This post has tips for businesses who do or want to contract with the Federal Government. It is the third in a series of four.

1. How to Find
the Right Contracts
& the Right People
to Fill Them
Part Three: Assess the Talent Available
As Presented by Ginger Groeber
President, Exfederal.com
For Next Generation Contractors Meetup

2. Assess the Talent Available

3. Assess the Talent Available
• Look for Federal Experience
• Ensure Experience is in the Right Field
• Look at Talent’s Relationships
• Assess Talent’s Work Experience
• Look at Talent’s Availability and
Location

4. Assess the Talent Available
Look for Federal Experience
• When looking for applicants to fill contractor positions, the
majority of the time you want to look for whether or not
they have any federal experience, whether as a government
employee or contractor.
• Many government contracts in the services and staff
augmentation environment are looking for contractors who
can provide resumes of employees who have experience in the
government environment.

5. Assess the Talent Available
Ensure Experience is in the Right Field
• The experience a government contractor brings to a contract
must match the work to be performed.
• There is a difference between private and public experience.
Commercial accounting is not the same as government
accounting. There are a number of fields that require the
knowledge to be specific to the government work to be
performed.

6. Assess the Talent Available
Look at Talent’s Relationships
When hiring employees or partnering with other companies, if
anyone has worked in the Agency where the work is located,
what were their relationships with government employees when
they left?
While knowledge of an Agency is important, if there isn’t a good
relationship to go with it, it’s a detriment. Ensure that anyone
who has worked in the same Agency or organization has no
prohibition from doing the work.

7. Assess the Talent Available
Assess Talent’s Work Experience
As a continuation of the assessment of potential contract staff, look
at the supporting work experience.
• Is it at the right level? (Junior, Senior, Subject Matter Expert, etc.)
• Do the duties performed satisfy the job requirements?
• If systems or programs are involved, is the experience with the
right systems or programs?

8. Assess the Talent Available
Look at Talent’s Availability and
Location
Contracts are very specific about where work is going to
be performed and when the government wants the work
performed. Ensure that potential contract staff match — or
have the flexibility to adapt to — the requirements found in the
government terms.

9. Tomorrow’s Topic:
Part Four
Contract Staff Requirements