Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Call to Action: We Need Salary and Benefits Information On the Companies!!!!! Go To Glassdoor.com
Ok ladies and gentleman, this is a call to action of the most urgent kind. There is practically no data at all about any of the PMC or PSC salaries and benefit packages out there. We need to collect this information on one convenient and easy to access site, so everyone knows what everyone else is getting paid right now. The reason being, is that the companies and government will keep lowering salaries and expecting the little guys like us, to just accept it for the way it is. Pee shaw I say!
If everyone is armed with the knowledge of what everyone else is getting paid, then you have ammunition to negotiate salaries and benefit packages. As it stands now, there is no ‘push back’ to regulate these dropping salaries.
The question to ask is how much is your life worth in a war zone? How much is the life or property you are protecting worth in a war zone? If you are ok with mall cop salaries in war zones, then don’t do anything about it and just take it like a chump. Hell, work for free, because that will really make the companies happy!
But if you want to do something about it, then post your pay and benefits anonymously on Glassdoor.com, and get this knowledge passed around so everyone knows what is what.
There is a review section, and probably you should stay away from that. But if you feel it is appropriate, then review away. Just keep in mind, your non-disclosure agreements and OPSEC/PERSEC.
With company salaries and benefits, they post it on websites and job ads all the time. But what is not put up on these ads, is what you are really making and getting out there. So let’s give the companies and other contractors some ground truth and shared reality on this sucker.
The other reason I like Glassdoor, is that it is free to use, and way more organized than putting this information up on some forum. Over the years, there has been tons of information shared in casual conversation on the forums, but most of it is kind of lost or extremely difficult to find in the search features. And don’t even try going to wikipedia to learn anything about the companies, because that is vacant too. That’s too bad, because that kind of information could have helped a lot of folks who are just getting into this industry, or transferring from one company to another.
So pass this around, and get that information out there. It is anonymous, and posting salary info or benefit package info is not a violation of OPSEC or PERSEC. You are simply posting what the companies are currently offering as far as pay and benefits, and at that particular time. It is quick and easy to post that info, and let’s get it out there and keep it up to date!
Also, I am not affiliated at all with Glassdoor.com, and they are not paying me anything for this review and post. Glassdoor.com is a technology/website that makes sense, and if everyone gets on board with this, it will totally become a source of excellent information for the industry. That is my view on the whole deal.
By the way, I did notice a few DynCorp jobs and salaries posted. Let’s fill out the rest of the info on companies and make Glassdoor.com the place to rally at. –Matt
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What is Glassdoor.com?
Glassdoor.com is a career and workplace community where anyone can find and anonymously share salary details about specific jobs for specific employers or company and interview reviews describing life on the inside of an employer — all for free. What sets us apart is that all our information comes from the people who know these companies best — either the employees who work there or the candidates who have interviewed there. In the spirit of community, we ask our users to share with each other. That is, before you can access all of the information shared by others in the Glassdoor community, we first ask that you post an anonymous salary, company review or interview review of your own. By working together to offer an inside look at companies, we can open up access and bring greater transparency to information in one of the most important parts of our lives — our work.
How did we get here?
It was the summer of 2007, and Glassdoor.com co-founder Robert Hohman was busy taking time off after having left his position as president of Hotwire.com. His long-time friend Rich Barton called up with an interesting question:
“What would happen if someone left the unedited employee survey for the whole company on the printer and it got posted to the Web?”
The two had previously worked together at Microsoft and then Expedia, which Rich founded in 1994. Expedia ultimately transformed travel by opening up information once available only to travel agents and insiders. Rich then went on to transform real estate with the launch of Zillow.com, allowing anyone to find and research home values from their personal computer.
Robert and Rich contemplated why it’s so difficult to find helpful information about jobs and workplaces. Robert called on good friend Tim Besse and they expanded the survey concept to include salary details down to the job level and CEO approval ratings, just like politician approval ratings. And thus, Glassdoor was born to deliver new transparency to an incredibly important part of our lives — our work.
What Makes Us Different?
Glassdoor.com is the only site that provides a complete, real-time, inside look at what it’s really like to work and interview at a company — salaries, reviews, and ratings — for free. We’re still in the early stages, but Glassdoor is already providing what we think is very compelling information, including:
• Real-time salary/compensation details by title and company. We don’t roll-up our salary information by job category or by industry like many sites and sources. You can see details on salary, bonuses, commissions and more for titles within companies that you’ll immediately recognize. See exactly what a Software Engineer at Google or a QA Engineer at eBay makes. With information posted every day, users can be sure they’re seeing the latest.
• Detailed company reviews. See what employees on the inside really think with reviews and ratings that hit on the good, the bad, and a lot more in between. We encourage constructive feedback in our company reviews and ask respondents to provide “pros” and “cons”, along with “advice to senior management.” In addition, we also collect & calculate a real-time CEO approval percentage to provide a pulse of how employees think the CEO is doing at any given time.
• Insightful interview reviews. Allows anyone to get the inside scoop on a company’s interview and hiring process, including actual questions for any job or company. In addition, interview reviews provides a unique perspective into the overall experience and difficulty of an interview.
It’s all FREE. The only cost to see all this information on Glassdoor is to post an anonymous salary, company review, or interview review of your own. We’re using this “give to get” model to get started, and since it will only take a few minutes to complete and get access to what’s behind Glassdoor, we hope you’ll give it a try.
Why Glassdoor?
We were hoping the name was obvious, but just in case it needs some explanation — Glassdoor was selected because we’re helping people look inside a company, through the closed doors and office walls to get better insight into jobs and workplaces and the interview process to get there.
Learn More about Glassdoor
Whether you’re looking for a new job or you’re completely satisfied where you are – your work matters – and we want you to have all the information you need to make the most of your career. Anonymous salaries, company reviews, and interview questions and reviews for over 30,000 companies – all for free!
How do I see all salaries or reviews?
Glassdoor is completely free – there are no subscriptions or data fees. Instead we ask you to post a salary or review of your own to get access to all the salaries or reviews posted by the community.
So if you’re interested in seeing salaries, simply post an anonymous salary for your current or former job and you’ll get access to salaries for all companies. The same goes for reviews and interviews – simply post an anonymous review of your current or former employer or post an anonymous review of a recent interview experience, and you’ll get access to all reviews and interviews for any company.
How can this really be anonymous?
If you work at a small company or are the only one with your job title, you can post without giving us the information that may allow others to identify you. For example, when posting a salary you don’t even need to tell us your company (which means it will not appear on the site). And when you’re posting a review, we don’t require you to tell us your job title or location (i.e., your review can be from “anonymous”). That should allow you to post while still maintaining your anonymity.
How do you know the posts are really from employees?
Because all of our salaries and reviews are anonymous, we require all our users to verify their account via email before any of their posts are shared with the community. This verification allows us to put measures in place to identify any suspicious users or posts (even if those cases are the exception rather than the rule). These measures, combined with an active employee community and our commitment to review every post before it appears on the site, allow us to have the confidence that our information is really from employees. See for yourself, read a few reviews and you’ll see that those insights can only come from those on the inside.
Go here for to check it out.
Iraq: Twin Suicide Car Bombs in Baghdad Kill Over 130
Industry Talk: IPOA 2009 Annual Summit–‘Afghanistan, Supporting Regional Stability Operations’
This would be a good one to attend. Dr. David Kilcullen, Dr. Kimberly Kagan and General Anthony Zinni (ret.) are just a few of the speakers at this event. I also thought the topics of this summit were pretty telling. “Succeeding in Afghanistan, Capacity Building & Development, Regulation & Licensing, Counter-Narcotics in Afghanistan, U.S. Legislative & Policy Trends, International Regulatory Trends, Logistics & Supply Routes, Armored Vehicle Standards, PSC Licensing & Regulations, Security Sector Reform, Counterinsurgency, and U.S. Government Accountability and Oversight”.
Anyone reading the tea leaves on this one, and you can see that regulation of the industry is front and center. And with such high level COIN experts attending, folks are getting the picture that the 246,000 plus civilian contractors working in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, might just have a weeeeee little bit of an impact on the overall COIN strategy. (my pimp hand of sarcasm is strong-lol)
To not address the impact of our industry on the current war strategy is foolish. Better yet, to not explore further uses of our industry to enhance the current war strategy is equally foolish. We are a tool of war, and if used correctly, we will certainly help to achieve certain goals of any military strategy.
I also hope that those in attendance at least have a quick discussion about Somalia on the side. Because what CSS Global does in that AO, will certainly impact any kind of regional strategy there. It is within the best interest of the industry, and of the war planners, to make sure these guys get it right. The actions of the few, impact the rest of us, and unfortunately we do not have the luxury to look the other way anymore. –Matt
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The IPOA 2009 Annual Summit is the premier event of the Stability Operations Industry. The Summit will be held in Washington, DC, home to some of the world’s largest clients in the global Stability Operations Industry.
The three-day Summit, to be held on 25 – 27 October, 2009, will feature a mix of panel discussions, keynote speeches and ample opportunities for industry networking. The Summit will focus on developments in the Afghanistan region, including Pakistan and other neighboring nations, giving overarching consideration to the role of the private sector in such missions.
The venue for the Summit will be Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in the National Harbor in Washington, DC. Click here for more information on the venue.
Go here for more information and to register.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
India: Security Summit in Mumbai, and Private Security Increases
Other companies have also launched security services. The Indian building firm DLF has formed TerraForce, its own security outfit, trained by the Israeli army and the US marines, to patrol its properties. Infosys, the IT giant, and the country’s largest private-sector firm, Reliance Industries, have both been allotted permanent protection from India’s state Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), whose officers, unlike those in private security firms, are permitted to carry firearms.
Hiring private security is arguably necessary, given the evident failings of the Indian state security forces during the attacks. The police were armed with nothing but bamboo “lathis” or sticks when they had to face the militants. Members of the elite National Security Guard (NSG) took eight hours to travel from their base in the state of Haryana to the hotels, and then it took two more days to defeat the 10 gunmen.
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Well there’s your problem India. You don’t bring bamboo “lathis” to a gun fight. lol All kidding aside, it will be interesting to see what comes out of the meeting of the minds during this security summit. I certainly hope Incident Command is at least given a mention during this summit, because if they have any hope of defeating an attack like this, it will come from unity of effort and a fast and efficient means of getting everyone on the same sheet of music in the beginning stages of an attack. The private guards like Terraforce, or the police units, military units and fire units all should have radios that can be programmed or are set up already to communicate with one another. An Incident Commander on scene, needs to take the reins of the situation, and bring to bear the necessary resources to deal with the developing situation. And when seconds and minutes count, all the little details of command and control need to be hashed out, well before another Mumbai attack. That is how you prepare for this. I can’t stress enough how important it is to get everyone under the same umbrella of Incident Command, in order for this system to properly work. Your first responders are the ones that will be able to confront and defeat the attack before it gets worse. And if they are organized and know what to do in order to take control of a situation, then you will see a disaster/attack go from chaos to organized chaos, giving everyone involved a higher chance of survival.
On a side note, I am interested in this whole TerraForce thing? That must be a typo about the US Marines training them? I just couldn’t find anything to support that claim and perhaps what the article meant to say is that it was ‘former US Marines’. Maybe some Embassy guys, or some unit came in to train them, and I could be wrong. Either way, if any of the readers have any input about TerraForce, let me know. –Matt
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Richard Orange
October 24. 2009
Early next month, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police, the former secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, and a panel of international security experts will gather in Mumbai’s Trident Hotel for a “security and resilience summit”.
That some of the world’s foremost experts on terrorism, including Sir Paul Stephenson of the London Met and the former homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff, are willing to spend a day and night in a hotel where militants killed more than 30 people just a year earlier is a sign of how much the city has recovered. (Many of the same faces were in the Trident for a similar conference as early as January).
In the time since 10 Pakistani gunmen brought terror to Mumbai for two days starting last November 26, India’s main business hub has bounced back. (more…)