Jobs go begging at Northrop Grumman
Jobs go begging at Northrop Grumman
Date: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 10:25 PM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1948 -- 12/23/2008 >>>>>
According to the LA Times, Northrop Grumman can't find enough high tech people
to hire. They even went looking on the beaches for geeks, which might explain
why they didn't find anyone. LOL! The writer of the article spilled the beans
right up front, but I'm sure he didn't mean to. He wrote that, "Many jobs
require highly specialized skills and a security clearance."
Did all of you catch it? "Specialized skills" is the codeword for H-1B or
green card visa holders, and that's a big problem since defense contractors
are required to get security clearances. Of course you wouldn't know the code
by reading the LA Times article -- you have to search the internet to put the
pieces of the puzzle together.
The defense and aerospace industries confront another challenge as
well, in that unlike technology companies, defense companies
generally have to hire American citizens since they need employees
who can obtain security clearance. This eliminates foreign
graduates of American universities and foreign employees in the
U.S. on H-1B visas.
Grumman complains that their employees are getting old (45) which means they
are too expensive. If given the choice, Grumman would prefer to dump their
older employees so that they could replace them with H-1Bs, who are primarily
young males who work cheap.
So, the defense industries have two problems to confront if they want to
replace their older workers with H-1Bs. First they have to lobby for a law
change to increase the cap, and then they have to get the rules loosened so
that H-1Bs can get security clearances. Raising the cap is in the works and
almost a certainty once Obama takes the helm, but the security issue might be
tougher for them to overcome.
It's very important to keep in mind that foreign nationals can get security
clearances, but it takes a much longer time to get approved compared to a U.S.
citizen. Longer time intervals means that it's more expensive for Gruman to
hire them, which defeats the purpose of replacing their Americans.
Perhaps one of the reasons it's tough to get quickie security clearances for
H-1Bs is that the government is very schizophrenic on the issue. There are so
many contradictory regulations it would be difficult for bureaucrats to get
through the tangled web. To give you an example see if you can figure this one
out:
http://www.clearancejobs.com/security_clearance_faq.pdf
Getting a Clearance
Can a Naturalized Citizen get a Personnel Clearance?
Yes. A naturalized citizen is treated the same as a
native born US citizen.
Can non-US citizens obtain security clearances?
No. Non-US citizens can not obtain a security clearance;
Seems very cut-and-dry doesn't it? Of course there is the "however clause":
however, they may be granted a Limited Access
Authorization (LAA). LAAs are grant in those rare circumstances
where the non-US citizen possesses unique or unusual skill or
expertise that is urgently needed to support a specific US
Government contract involving access to specified classified
information (no higher than Secret), and a cleared or clearable
US citizen is not readily available.
Just in case you aren't confused enough, try this one on for size:
http://www.drinkerbiddle.com/files/Publication/a1ef284c-d2b0-4ae5-bc23-f5606dad76cf/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/8715889b-68b7-4a6c-bcd0-32d4244ca
79b/Spring2002IT3Newsletter.pdf
Some of the complexity that arises in complying with the
antidiscrimination laws in conjunction with the EAR, ITAR
and NISPOM stems from the fact that various definitions of
"foreign persons" or "foreign nationals" are used.
You might remember when I tackled issues in Export Administration Regulations
(EAR) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
Wouldn't blame you if you forgot, because these gargantuan documents will make
your head spin. Read this essay I wrote a couple of years ago because it's not
nearly as long!
http://www.vdare.com/sanchez/061005_dod.htm
Since it would take me to the year 2009 to figure out what that guy was
talking about, I'll skip that step.
The important thing to know is what a foreign national is -- then you can go
read EAR and ITAR if are a masochist.
Persons holding the following types of visas would be
considered "foreign nationals" or "foreign person" under the EAR
and ITAR: H-1 B visas (sponsored workers in specialty occupations);
L-1 visas (temporary transfer of overseas employee); H-3
visas (foreign worker engaging in training in the U.S.); TN visas
(certain classes of professionals under NAFTA); and F-1 and J-1
visas (student visas).
So what does this all mean? I'm not sure but one thing you can bet on is that
there are H-1Bs with security clearances. You can also bet that defense
contractors are going to go to Washington DC very soon to get the rules
relaxed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-aerojobs20-2008dec20,0,4604704.story
AEROSPACE
Jobs go begging at Northrop Grumman
The defense contractor is offering cash and free dinner inducements to
applicants to fill hundreds of positions. There's a catch: Many jobs require
highly specialized skills and a security clearance.
By Peter Pae
December 20, 2008
It's an increasingly rare sight these days, but Northrop Grumman Corp. has
been putting out help-wanted signs all over town.
The huge defense contractor has flown sky banners with "Northrop Grumman is
hiring" over Southland beaches and during a USC football game, has placed ads
on company shuttle buses, and has even offered $100 plus a free dinner for
potential hires to come check them out.
Despite perhaps the biggest pool of unemployed workers looking for jobs in
decades, Northrop officials say they haven't been able to fill the open
positions.
This year it has hired 1,800 workers for its Integrated Systems division in
Southern California but still has another 1,800 openings for engineers,
machinists, mechanics and computer programmers.
In a cruel twist for thousands of job-seekers, Northrop says a vast majority
of the applicants -- the company gets 30,000 resumes a week -- don't qualify.
And many who do qualify already have good jobs with rivals who are doing all
they can to keep them.
Century City-based Northrop is the nation's third-largest defense contractor
and the second-largest private employer in Southern California.
In the last year or so it has won several major multi-billion-dollar
government contracts.
Few qualify because many of the jobs require highly specialized or esoteric
skills. Consider the latest opening at Northrop for a "cryogenic propellant
management engineer." If you need to ask what it is, then you probably don't
qualify. For most of us, it has something to do with really cold rocket fuel
used for NASA's lunar lander. The bottom line is that there aren't many people
who have any experience in the area of cryogenic propellants.
Adding to the hiring difficulty is that most of the jobs require that the
employee have a government security clearance.
"It's a quandary for us," said Emitte Scruggs, director of staffing for
Northrop's Integrated Systems sector. "Even when we do find someone, they
can't get the clearance. I know it sounds odd, but we're having a tough time
hiring."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1281235/aerospace_industry_faces_coming_worker_shortage/index.html
Posted on: Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Aerospace Industry Faces Coming Worker Shortage As the large baby boom
generation retires over the next decade, the aerospace and defense industries
will be particularly hard hit, and industry officials worry there are not
enough qualified young Americans to take the place of these retiring Cold War
scientists and engineers.
As of last year, nearly 60 percent of U.S. aerospace workers were 45 or older,
according to an Associated Press report. The problem could carry national
security implications, and significantly reduce the number of
commercial product developments that begin with military technology.
Although there are two-and-a-half times the number of engineering, math and
computer science graduates as there were 40 years ago, there is also more
competition for these graduates. Defense companies must now compete with
leading technology companies such as Google, Microsoft and Verizon.
"It's about choices," said Rich Hartnett, director of global staffing at
Boeing Co., in an Associated Press interview. "There are so many more options
today with a proliferation in the kinds of degrees and career paths that
people can follow."
But despite the industry s efforts to emphasize the appeal and growing
importance of careers involved in national defense, Aerospace Industries
Association Chief Executive Marion Blakey is concerned the U.S. could be
facing a "wake-up call," similar to the 1957 Soviet launch of Sputnik, the
world's first satellite.
Blakey said China's recent success in shooting down one of its own satellites
last year, combined with the upcoming retirement of the U.S.
space shuttle fleet, demonstrate that the U.S. can no longer afford to take
its technological and military superiority for granted.
Blakey formerly served as head of the Federal Aviation Administration.
In addition to fierce competition for a limited number of technical experts
from all corners of corporate America, contractors working on classified
government projects are further held back due to restrictions on hiring
foreigners or off-shoring work to other countries.
"The ability to attract and retain individuals with technical skills is a
lifeblood issue for us," said Ian Ziskin, corporate vice president and chief
human resources and administrative officer for Los Angeles-based Northrop
Grumman Corp. Ziskin told AP that he estimates roughly half of Northrop
Grumman's 122,000 workers will be eligible to retire in the next five to 10
years. Similar trends exist at Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, Md., which
could lose up to half of its 140,000 workers to retirement over the next
decade.
At Boeing, roughly 15 percent of the company's engineers are 55 or older and
currently eligible for retirement.
The Soviet Union s launch of Sputnik in 1957 set off panic that the U.S.
was falling behind in the space race. It quickly expanded the ranks of
aerospace and defense workers as a wave of Americans began careers in the
aerospace industry to help the U.S. regain military superiority. However,
industry executives now worry there won't be enough new defense sector workers
to replace those employees as they retire.
U.S. universities awarded 196,797 undergraduate and graduate degrees in
engineering, math and computer science in 2005, according to the Commission on
Professionals in Science and Technology. That's a significant increase from
the 77,790 degrees awarded in 1966, however there is also a corresponding rise
in competition for those graduates.
Defense companies today are competing with companies such as Google Inc.,
Microsoft and Verizon, along with Wal-Mart and the Navy, for computer science
majors, said to Kimberly Ware, associate director for employer relations at
Virginia Tech. And they are competing with General Electric Co., Westinghouse
Electric Corp. and top automakers for electrical and mechanical engineering
graduates, she said.
Boeing must contend with telecom industry leaders such as Verizon
Communications Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. as it grows its satellite
business. It even competes with video game developers for 3D graphic designers
and software programmers.
At the same time, since young people today have never known a time when the
U.S. was not a leader in space exploration or the world's sole superpower, the
defense sector does not exert the same patriotic draw as it once did.
The defense and aerospace industries confront another challenge as well, in
that unlike technology companies, defense companies generally have to hire
American citizens since they need employees who can obtain security clearance.
This eliminates foreign graduates of American universities and foreign
employees in the U.S. on H-1B visas.
"The talent is going to have to be homegrown," said Blakey.
Defense contractors face similar limitations since they cannot outsource to
countries with more technical workers, such as India or China.
In an effort to solve the problem, defense companies are initiating programs
to reach out to American students as early as possible. For example, Lockheed
Martin is sending employees into elementary schools to tutor students in math
and science, as well as recruiting high school students to shadow Lockheed
workers on the job. Lockheed s engineers provide coaching for robotics teams,
conduct rocket propulsion experiments for students and participate in various
mentoring programs.
At Northrop Grumman, a program has been established called Weightless Flights
of Discovery that allows middle school teachers to experience temporary
weightlessness on "zero-gravity" airplane flights that imitate astronaut
training for space travel.
Defense contractors are also using other methods to attract new workers, such
as flexible schedules, tuition reimbursement programs and plenty of
opportunities for advancement. The most important aspect of the recruitment
efforts is the defense industry s appeal of offering "challenging work on
programs of national importance," said Linda Olin-Weiss, director of staffing
services at Lockheed Martin.
The implications of falling behind extend beyond national security since
military technology often has civilian uses, too. For instance, GPS
satellites and the Internet both originated from military or defense
applications.
Industry officials hope the U.S. space program s plan to return to the moon
and implement a manned mission to Mars could lure a new generation of
Americans into the aerospace and defense industry, said Blakey.
"The question is: how do you encourage young kids to think of themselves as
potential scientists and engineers," Blakey said. "We hope that a return to
the moon and Mars will help inspire them."
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