Posted on May 24, 2017
I'm a recruiter for Comcast in the Southwest. I love helping veterans build a successful civilian career. What questions do you have for me?
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My family immigrated to the United States in the late 80's to escape the turmoil in the Soviet bloc. Raised in Chicago, I am a proud American and duty bound to serve my fellow citizens.
I am a recruiter for frontline installation technicians all the way through engineers in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. I love my job because we are committed to hiring 10,000 veterans this year.
I am a recruiter for frontline installation technicians all the way through engineers in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. I love my job because we are committed to hiring 10,000 veterans this year.
Comcast
Civilian Career
Transition
Telecommunications
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 6
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I happen to be in your area of operations. I live in Sierra Vista, AZ. I would love to connect with you and explore opportunities for career growth.
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David Kaczmarczyk
Hey Trevor,
That would be great! Please feel free to reach out to me at [login to see] .com. I'm an open line, even if your career pursuits do not necessarily fall in line within my recruitment duties. I'm here to help :)
That would be great! Please feel free to reach out to me at [login to see] .com. I'm an open line, even if your career pursuits do not necessarily fall in line within my recruitment duties. I'm here to help :)
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What is the meaning of the answer 42 in the Douglas Adams books? Oh, you meant about COMCAST and recruiting...sorry my bad.
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MSG Brad Sand
David Kaczmarczyk
I think someone is using Bistromathics but it would seem appropriate in this instance.
I think someone is using Bistromathics but it would seem appropriate in this instance.
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Meet Alex, Comcast Sales Development Manager + Navy Veteran
Alex, a Sales Development Manager with Comcast, is also a Navy Veteran. Learn about Comcast's commitment to hiring members of the military community by visit...
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I am the grandson of Russian immigrants who fled the Bolshevik Revolution and settled in Chicago on the Southwest side near Midway Airport. The neighborhood I grew up in (Garfield Ridge) had Kennedy High School in it and consisted of Polish, Irish, and Italian families primarily. Your name appears to be Polish. Did you grow up on the South side?
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Retired back in 2000 and worked for awhile at Nortel Networks in Research Triangle Park, NC as a Member of their Scientific Staff. I worked in Test Systems Development where we stress tested the phone switches and pumped VoIP signaling traffic into them to see what they could handle. And we coordinated with the software developers who were coding the software to drop packets reducing overall sound quality but maintaining a level acceptible of voice quality. The CEO's goal was to pass Lucent in sales and we did that. He took a $100,000,000 bonus and retired. When the Dot Com bubble burst shortly thereafter, hard times hit the IT sector. I trained the WiPro Indian contractors that took my department's functions over. Nortel's CFO was from India and was giving away contracts to Indian contractors. The company found out too late that you get what you pay for -- code that is buggy that requires more man hours to debug. Nortel ended up selling off its assets and laying off most of its employees -- the same ones that worked hard to achieve the CEO's goals. The bonus the CEO and other senior execs took would have saved many jobs... and with better management, the company might have been saved. It went under, about two-three years after I was laid off.
Cisco System was the only IT company in the Triangle area that had the foresight to plan ahead for the upcoming storm and they were able to weather it. Cisco's CEO was former Army Special Forces.
One of the problems I experienced making the transition from the military sector to the private sector is that the private sector - especially in IT - is mostly interested in what you put on a resume. They don't want to see you; instead, they just want to look at a piece of paper. And the HR folks that go over the job requirements don't have a clue what skills translate nor do they seem to understand that a person might not have years of experience working with a particular type of hardware or software but that they could quickly adapt what they know about comparable systems (such as RAID storage arrays) and be up and running in short order. Apparently, the HR folks don't want to get in trouble and lose their jobs recommending people to interview that don't meet all the checks in the block on the sheet. I was fortunate that the person hiring at Nortel was a former Marine who understood what a background in Avionics and Intelligence could offer. My boss was laid off before I was and when I eventually got laid off (in the tenth round), I was competing against all the other laid off IT workers with many more years experience in IT that were all competing for a smaller number of jobs in the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill).
Long story short, I started doing construction and then retired again to South Carolina and did some construction project management and farming. Those are jobs you can't remote.
I still keep my skills up in IT. Dabble in Linux. Network, troubleshoot and fix people's computers. Have messed around with Android OS which is based on Linux. Am in the Myrtle Beach, SC area.
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Retired back in 2000 and worked for awhile at Nortel Networks in Research Triangle Park, NC as a Member of their Scientific Staff. I worked in Test Systems Development where we stress tested the phone switches and pumped VoIP signaling traffic into them to see what they could handle. And we coordinated with the software developers who were coding the software to drop packets reducing overall sound quality but maintaining a level acceptible of voice quality. The CEO's goal was to pass Lucent in sales and we did that. He took a $100,000,000 bonus and retired. When the Dot Com bubble burst shortly thereafter, hard times hit the IT sector. I trained the WiPro Indian contractors that took my department's functions over. Nortel's CFO was from India and was giving away contracts to Indian contractors. The company found out too late that you get what you pay for -- code that is buggy that requires more man hours to debug. Nortel ended up selling off its assets and laying off most of its employees -- the same ones that worked hard to achieve the CEO's goals. The bonus the CEO and other senior execs took would have saved many jobs... and with better management, the company might have been saved. It went under, about two-three years after I was laid off.
Cisco System was the only IT company in the Triangle area that had the foresight to plan ahead for the upcoming storm and they were able to weather it. Cisco's CEO was former Army Special Forces.
One of the problems I experienced making the transition from the military sector to the private sector is that the private sector - especially in IT - is mostly interested in what you put on a resume. They don't want to see you; instead, they just want to look at a piece of paper. And the HR folks that go over the job requirements don't have a clue what skills translate nor do they seem to understand that a person might not have years of experience working with a particular type of hardware or software but that they could quickly adapt what they know about comparable systems (such as RAID storage arrays) and be up and running in short order. Apparently, the HR folks don't want to get in trouble and lose their jobs recommending people to interview that don't meet all the checks in the block on the sheet. I was fortunate that the person hiring at Nortel was a former Marine who understood what a background in Avionics and Intelligence could offer. My boss was laid off before I was and when I eventually got laid off (in the tenth round), I was competing against all the other laid off IT workers with many more years experience in IT that were all competing for a smaller number of jobs in the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill).
Long story short, I started doing construction and then retired again to South Carolina and did some construction project management and farming. Those are jobs you can't remote.
I still keep my skills up in IT. Dabble in Linux. Network, troubleshoot and fix people's computers. Have messed around with Android OS which is based on Linux. Am in the Myrtle Beach, SC area.
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David Kaczmarczyk
Hey Jeff,
Thank you for sharing your story. I actually grew up on the Northside, but it was just a couple miles north on Cicero - so not far at all. And for the brownie points, you are correct, I am Polish.
To get to the meat of your story, I think you're hitting the nail on the head. There are far too many situations where people who are making hiring decisions do not have the knowledge to fully support a hiring manager in providing qualified candidates. I find that the problem becomes compounded when HR is unaware of military echelon and job duties. I'll be the first to say that as an industry, we need to shape up in order to better serve veterans with all areas of employment.
This one of the reasons why I'm excited to be using Rally Point as well. It helps bridge the gap between veterans and recruiters in a way that allows for that conversation to happen.
Here's my advice for you going forward (not that you asked, but I think it's relevant), get to know the company before you take a look at their job listings. This goes for everyone, not just veterans. I ask three major questions each time when looking at a potential employer: otherwise, you are starting dead on arrival.
1) What is the company's mission outside of simply turning a profit? In other words, what is the driving force behind every professional conversation? For instance, Comcast strives to deliver a superiors experience and the best provider of entertainment - with best truly underlined.
2) How does the company take care of its employees? For instance, Comcast covers roughly $16,000 per person, per anum towards employee benefits.
3) What is the company doing for veterans? For instance, feel free to see what we do at Comcast for our veterans: jobs.comcast.com/military. And to boot, our CEO, Neil Smit, is a former Navy Seal.
If you are satisfied with all three of those answers, it's then worth your time considering which opportunity makes the most sense for you. I would recommend getting in contact with anyone that may answer those "insider questions," whether it's with a recruiter or anyone else in the company. Glassdoor is another popular source for getting the overall scoop but take things with a grain of salt.
Ultimately, I do not know of a solution to fix the industry in its entirety. I would add that there likely isn't a solution because that's the nature of competition - the best become evidently better. But let me assure you, employers that do not know how to hire veterans are truly missing out on some of the best talent this country has to offer. At the end of the day, it's their loss and your gain.
Thanks for sharing your story. Have a wonderful day and thank you for your service.
Thank you for sharing your story. I actually grew up on the Northside, but it was just a couple miles north on Cicero - so not far at all. And for the brownie points, you are correct, I am Polish.
To get to the meat of your story, I think you're hitting the nail on the head. There are far too many situations where people who are making hiring decisions do not have the knowledge to fully support a hiring manager in providing qualified candidates. I find that the problem becomes compounded when HR is unaware of military echelon and job duties. I'll be the first to say that as an industry, we need to shape up in order to better serve veterans with all areas of employment.
This one of the reasons why I'm excited to be using Rally Point as well. It helps bridge the gap between veterans and recruiters in a way that allows for that conversation to happen.
Here's my advice for you going forward (not that you asked, but I think it's relevant), get to know the company before you take a look at their job listings. This goes for everyone, not just veterans. I ask three major questions each time when looking at a potential employer: otherwise, you are starting dead on arrival.
1) What is the company's mission outside of simply turning a profit? In other words, what is the driving force behind every professional conversation? For instance, Comcast strives to deliver a superiors experience and the best provider of entertainment - with best truly underlined.
2) How does the company take care of its employees? For instance, Comcast covers roughly $16,000 per person, per anum towards employee benefits.
3) What is the company doing for veterans? For instance, feel free to see what we do at Comcast for our veterans: jobs.comcast.com/military. And to boot, our CEO, Neil Smit, is a former Navy Seal.
If you are satisfied with all three of those answers, it's then worth your time considering which opportunity makes the most sense for you. I would recommend getting in contact with anyone that may answer those "insider questions," whether it's with a recruiter or anyone else in the company. Glassdoor is another popular source for getting the overall scoop but take things with a grain of salt.
Ultimately, I do not know of a solution to fix the industry in its entirety. I would add that there likely isn't a solution because that's the nature of competition - the best become evidently better. But let me assure you, employers that do not know how to hire veterans are truly missing out on some of the best talent this country has to offer. At the end of the day, it's their loss and your gain.
Thanks for sharing your story. Have a wonderful day and thank you for your service.
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Why does COMCAST buy up entire swaths of Rural America service area then refuse to provide service for that area? COMCAST has owned the rights to provide cable service for our area for over 20 years yet has not laid the first wire, switch, router, or transmission tower. Worse, they refuse to let any other provider provide the services COMCAST refuses to.
Or is that the type of question to be avoided at all costs?
Or is that the type of question to be avoided at all costs?
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David Kaczmarczyk
Hey Steven,
I wouldn't say that this is the type of question that should be avoided. I think that I'm just not the best person to ask this particular question. Without any information, it's hard for me to say anything particular with your situation, plus I'm a recruiter without much insight on that particular topic, regardless. Have you tried reaching out to Comcast Cares? https://twitter.com/comcastcares
I wouldn't say that this is the type of question that should be avoided. I think that I'm just not the best person to ask this particular question. Without any information, it's hard for me to say anything particular with your situation, plus I'm a recruiter without much insight on that particular topic, regardless. Have you tried reaching out to Comcast Cares? https://twitter.com/comcastcares
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David Kaczmarczyk
Hey Skip,
I can't say that everything hasn't gotten political nowadays, but I'm not sure you're reply was meant for this discussion.
Otherwise, carry on!
I can't say that everything hasn't gotten political nowadays, but I'm not sure you're reply was meant for this discussion.
Otherwise, carry on!
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