The contracting career field. Maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe you haven’t. In this video, we’re going to talk to my friend Cord about his experiences as a contracting officer, what contracting is, and common questions that you may have if you’re interested in joining this career field. So let’s get to it. What’s up, everybody? I’m Ashley Noel, and today we are here with my friend Cord. Say hi, Cord.
Hello, everyone.
And Cord is a contracting officer who’s deployed out here with me. And today we are going to be talking about the contracting career field. So, Cord, what is contracting?
So our role in contracting is to put in place the contracts that we cannot do organically within the military, which means that if our military members cannot do it, then we look to the commercial industry in order to assist us in completing the mission.
So why does the air force or the Department of Defense generally need this career field?
So as contracting officers, we’re the only people designated by Congress to obligate the government’s funds, which means we’re the only people that can spend the government’s money in order to complete the mission.
So what does it take to get selected for the contracting career field? Like, what are the requirements in order.
To be selected for the contracting career field? It takes a minimum of 24 business credits for the enlisted side. For officers having a business background, meaning accounting, finance, business admin degrees, will get you into the career field.
So when you mentioned that enlisted need 24 business related credits, those are college credits?
That’s correct, yes.
All right, so if you’re interested in getting into the contracting career field, how can you best set yourself up to be competitive to get selected in order.
To set yourself apart? Having a strong GPA, having an interest in the career field, I think those are the things that will set you apart.
What jobs are available to you outside of the military with your military contracting background?
So we’re highly sought out by the top DoD contractors, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and other DoD contractors, because we, as the government, we spend so much money on DoD requirements and things like that. So having the inside knowledge of how we solicit contracts gives them an advantage on how they compete towards our contracts.
So basically, because you understand the processes of getting a contract approved and what the government requires of its contracts, it’s helpful for the government contractors, like the Raytheons, the Boeings, to be able to have people like you on their team so that they have a better understanding of what they need to do to be competitive for the contractors.
Absolutely. That’s exactly it.
What’s the toughest part about being a contracting officer?
I would say the toughest part about becoming or being a contracting officer is September. We work long hours. There’s also a high deployment ratio for us as contracting officers, being that our main role is to deploy and to support our overseas and contingencies development.
What’s the best part about being a contracting officer?
The best part about contracting is knowing that without me and my fellow contracting officers, there will be no air force mission, because we have a hand in everything that the air force does, because if you got it, we bought it.
What made you want to become a contracting officer?
Knowing that this position will set me up for so many great opportunities outside the military was probably the most attractive piece to me.
Nice. All right, so just a few general questions about your job. What is the base selection like? I imagine just about every base around the world probably has a contracting office, right?
That is correct. Again, being the only people that can obligate the government’s funds anywhere that there’s a military installation, you will see contracting officers there.
Nice. So you can be stationed pretty much anywhere in the world?
That’s correct. Cool.
And what are your typical work hours like? I guess we can say when you’re not deployed.
So our work hours are typical bank hours, eight to five, with the exception of September, which is the end of our fiscal year, where hours may be extended to a little bit longer than that, maybe twelve or 13 hours in order to complete the end of the fiscal year funding.
And you mentioned before that you all deploy a lot about how often can you expect to deploy as a contracting officer.
So currently we’re at a one to two dwell, which means that as the Air Force, we’re deploying for six months at a time. So that’s our one piece. We deploy for six months and we can expect to be home for twelve months. Doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to deploy that often, but you could be postured to deploy.
Okay. All right, so super big thanks to cord for coming on and talking to us about the contracting career field. I really do hope this was helpful. If it was, please make sure to hit those like and subscribe buttons down below. It is completely free to you, and it lets me know that the information that we’re providing is actually useful. This is part of a series where I talk to Air Force officers from different career fields, so that if you are interested in joining the Air Force, you can see what different options are available to you that you may not have considered or that you may not know much information about, so make sure to check out the playlist on this series. Also, I have a ton of other videos that are military related that you can check out for additional useful information. I do appreciate your time. I thank you for being here, and I’ll see you.
Can I punch you?
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
All right, in order to be competitive, I’m going to have a blooper.
No, we’re not. It’s.