Lawrence DeBellis ⋅ Olympia , WA U.S. Army, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 10 years served

Hello Ron,
I like the greater Seattle area, Olympia is nice enough, but if we were to stay in the area it would be closer to Seattle. That being said, I am willing to relocate throughout the states: DC, Northern VA, Maryland, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. The interview is definitely the time to shine, but I first have to get past the computer screeners, then the HR screeners. I would have thought that my experience and clearance would have opened many doors, but without the Bachelors degree it would seem that it is not the case. I recently built a profile on Boeing's website and I am currently pursuing their positions as well.

Thanks for the advise Ron!
Cheers...

Very Respectfully,

Lawrence DeBellis

Ron Abrahamson ⋅ Maywood , NJ UPS ⋅ 18 years experience

Thanks, Lawrence. Many intel jobs will come with caveats to have certain certifications, eduacation, but in my own experience it's the interview and getting your foot in the door that counts. The fact you are as close as you are to finishing will only help with the interview. Are you looking to stay in the Olympia area? I'm sure Ft. Lewis is a good resource for a GS related position assigned to a MI unit and surrounding area. I was even recommend to call\walk into the division G2 and see if they might have some leads and maybe even a reference. It's been a long time since I walked into a G2 or S2, but generally the G2's full bird is quite helpful if time permits.

I would recommmend to take a look at Boeing in the Pacific\Kent area. I'm not sure their current employment opportunities, but well worth a look. They eat up prior military with clearances like hotcakes.

BTW.. I love the area. I have family in Vancouver City and Island and have spent some time working out there. Such a beautiful place.

Lawrence DeBellis ⋅ Olympia , WA U.S. Army, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 10 years served

Greetings Ron,

I still have my clearance, good through march of 2014. I am looking to step into the intelligence operations or analyst side of the house in either government or private sector. So many places have a requirement for a bachelors degree, but by the time I finish it in june of 2014 by clearance will lapse. My clearance has passed the DIA check so should be good through the community.

Thank you for your time and your response. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Very Respectfully,

Lawrence

Ron Abrahamson ⋅ Maywood , NJ UPS ⋅ 18 years experience

Hi Lawrence,

Did you hold a clearance while serving? If so, did it lapse and if so how long? Are you looking purely at the government or also private companies? If you have already passed a typical NCIC check or higher you already have a leg-up. Are there any partiular positions you are looking to fill? Intelligence and Homeland Security (as you know) are vast and to be perfectly honest the best way to attack is focusing on a particular subset of those such as being in the operations or performing cyber security.

Regards,
Ron

Lawrence DeBellis ⋅ Olympia , WA U.S. Army, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 10 years served

Greetings Tom,

Thank you so much for your quick response and your outstanding suggestions! I have already started navigating through some of them with some great success. I am on Linked In, and enjoy the networking abilities that they provide. It is a great way to expand my knowledge base with like minded professionals as well.

I certainly thank you for your time and service to our great nation. I look forward to continuing to expand my professional network and abilities.

Very Respectfully,

Lawrence DeBellis
U.S. Army (Retired)

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco , CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

* Request an assigned mentor from ACP's mentoring program. Several of ACP's sponsors are government contractors.
http://acp-usa.org/Mentoring_Program.

* These LinkedIn group discussions have relevant information:
" Are there any organizations in DC I should look into joining? I'm interested in international policy/security/intel as well as marketing and social media. "
http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=4466143&type=member&item=5803560374947037187&qid=66e3ab30-7bd2-4647-a8f4-9a4469101f91&trk=groups_items_see_more-0-b-ttl
###

"Need some advice on how to get to the next step. Numerous jobs apps are in, numerous recruiters for same connected with... Now how to generate more inquiries and most importantly an offer?"

http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=4466143&type=member&item=5803606834841403394&qid=adfefe70-afb5-4c8b-bb8e-13b349db051b&trk=groups_items_see_more-0-b-ttl

" I ran a quick brainstorm and came up with 3 words: intelligence professional association ... So I plugged these 3 words into Google: intelligence+professional+association

https://www.google.com/search?q=intelligence+professional+association

This is some of what I found in the first minute or two:
http://www.afcea.org/mission/intel/about.asp

http://www.nmia.org/

And a mentoring program:
http://www.lintcenter.org/mentors/MentorMain.htm

http://lintcenter.org/Mentors/intelligence_related_associations.htm "

* Use Google and other search engines to find programs, groups, etc.

* Also use LinkedIn's free "Advanced Search" tool to network and find potential mentors. You can search by various criteria and for individuals who are members of certain groups. in addition to acp-advisornet, Constructive Veteran mentoring groups include "Veteran Mentor Network" and MC4.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Veteran-Mentor-Network-4466143
###
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/MilitaryCivilian-Career-Coaching-Connection-MC4-3722272/about

* SCIP.org is an organization that might interest you - Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals. Local chapters across the world, events, learning, networking, etc.