Wanted: Private Sector IT'ists to Backfill for Deploying CF IT'ists

[The Bread Guy]

.... The Canadian Forces (CF) are currently undergoing a revitalization of resources and capabilities in response to increases in operational tempo.  Examples of this include ongoing deployments in Afghanistan, providing security to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, and providing disaster assistance in Haiti. As part of this trend, the Department of National Defence (DND) intends to reallocate military personnel from its garrison support roles to field and deployable units to improve their availability for employment on higher priority operational tasks. To continue providing Communications support, DND has a requirement for Telecommunications services on an "as-and when-requested basis".

Canada is in the planning process to prepare a competitive solicitation to provide IM/IT Services for DND .... The purpose of the LOI (Letter of Interest) is to provide industry with an early notice of the upcoming requirements and to be made aware of the procurement strategy. The LOI will provide potential Service Providers an opportunity to review the Statement of Work for requisition W6369-10-P5DT. Suppliers may at their discretion, provide comments with regards to the Statement of Work and the Qualifications Required ....

More on what types of folks they're looking for in attached Statement of Work (SOW) - love how the people being hired to do the work are referred to as "the resource" in the "what they have to be able to do" section of the SOW.

 

[JBP]

This may be news to some, but they've been telling us Sig Ops and various other Sig types about this for the past year, year and a half or so.

It's one of thier 'stop gaps' to fix our manning issues in the Sig world, and they figure, why can't a civvy do a safe, static, non-tactical job and use the 'soldier' to go do the real work?

Just wondering how many will retire into positions such as this from the Sig world...

 

[Sig_Des]

This may be news to some, but they've been telling us Sig Ops and various other Sig types about this for the past year, year and a half or so.

It's one of thier 'stop gaps' to fix our manning issues in the Sig world, and they figure, why can't a civvy do a safe, static, non-tactical job and use the 'soldier' to go do the real work?

Just wondering how many will retire into positions such as this from the Sig world...

It's been a plan for a long time to pull Army Sigs out of the static positions in Comm Squadron's back to field units, and replace them with civvies.

 

[PuckChaser]

Just wondering how many will retire into positions such as this from the Sig world...

The theory was to make these positions 1 year contracts. That way if you pulled pin, you might get a job for a year, but after that, someone could apply for it with better qualifications and take it away from you.

 

[JBP]

The theory was to make these positions 1 year contracts. That way if you pulled pin, you might get a job for a year, but after that, someone could apply for it with better qualifications and take it away from you.

Hence why they're going to be hard pressed to truly find any decent IT people. Who wants to go work somewhere / start a career somewhere... For a year?... Waste of time just about...

 

[Eye In The Sky]

I can't say I agree with that...most of the CS1 or even CS2 jobs held by folks I worked with started off as short term contracts...good way to feel a person out, assess their learning abilities, etc.  A know one CS2 who started off a a Data-Entry type for 3 months with the PSC, left a private sector position for the contract and because he worked hard and was good people, he worked himself into a good job and salary.

2 ways to look at it I guess.

 

[meni0n]

Eye, we just had a brief here on how the process is going to hiring new people for CS positions and from the looks of it the process is very complicated and long. That CS 1 that worked 3 years on a contractual basis cannot even be nominated locally for the indeterminate position because they have to do a national competition and he has to get into that pool.  And there is even a chance that the person might not even get the post because someone who has more credentials applies. And they cannot discriminate based on the premise that the contractual guy knows the job inside out and has been in that position for a number of years.

For someone who has a family and needs stability, this contractual model is very unattractive and complicated.

 

[Occam]

I'm in the CS-02 pool in the NCR, in 5 of the 15 streams.  You're right - the process is fucked, there's no other kind word for it.  My name has been pulled three times from the pool, for jobs that don't even line up with the stream they're being posted under, so of course I don't have the quals they're looking for.  The only people I know from the CF that have been hired, have been hired because they're being medically released.

The CS-01 pool was a farce - they're only taking people with a degree or diploma in IT, unlike the CS-02 pool where they're accepting "an acceptable combination of training and experience".

 

[Eye In The Sky]

I have always considered the process for hiring of CS positions to be long and somewhat lacking in effeciency.

Having said that, from the small part of that world I have worked in/with previously, it for the most part always paid off with the best person getting the position. 

It is hard for someone who has a family and home, etc but if the person knows the job, prepares for the test/interview and isn't a stupidiot personality-wise, I would like to think that they have a reasonable chance of getting the position.

I've seen the results of hiring people who "look tight on paper", and those who have the required training, skills, experience AND soft skills and would take the latter any day. 

 

[Eye In The Sky]

The CS-01 pool was a farce - they're only taking people with a degree or diploma in IT, unlike the CS-02 pool where they're accepting "an acceptable combination of training and experience".

You'd think that would be the other way around...and even then, I don't agree with it.  Education, post secondary or otherwise (aka Bertha's Colllege of Computer Knowledge types), is an important component, but not everyone who made it thru a program had a real smick about real world IT/IS management.  An education combined with practical experience and "relevant" further IT/IS PD specfic to the system(s) being admin'd/maintained is the ticket IMO.

I've seen my share of "paper MCSEs" who couldn't crack open a server, had no idea what the difference between a hub and a switch "really" was, and didn't understand the concept that a technical solution is only successful IF it is also the business solution that the user/customer can use and likes.  Half of doing the job is the technical part.  Equally as important is the end user satisfaction when you close the work ticket.

:2c:

 

[bossdog]

Wow, it's been awhile since I've been here...

Anyhow, I've been trying to jump on the CS boat for years. It's not an easy task to say the least. I've been a contractor in Bih for 4 years and even landing a perm NATO gig is tough. There is a ton of fierce competition out there.