Nicholas
Vasilopoulos
Industrial and Organizational Psychologist
US Department of Defense
Christine
Parker
Chief of Marketing, Outreach and Testing
National Security Agency (NSA)

Attracting and Hiring the “Best and the Brightest”

The National Security Agency’s recruitment and selection strategy is designed to attract the “best and the brightest” to apply for a job, and ensure that new hires possess the basic knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed to perform effectively on the job. In line with this strategy, the NSA has implemented several recruitment initiatives to engage with potential future applicants as early as high school through both Agency sponsored activities and high-school and college student programs.  NSA also administers assessments to applicants for critical mission jobs to ensure they possess both the soft and hard skills needed to be successful.

Join this session to learn:

  • How the NSA utilizes activities such as the NSA Day of Cyber and the annual ‘Codebreaker Challenge to build relationships with students as early as high school
  • The importance of assessments in the NSA’s hiring process
  • The challenges faced and ROI of implementing the recruitment and hiring strategy