Author Archives: Kathleen Smith

The Candidate Experience is being recognized as an integral part of a talent acquisition strategy. More than 5 years ago ClearedJobs.Net launched the Best Recruiter Program which has become an key component of employer brand building within security cleared community. Word of mouth employer branding is a vital component of any company’s talent acquisition strategy that is involved in the security cleared community as candidates tend to value face to face offline connecting more than online connecting.

Trust is a big issue in the security cleared community and many candidates are more comfortable meeting with companies’ recruiters in person before they start their relationship with them. A Best…

Debora Plunkett

The Women in Intelligence Group held their biannual speaker series on April 30, 2013. Titled Paradigm Shift: Leadership Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Times of Fundamental Change, the session featured Teresa Shea, Signals Intelligence Director, National Security Agency and Debora Plunkett, Information Assurance Director, National Security Agency.

The Women in Intelligence Group, a subgroup of AFCEA Central Maryland, hosts the speaker series featuring professional women holding senior leadership positions within Government and private industry.The goal of these sessions is to raise awareness of, and bring focus to, leadership challenges within the intelligence community.

Ms. Plunkett and Ms. Shea both…

Much has been written about fake LinkedIn profiles. There are folks who use LinkedIn to build marketing or contact lists and even worse, to gather information and intel on folks for nefarious reasons.

Many critics have commented that there are numerous fake LinkedIn profiles, and it will ruin LinkedIn if it’s not addressed.

However, LinkedIn is still a very effective tool for building your personal brand for finding a job, developing a business or attracting talent. Being part of a community allows you to build your brand and take advantage of the community watching out for you. Community policing is important only if…

John Nixon and Smurf. Or Troll.

It was a glorious sunny morning for the the 6^th annual 2013 Race for Excellence 5K and 1-Mile Fun Run. The eventbenefits AFCEA’s Central Maryland Scholarship Fund, which provides merit-based college scholarships to deserving local high-school students.

This community event has over 30 companies and local vendors help sponsor the event including ClearedJobs.Net customer, SAIC, who is also a long standing partner of AFCEA CMD, providing the race location and considerable support. There were 67 teams registered including the new Women in Intelligence Group, WIIG, who ran “wigs” to keep the fun plus the anonymity of working…

Everyone’s budget is being cut.

We all have to be more creative with less. But is cutting resources the best option for long term recruiting and employer branding strategy? While there is significant pressure to cut resources as budgets tighten, there are some key things to consider.

Loss of Brand in the Marketplace

Pulling your company name and recruiter presence out of the marketplace will erode the employer brand. Once you have stopped supporting your employer brand, it may take a long time to rebuild. If you’ve just won a contract and need to staff up fairly quickly, that’s a critical business challenge. Particularly for small- and mid-size…