Lack of Reliable Defence Contractors Makes Recruitment an Art

Reliable employees are hard to come by in any business sector, especially the Defence industry. While it is difficult these days to get employees to show up to a grocery store, bar, or call centre, it is equally difficult to find quality reliable employees in the Defence sector. Unlike their peers in civilian sectors they are tasked to work with complex and often highly confidential classified information and systems.

This work with confidential systems, processes and operations, means they must be of the highest moral integrity. It makes finding suitable employees that much harder, and if not done correctly can lead to security breaches, or worse espionage by a foreign state. In order to ensure this work is done properly a partner in the Defence contractor recruitment sector is required to ensure the process goes smoothly.

Overseas Defence Recruiting

The overseas Defence-recruiting sector can be particularly complicated. There are the issues of the physical separation from family, and the legal complexities of employing people in a foreign land. For contractors, recruiting good people is paramount to ensuring the success of the operation.

Companies themselves need not only to hire good people; they need to ensure they are treating them well. There are many allegations afoot about the treatment of staff by some contractors during the Iraq war. The hiring of foreign nationals on American government contracts was also an issue, which caused some controversy for the sector over the last decade.

Espionage

This is perhaps one of the biggest risks to a Defence contractor, and why it is key to ensure good Defence contractor recruitment is carried out. Espionage and the passing of documents to foreign and enemy entities is something that happens all too frequently. Perhaps the most public example of a Defence contractor who broke their pledges to protect confidential data was Edward Snowden.

This is not particularly unique to the United States as a problem; other countries including Canada have had issues with secrets being passed. The root of the problem however stems from a lack of background and due diligence on the candidates employed by the Defence contractor. Enough screening and a solid recruitment process would detect those prone to breaking the rules, and those in financial distress. The later are particularly tempted by the idea of gaining a large amount of foreign easy money quickly by passing along secrets.

In a recent case a Defence contractor engineer was arrested at Newark Liberty airport in New Jersey, on his way to China with sensitive documents. He also had in his possession, a resume to a major Chinese aviation authority, and the documents and financial means to create a company upon arrival in China. The motive in this, as in most cases, was financial.

For these reasons and more, it is important to ensure the hiring of reliable employees in the Defence-contracting sector. Take the time to invest in and perform intensive screening procedures and to establish meticulous employment processes. For example, job candidates for safety-critical positions should pass a drug test. Everyone in the business knows it only takes one bad mark, or employee leaking data to land the whole Defence contractor on the black list.