Indiana National Guard seeks employers for cybersecurity career fair

A cyber career summit planned for July 12-13 aims to match skilled cybersecurity soldiers with Indiana companies that have jobs to fill.

The event is hosted by the Indiana National Guard, whose troops include the Indianapolis-based 127^th Cyber Protection Battalion. The battalion was formed in 2020, and in November its soldiers were deployed to a cybersecurity assignment in Fort Meade, Maryland.

Those soldiers are due to return home this fall, and the National Guard is organizing a career event to help them find Indiana-based jobs post deployment. Indianapolis-based strategic advisory firm Dioltas is organizing the event for the National Guard.

“These are highly sought-after individuals,” said Dioltas Managing Partner Jeremy Brilliant. “These are highly-skilled folks that we want to selfishly keep in our state.”

Many of these soldiers quit their former civilian jobs when they deployed last fall, Brilliant said, which means they’ll need to find a new job once their deployment ends. The purpose of the career summit is to help those nearly 200 soldiers find jobs in their home states. Most of the soldiers live in Indiana, though some also live in a handful of other states: Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi.

“What we’re trying to do is build up the Indiana defense ecosystem,” Brilliant said. “Keeping these soldiers in the state is really critical to that.”

Brilliant said Dioltas has already secured some private-sector and government employers for the career event, but it’s actively seeking others. Those could be either tech companies or other types of businesses that employ people with expertise in systems engineering, software development, information technology, cybersecurity or related specialties. All the soldiers hold top secret/sensitive compartmented information clearance, which means they are eligible for jobs at defense contractors.

Priority will go to Indiana-based employers, Brilliant said, but organizers are also open to employers in other states who are willing to hire remote workers from Indiana, or from the other four states where the deployed soldiers live.

Dioltas will match up participants before the event, based on the soldiers’ abilities and the employers’ needs. Then, the soldiers and employers will meet with their matches at the event in a “speed dating” style series of brief face-to-face meetings. A happy-hour event will follow, giving participants a chance to interact in a less formal setting.

“Our goal is 100% placement, so we’re trying to be very strategic with the employers that we’re working with and match them up with soldiers with particular skill sets,” Brilliant said.

Employers can choose to make job offers on the spot, or they can follow up with promising candidates and make hiring decisions after the event.

“Our role is to do the matchmaking and kind of let the two parties take it from there,” Brilliant said.

The soldiers won’t be available to start work until after their deployments end in the fall.

Participating employers will be expected to travel to Fort Meade themselves, or send a representative, to participate in the in-person event. Employers must pay a sponsorship fee to participate, and fees vary depending on number of matches a company wants. There are four different sponsorship levels that entitle employers to anywhere between 10 and 35 matches.

More details about the event can be found here.