Still no offers

Elon still hasn’t called me yet, or neither has RGNext but I did get contacted from the ByLight recruiter. This person was extremely helpful and gave me a few great pointers. Some of the pointers suggested to me are s follows the resume shouldn’t be some fancy design, the resumes shouldn’t have crazy fonts stick to the basics and also the resume shouldn’t be colored. The reason for these suggestion is that many companies have a program that researches the resumes and if the resume has any of the above items in it the program may just discard the resume.

So to ByLight

After the above suggestions, she wanted me to fix my resume and resubmit it to her so she could pass it on the Hiring director. I was then contacted by their Security Officer who sent me instruction and forms to fill out. The forms are to conduct a background check, this position is for a Help Desk Specialist position. The great part about this position is they will get me experience and also grant me Top Secret Security Clearance, so I’m am interested.

The security forms she needed me to send back were my basic information like history, social security, driver license number and other questions. The strange part about this process was she wanted me to zip and encrypt the files then send two emails. The 1st is the encrypted files and the other was the password to decrypt the file. I submitted both of them now I will wait and see again…..

Another Interesting Suggestion

When I was talking to the recruiter I made a comment about putting a suit on for an interview. She suggested that many companies would prefer if I didn’t show up to interviews in a suit and attend the interview in a more business casual attire.

The Search Continues

After applying to many positions the previous week through LinkedIN and USAJOBS, I was able to get a few responses. One company responded on the LinkedIN messenger and another company emailed me. The company on LinkedIn asked if I had a active TS/SCI Clearance. I currently do not. A TS/SCI clearance stands for Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmentalized Information. If you are interested in learning more about this here is a good link https://militarybenefits.info/how-to-get-ts-sci-clearance/. To obtain one on your own is very expensive and once you receive it is extremely useful to obtain a good job with the government or contractors for the government. The process takes months to obtain the clearance but is well worth the wait.

My First Interview

The other response I received was from RGNext in regards to the Pre-Flight Analyst position. I received a phone call and they would like to interview me. I accepted the interview and set up a time and date. This is the first interview Ive had in the last 10 years, I felt a little nervous but not to much since Ive conducted many interviews in my previous position. So how did the interview go? I showed up early, I am always early to everything, I met with two interviewers who asked me a series of questions. The questions were the typical interview questions nothing abnormal. The interview took about an hour, I felt I did really well, I guess we will see if I get the position. The job is pretty cool though I would be on a design team that sets up the screen for launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base and I’d be able to watch the launches in the launch room. So when Space-X launches and Elon was in attendance we could talk about rooming together on mars or DOGECOIN. This was all the job related information I received this week hopefully I get an offer for next week.

The Rejections

They’re were a few rejections, I did receive a few emails notifying me that I failed to meet the basic requirements for the job. I failed to meet the requirements for the Space-X positions and knew this when I applied. I was still going to try, my hopes were that they were desperate and would take a chance on a person who didn’t graduate yet and didn’t have any experience. You never know if you don’t try.

Civilian Applications

Now that I had I had put together both types of my resumes I can start filling out applications. I have an end goal of getting into cyber security. After reading the requirements for the jobs I would like to apply to, they want experience. Here lies the problem, how am I suppose to have experience in a new career field when its a new career field.

I do have one thing going for me, my wife is a in the Air Force and we are located at Vandenberg Space Force base.I get preference for jobs on base due to being a spouse of an Active Duty military member. This base has a lot of positions for people with Computer Science degrees but many of the positions here are looking for people who have had experience. My current landlord works on base and told me to just apply even though I don’t have experience or haven’t graduated yet.

So this is where I am and I have started to apply for positions. I applied to two jobs at SpaceX, Elon doesn’t know it yet but we are destined to become besties, the position I applied to was a IT Sys Admin and Sys Analyst. I’ve also applied to RGNext to their Pre-Flight Analyst position which designs the screens for the rocket launches, this would be pretty cool. There was a new grad position I did find that was for Software Engineer at L3 Harris Technologies. The last job I applied to on LinkedIn was a Help-Desk Specialist at ByLight. My ideal job would be a GS position on base, to get a GS position you would need to apply for jobs through the USAJOBS site.

Government Applications

I searched through the USAJOBS site and found a few positions that I meet the basic requirements for. The application process on this site is a lot different then applying for civilian jobs. USAJOBS‘s application process is a few more steps. Along with the submission of a lengthy government resume, you are required to fill of a questionnaire and submit transcripts. If you fail to meet all the requirement your application will just be thrown out. You application will never get pulled to move to the next step of the process. Before you hit the submit button make sure you have everything needed to apply. If you are rejected you wont be allowed a second chance to try again.

The one position that I wanted to apply to required a Computer Science degree and technically I have not graduated yet. I’ll apply after the fall quarter, the other position I did find required a degree and needed 20 credit hours of Computer Science classes, I did meet these requirements.The positions title is Information Technology Specialist and is located at many military bases. This is a good start now we wait and see if we get any response, if not I’ll keep applying. The saying goes shooters shoot and I’ll just keep shooting .

Now We Wait

So I guess the first step in trying to get a new career field has been taken. This blog may be all about how not to try to get a job or how to get a job. I guess the ending will right itself in due time. Wish me luck.

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