INSIDE THE

Interview with a Recruiter, Michelle Flesher, Visionist

Michelle tell us about yourself and Visionist

I have been in this industry for several years – not sharing exactly how many. ☺ I’ve been with Visionist for more than a year now. I manage the personnel and administrative functions for the team from our headquarters in Columbia, MD. Recruiting, HR, Training, and whatever else I can get engaged in to help the company continue to be successful… that’s me.

Why do I want to work for Visionist

We are a unique blend of outstanding talent, team spirit, and a willingness to share knowledge and solutions internally and beyond. As a company, we are not intimidated by the tough problems, we like the challenge and figure out how to bring smart solutions. We position ourselves on contracts to participate in the interesting, mission driven work. We strive to ensure customer satisfaction and meet/exceed the goals of the program, which creates and maintains a positive impression of Visionist as a company.

Tell us about your hiring process   

I conduct the initial phone discussion. If that goes well, I invite the candidate in to meet some of our team. We do conduct team interviews, which is a group of engineers, and usually our President and Vice President attend. The discussion is conversational and allows the candidate to see us interact with each other, while determining how they fit in with our team as well. It helps us identify a position more easily when multiple engineers listen to the skills and interest of the candidate. We then proceed to offer and placement. The process is a short one for us. We make decisions quickly.

Do you target transitioning military

We do hire transitioning military. We engage them in our team environment quickly. Our leaders  go above and beyond to ensure each person on the team feels a sense of belonging and connection.

What types of cleared positions do you fill      

Software Engineering and Analysts positions.  We do require a TS/SCI FS with each contract position.

View Visionist cleared positions.

Do you use Google or social media to screen job seekers at any point in the hiring process

The engineers will review technical sites such as Github, Android, Stack Overflow and a variety of others. Often the engineer will share a site they have developed on. We look for engineers with a passion for their skills. One that spends time on their own, expanding and growing their knowledge. An engineer that’s always seeking to stretch themselves beyond their comfort zone to new challenges.

What are the toughest security cleared positions for you to fill and why    

All of the positions are tough. We need the full clearance levels. Plus the prospective candidate must have a passion for what they do.

What do see cleared job seekers doing wrong

Honesty!   I want to see what technologies you have experience using at the top of your resume. Those same technologies should show up in your  job history. If you haven’t worked on Java in 15 years, I need to know. If you sat in a meeting once and they mentioned the word Spring, that should not be on the list of skills you now list on your resume. Don’t sell yourself short, but don’t oversell. The skills you have are the skills you have, while the skills you don’t have doesn’t always mean you won’t be a viable candidate. It just means we need to be broader in the search and you potentially need training – which Visionist will cover. Selling skills on your resume you are not confident using will surface and it could be the difference of a job with us or not.

What’s the craziest thing a job seeker has ever said to you

Do you allow employees to sleep at their desk or do they need to go to their car?

What’s the most inappropriate thing you’ve seen on a resume

I had a candidate that listed the number of marriages and why they failed, under personal information. It was weird.

What do job seekers need to know about your job as a recruiter

I love my job. I enjoy talking with people, getting to know what excites them and drives them to bigger, better technical roles. I take a personal interest in their career goals to ensure they wake up every morning and look forward to going to work. I’m always available to help and I genuinely care about people. I treat candidates the way I want to be treated and so far, it’s worked out well.
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