INSIDE THE 
NEWS + ADVICE
Interview with a Recruiter, Paula Szanca, Szanca Solutions
Paula, tell us about yourself and Szanca Solutions
I am a mother of two grown boys, 21 & 23 years old. I work in a small town in south central Pennsylvania called Bedford. I have been with Szanca Solutions for 5 years and serve the role as Technical Recruiter/Safety Officer and do the administrative duties as well. We wear a lot of hats here!
At what point in their transition should a service member start looking for a job with your company
Immediately. At least send their resume so it can be stored in my database and I can set up a calendar reminder to notify them a few months before they out process or separate from the military.
What’s it like for transitioning military to work for your company
It’s an easy transition. We like to hire military as our CEO — who is also my brother — and I are Air Force veterans.
Tell us about the hiring process with your company
Our FSO does a clearance and background check. Most of our positions require some type of clearance.
What types of cleared positions do you fill
Linguists, Language Analyst, IT, Intell Analysts, System Engineering, Program Management, Counterintelligence Analyst, DNI Analyst and All-source analyst.
View Szanca Solutions job openings.
What are the toughest security cleared positions for you to fill and why?
A Balochi linguist…it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.
What’s the craziest thing a job seeker has ever said to you
That they would take a job as a janitor for our company. We weren’t hiring for that position!
What do job seekers need to know about your job as a recruiter
That we do not sponsor for clearances because of the time it takes and the costs. We source for “already cleared” candidates.
What’s the most inappropriate thing you’ve seen on a resume
Social Security Number.
Hello Paula,
I enjoyed reading your interview. I am so excited to hear that your company does a clearance and background check. Just today I have emailed you, and all my concerns were whether the position that you have offered to me needs higher level of clearance than I already I hold.
I will be honest with you that some recruiters from other companies don’t prefer linguist who has no “TS with polygraph” clearance. No matter what skills that linguist has.
Hello Paula,
I hold or held a couple of clearances. I am qualified and experienced Linguist with native skills of Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Seraiki languages.
I have applied for Urdu opening in Langley, VA through your courtesy recently. But I haven’t back from you about my chance of being hired as Senior Linguist. It is really disgusting.
Can you give me some sort of feedback on my candidacy soonest.
Thanks.
Regards,
G-H. Qamar Baloch
Greetings.
Today is Thursday, December 4, 2014.
Let me know if you still need a US-based Baluchi English linguist, and if so, how many and to work where and starting by when?
The ‘good news’ is that there **are** a few such bilinguals in the small, and deliberately self-effacing, Baluch-American emigre communities here in California and adjacent western US states. They originated from the “Baluchistan” ethnic region that extends across parts of eastern Iran, Pakistan, and SW Afghanistan.
The ‘bad news’ is that none of them — to my best knowledge — has ever been in a situation that involved being processed for granting of any form of US Government security clearance. So, they are all well-qualified, but “plain vanilla” uncleared, candidates.
Kindly pulse your customer about willingness to nominate and sponsor any of these candidates for that expedited processing.
If so, I would be pleased — as a professional courtesy to all parties — to forward your query and direct contact data to them so anyone interested can sort out the details with you.
If your customer otherwise is unwilling to invest that needed effort, no hard feelings from here, and we all avoid futile wheel-spinning.
Hope this helps you find and engage the bilingual talent your customer seeks. Feel free to call me at 1-310-832-1037 to discuss and develop your requirements.
Regards,
Stephen H. Franke, M.Ed.
Senior veteran Arabic linguist
San Pedro (Los Angeles Waterfront Area), California
Thanks for your interest in our company. Unfortunately, all of our positions at this time require a TS/SCI w/ polygraph. We don’t sponsor due to the back log and the time that it takes to obtain one. We source for already cleared candidates. We do get positions that don’t require one, but just don’t have any at this time.
Enjoy your day.
Hi,
Paula Szanca,
How you have been?
Thanks for the update, any way!
Yours ever,
G-H. Qamar Baloch