We’re
seeing a mix: full-time back in the office, elbow-to-elbow with our customers,
or hybrid. For the most part, full remote for cleared professionals has mostly
gone away, at least on the contracts and customers we’re supporting. It’s
either two or three days a week back in the office or full-time back in the
office, which definitely poses a challenge. Everyone has different
circumstances in their personal life. For a couple of years, it was very much
hybrid or full remote, which people got used to. We’re trying to do different
things from our side to make that a little bit easier and be advocates for them
while ensuring we’re fully supporting our customers and making sure the job is
getting done.
Kathleen Smith
08:19
I’m going to dovetail on that question a little bit because, as you were
answering, you talked about it being fluid. We went from one stance where a lot
of positions were fully remote to now moving back to return-to-office, and I’m
sure this has been a challenge to culture, maintaining morale, and maintaining
a good company culture. Since you have the C-suite view of this, how do you
make sure you don’t lose your culture even though your employees are flowing
from what they were used to one way to now another? How do you embrace and
maintain that company culture?
Nick Brown
09:02
It starts from the top, but it takes everyone’s buy-in. Something we’ve done,
and we started doing even more when COVID hit, was trying to do employee
socials, especially in areas where we have employee concentration. It’s hard to
do if you have one employee in, say, Oklahoma or Alaska, but when you have
numerous employees in Arizona, San Antonio, or up in the Northeast in various
locations, it’s really important for us to get out and have those
touchpoints—not just a formalized check-in, but more of a “we’re part of a
community, a family.” Our CEO, Scott, has driven into all of us that we are a
family, and we look out for one another. Everyone’s dealing with something, and
we want to be there to support them the best we can. With culture, some people
were upset when they had to go in either multiple times a week or full-time
back. We’re trying to reach out to them, check in on them, and potentially
provide other avenues, like applying to a fully remote position. We’ve done it
with a few people who had certain life circumstances where we were able to move
them to a full remote position, maybe supporting one of our other contracts,
which has been great. I instill in our division managers, program managers, and
functional departments that we’re here to support them. They’re the ones doing
the work. We’re here as a mechanism to support them and ensure they’re taken
care of to the best of our ability, whether that’s dealing with something
benefit-related or an issue they’re having on a project, whether technical or
personality-driven. We really try to get out there as much as we can to do
those socials and check-ins. We have great turnouts and great feedback from
them. Doing something for an hour or two, like a happy hour or lunch, goes a
long way. We do the same for all our locations for holiday parties and a
handful of other times throughout the year, depending on what’s going on in the
company or the industry, to do those check-ins.
Kathleen Smith
11:24
During our pre-call, you were talking to my wonderful partner, Courtney, and
you constantly mentioned the candidate experience, which is something near and
dear to my heart and Rachel’s as well. What is important to you during the
hiring process for the applicant?
Nick Brown
11:42
I don’t have a recruiting background, so to speak, but I’ve recruited a lot of
people in my operations role. I’m always happy to jump on calls with one of our
hiring managers to sell the company a little bit more if needed to a potential
candidate. Something we talk about all the time with our recruiters, HR, and
hiring managers is that candidates are usually the first ones to get a touch or
feel of what the company is about. They’re the entryway into our company, and
it’s really important to ensure that even if they’re not qualified, not the
right fit, or not interested, they have a really positive experience with us.
Take notes—you never know when you’ll have something that’s a good fit. We’re
big on keeping detailed notes about interviews and screens within our ATS so
other hiring managers can look those up and reference them. We’ve reached out
to people who weren’t a good fit for either us or them, and years down the
road, we’ve reached back out because now we believe it’s a great fit, and we
want to offer them something different to get them to their next career goal.
I’m very big on the experience a candidate is going to have. I’ve been
fortunate not to have had an actual interview in a long time, but I know that
can be unbelievably stressful for people looking for jobs. I’ve dealt with it
in talking with different candidates, and it’s a stressful thing. They’re
looking out for their family and their next career move, and making it as
seamless and painless as possible is very important for not only myself but our
entire company and team to ensure they have a positive experience.
Rachel Bozeman
13:35
Even if you haven’t had a recruiter title, it sounds like you’ve played one on
TV before. Great advice and insight on how to perfect that candidate
experience. Since you have such great advice and maybe have had that recurring
role before, is there other advice you might give those on that cleared
professional job hunt—some tips they may find successful as they’re navigating
those waters and looking for their next perfect career?
Nick Brown
14:01
What works really well for us is the direct reach-out, and we take it very
seriously. I get reached out to quite a bit. I take those resumes and pass them
directly to our Talent Acquisition Manager, Carmela. She’s fantastic and does a
great job of either her or someone on her team reaching out to them, whether we
have an opening or not, to put them into our pipeline. I see it all the time on
LinkedIn where people say they’ve applied to 500 jobs in the last month and
aren’t getting callbacks. That has to be so demoralizing. My advice to cleared
professionals is to get contacts. Go on the website, and if you’re really
serious about a role, find a leader you can reach out to and send your resume
or a note directly to them. Good leaders will take that and ensure you’re
engaged with. If you’re not a fit at that time, they’ll put you into the
system, hopefully leading to something down the road. I’ve done it before, and
a few people in our company have done it, where we’ve passed a resume along to another
company we have a relationship with, saying, “Do you have any openings for this
person? They seem like they could be a good fit for XYZ program.” Those little
movements from a leader or recruiter don’t take long, and I think they go a
long way with a candidate. You never know when that candidate will refer one of
their friends to you and say, “They were really helpful.” That’s the biggest
compliment we get—when people are referred to us from former employees, current
employees, or people we’ve engaged with at that level. I’m not saying I see
every single message, but I try my best to ensure we’re engaging with those
candidates.
Kathleen Smith
15:51
It’s amazing, Nick. I’m glad you brought this up—maintaining that
connection—because that recruiter will remember the positive experience they
had with you, and they’ll remember you for other positions. Recruiters network
with other recruiters, so always be sure you have at least five or six
recruiters you maintain a really good professional relationship with. Talking
about this job market, I’m sure you’re seeing a high volume of applicants for
your open positions. Are you seeing that, and how does a cleared professional
stand out in that crowd?
Nick Brown
16:30
For most of our roles, we are seeing a high number of applicants, which is
great, but our ATS takes that resume and scores it. If people are just
uploading a resume without putting any other pertinent information, like their
certifications or details about themselves, they’re not always getting seen in
a timely manner. It’s hard for a few recruiters and hiring managers to go
through hundreds of resumes every day. We’ve set up knockout questions and
other things to ensure we’re getting the best possible candidates to the top of
the list. Beyond that, it really is reaching out directly and going that extra
step, which could be daunting if you’re applying to a dozen or two dozen jobs.
But I think that makes a big difference to ensure your resume is seen. That’s
the first step, and if it’s seen and meets the basic qualifications, it’s
absolutely going to get looked at. You’ll get a call from most companies, I
think, who strive to respect the process.
Rachel Bozeman
17:46
Wonderful. There’s been a lot of great advice shared today and a lot of great
career opportunities. I know we’re going to have listeners who would like to
get in touch with you or members of your recruiting team to discuss those
career opportunities. How can they get in touch with your team?
Nick Brown
18:01
Through our website or LinkedIn by sending messages directly. I believe my
LinkedIn profile has my phone number as well. I’m happy to take calls from
prospective candidates or people looking to make a change or curious about the
company, the culture, and what we could potentially find for them down the
road.
Kathleen Smith
18:25
Wonderful. Nick, thank you so much for your time today. It was great chatting
with you.
Nick Brown
18:29
Thank you guys so much. I appreciate you having me. Bye.
Kathleen Smith
18:34
Nick was just a delight to have on the show. I really appreciated him talking
about this flow that so many companies have had to deal with—taking folks who
were remote or hybrid and bringing them back into the office—and being human
about the entire process. For some people, it’s not going to work, and it
sounds like they’ve been very flexible, finding some really great positions for
people who just couldn’t make that switch for one reason or another. Rachel,
what did you think?
Rachel Bozeman
19:05
I thought that was great insight from Nick, and I’d take it one step further.
He wears many hats within the organization, but all of those hats are in the
C-suite. It was refreshing to hear someone so interactive in the recruiting
process and really have an understanding and appreciation for that candidate
experience. It did my little recruiter heart good, just as I hope listening all
the way through the podcast did for you today. We learned a lot and hope you
did too. We bring these episodes to you to make your job search even more
productive in all that you do. Thanks for following the show. Thanks for
listening all the way through, and until next time, bye-bye.