The Hunt

Government contractors and intelligence agencies want one thing: skilled hands with a security clearance.

As conventions go, TechNet International 2005 is standard fare. Companies stake out prime real estate on the convention floor and pitch their wares. Corporate booths set in crop row formation compete for attention with gaudy pavilions. Expo-goers wander the field, most looking comfortably numb. You can spot the professional attendees by the girth of their goody bags, stuffed with company-embossed tchotchkes such as T-shirts, neon-colored pens and light-up yo-yos.

But at this year's TechNet, there's another set of booths at the far end of Exhibit Hall B at the Washington Convention Center. These are smaller and quieter, and no one hands out giveaways. The attendees carry not sacks but résumés, and they study the booths carefully, sometimes at a discriminating distance.

This corner attraction is a recruiting event, TechExpo Top Secret, billed as "the nation's largest job fair for cleared professionals." By cleared, they mean candidates who hold government-issued security credentials. These days, it seems almost any job-with an agency or a contractor-requires a clearance. This is especially true in the technology sector, where the government can't move quickly enough to hire programmers, systems engineers and project managers to work on sensitive programs connected to the anti-terror campaign or the broadly defined realm of homeland security.

"It's all about the clearance," says Sarah Danzi, scanning the warren of 109 booths before dropping another copy of her résumé. At 25, Danzi is in an enviable position: She already holds a Top Secret clearance. She'd like a job in computer science and tosses out a few ideas-software engineering, development. She seems less concerned about finding the perfect fit. "Everyone tells us they'll match what we're looking for," she says.

"Everyone" is a range of government contractors and federal agencies-huge defense companies such as Lockheed Martin and Electronic Data Systems; technology mainstays Microsoft and AT&T; boutique firms such as Rincon Research Corp., which creates devices to capture and analyze communications signals; brand-name government outfits such as the CIA, the FBI and the Defense Intelligence Agency. The dance of the job seekers has the constant flow and furtive glances that attend a singles bar.

The FBI needs "support in all areas," says one special agent, who asked that his name not be used. The bureau wants computer scientists, software engineers, technical and administrative staff, experts in the physical sciences, accounting and anyone with an intelligence background. And linguists. The agent emphasizes he wants to meet anyone who speaks Farsi. He says the FBI probably will collect about 800 résumés during the two-day fair.

Not far from the FBI, the line at Lockheed Martin's booth is eight people deep. One by one, they sit at a table, and a recruiter scans résumés, nods and asks questions.

The job hunters are a mishmash of demography. They range from fresh-faced college graduates to graybeards with leather jackets and earrings. Some wear pressed suits, others wear pressed uniforms. More than a few middle-aged military officers roam the grounds. Just for them, one company, Transition Assistance Online, offers job placement services to retired and retiring military personnel. At the TAO booth, Christopher Gillette, national sales director, is busy handing out copies of a free CD loaded with a résumé builder, job search organizer, and special discounts and information from Century 21 Real Estate Corp. and the American Legion.

Government agencies are vastly outnumbered at the job fair. But as much as they need recruits, their procedures seem crafted to discourage applicants. Candidates can drop off their résumés at the booths, but some agencies won't actually process them. Candidates must go to a Web site and submit their résumés electronically to make sure they take. Agency representatives-perhaps understandably-are far more reticent to discuss the work they do. At the CIA booth, the recruiter won't even reveal his last name for print. He says to call him "Dave M."

Still, agencies and companies couldn't be more upfront about the kinds of employees they need. If you could think of a technical skill, from keeping up a database to writing software for spy satellites, there's someone here looking for it. Every company holds a government contract of some kind. They've come to Washington knowing that the local technology boom of the late 1990s, and the subsequent surge of companies into the federal market, stocked the pond with skilled, technically expert and, most important, cleared employees.

Job fair exhibitors aren't trying to woo attendees away from competitors' booths with goody bags. They know they've got to put something better on the table to distinguish themselves. For the companies, it's money. Bigger contractors might be able to fork over bigger salaries. Federal agencies appeal to virtues and loftier ambitions: patriotism, excitement, the chance to work in the "center" of the action, as a large CIA poster asserts. "You are America," it reads. "Choose a career that matters. The work of a nation. The center of intelligence."

So, corporate and government headhunters stand ready, with smiles and pitches. Seasoned recruiters will tell you this is only one of several job fairs they work throughout the year-though it's one of the most productive. The events are in addition to newspaper ads, online job board postings and word-of-mouth advertising. Reports of a weakened job market might have candidates in other cities feeling defeated. But this is Washington, and the hands at these booths need warm, cleared bodies.

"In this labor market, it's always competitive," says Deborah Alston, a human resources manager with the DIA, as she scans the sea of faces and prepares to meet another candidate.