For those looking for the source of this data, here is a link to the DASD Program Support that puts these reports together every quarter. They have been very useful and I have put everyone of them into my Scribd if you would like to reference and check this stuff out.
William over at Danger Zone Jobs has been tracking this data over the years and he has put together some excellent graphics showing exactly what the trends are over the last seven quarters.
Here are the results from our fourth annual State of Overseas Contracting Industry Survey. This year 857 people took the survey which consisted of 9 questions and a final option to offer advice to other contractors. I will be releasing the Advice from Contractors section a bit later after I have finished editing it.
William does a great job of putting together this survey every year and they are pretty interesting. Of course DZJ focuses on the entire industry of overseas contracting and not just the gun carrying security contractors. So if there are more contractors than military in places like Afghanistan, then this is a cool little snapshot of what this group looks like.
Probably the most interesting statistic to me was the graph that showed the amount of military veterans versus just civilians in this industry, and that civilians are the top. If you would like to see the other graphs, please go over to their website through the provided link and check it out. –Matt
Link to survey here.
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I posted just one of the survey results, and if you would like to see the others, follow the link below. This is a really cool survey about our industry and a big thanks to William for doing this every year. Danger Zone Jobs covers all contractors and not just security contractors, so this stuff gives you a good feel for where we are at as a whole.
Probably the big surprises for me was how many 1st year contractors there were, and how little folks are moving around to different gigs. I would have expected to see a lot more contractors jumping contracts? This is probably an outcome of the economy and of companies becoming more stable and professionalized.
The Facebook results were interesting too. Meaning more and more contractors are using FB to network and research ideas for jobs. It makes sense and that is why I hang out on FB so much. Plus, folks use FB to communicate with home and friends, so it is not that big of a jump to use it for work related stuff. Not to mention all of the really useful groups on FB, which is now starting to compete with the utility of the forums.
Networking and applying for jobs through company websites were the two top methods of getting a contract according to the survey. No shock there.
This one graph I posted below though, was the one that grabbed my attention. I would have thought that more contractors would have had military backgrounds? But that is just not the case. Although for the security contracting side of the house, I would have to say that a large percentage are former military or police, just because that is what is required for the job application. Of course when it comes to medical contractors being used on security contracts, we are seeing the companies not caring about military or police backgrounds. Primarily because there are not enough medically qualified folks to draw from in this military/police pool. That is at least what I am seeing.
The other other statistic that would be interesting, would be how many folks are using mobile devices or tablets over laptops/home computers for work related stuff? More and more soldiers and contractors are depending upon mobile devices for their everyday digital life, and I would suspect that there are a lot of folks that use that stuff. It is why I souped up my mobile game for the blog. Interesting stuff and check it out. –Matt
2011 State of Overseas Contracting Survey Results
September 22, 2011
Here are the results from our third annual State of the Overseas Contracting Industry Survey. This year 1,263 people took the survey, which is about 100 more than last year. I will be releasing the Advice from Contractors section a bit later after I have finished editing it.
Link to survey here.
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I have been a big fan of Danger Zone Jobs(the job hunting website) for awhile now, and really is a great resource. The blog though is a new feature, and a good one to put on your RSS reader.
On a side note, check out the free report they put together for 2008. Lots of surprises, and the report gives a better picture as to the make up of defense contractors out there. I focus primarily on the security end of things here at FJ, but Danger Zone Jobs covers it all out there, and it really is interesting to check out the various other opportunities.
A great finding of the report, that to me was a no brainer, was the idea of how important networking really is. The polls of the report completely back that up. I thought the internet and forums would have a stronger showing as to sources of jobs, but really, networking was the clear leader for getting jobs in this study. Check it out. –Matt
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About DZJ
William Beaver – Editor/Publisher DZJ
From 1992-2008, I worked in Kuwait as a partner in a company that provided signage, printing and publishing services for the military and contractors, mostly reproducing military documents and manuals, creating publications, making outdoor signage etc.
In the course of this, I kept hearing soldiers asking how the guys in CSA, MPRI and the rest found their jobs. Many of the civilians working for private companies also talked about looking for their next job, but not knowing where to start, or not having time to go chasing around the internet looking for openings.