Latest / CrossPolitic Show / Could 1,000 Christians Change the State Department Forever?
Transcript
- Hey all welcome to Cross Balletit one on one with the water boys good to be with you no nox and Toby This is how it goes. I'm grateful to have in the studio today Andrew Crapchett see you a red balloon. We'll get to that in a minute But first I got some ads and I I'm getting older Andrew It's uh at least they're orange. It's I guess yes, I'm grateful for that. It's very Are you concerned your children's current education won't give them the skills necessary to succeed in any area of life Consider homeschooling with classical conversations by applying the classical Christian model of education the classical conversations Cricket them encourage students in how to learn and how to think for themselves so they can adapt to every challenge Life throws it them. That's just such a plain Jane statement, but it's it's shocking for public schools Join over 50,000 families and 60 countries who have chosen to educate their children with classical conversations by visiting Classical conversations dot com forward slash flf just that forward slash let's you know Let's them know that you guys like us and you like them the classical conversations dot com forward slash flf that's fight laugh feasts and to The point of this show business owners is your company struggling to grow What if I told you that the right employee could grow your business by 510 or even 25% you'd be crazy not to like that deal right That's exactly what red balloon recruiter offers our personalized source and screen process connects you with top talent increasing Revenue and reducing cost visit red balloon dot work today and Transform your hiring have you ever fired anybody at red balloon or hired anybody a rebellion that actually decreased by 510 or 25% Pretty funny because we're trying to hire a salesperson right now and someone's like well, how are you gonna do this? I'm like well, I'm gonna use my team to actually do recruiting and identify those people Have I hired people poorly? Well, yeah You guys We've jived back and forth on our show multiple times that I used to work for Andrew when he is CEO of Imzi From 2005 to 2000 in 16. Yeah, wonderful years has been those are some good years. Yes. Yes. I'll never forget my time with you and Shell before Imzi was anything. Yeah, right then I can just walk into your office or walk into Shell's office and Yeah, just hang out. It's not things things grew. Yeah, busy. Yeah, okay So now but you started red balloon and you guys just recently bought I know we've had you on the show to talk a little bit about this But I just want to cover it for a minute to but you just recently bought military hire military hire calm military Hard calm and then you got a contract with the military We do we do so the military hired a com you know, so that's 10 months ago We acquired them part of the reason we acquired them is so red balloons continue to grow We have thousands of businesses. We have millions of job seekers. We're blown to go and it's awesome, right? But I was actually talking to a vet and he's like so I just applied to a job at 6 p.m. last night and by 2 a.m I get my rejection letter. Yeah, so I don't think it's the HR department pulling an old-nighter rejecting everybody. Yeah It's actually he was running into his AI gatekeeper And so this is part of what this AI disruption that's happening in the job market But it's really hard on veterans because the skills and knowledge and ability that they've achieved while protecting our country Do not line up with the keywords that ats is African tracking systems are looking for these big corporations and so they're not even getting the compliment of a human conversation They're just getting rejected outright by AI. Wow, and so I kind of heard that and then I had a good friend who has been running military hire for the last several years It's a 25 year old brand and their technology is not where it should be a little dated Yeah, right and so it's like okay Well, we're gonna acquire this business and we're gonna take some of the technology that we build in red balloon To really help these veterans connect with a great job because we believe that humans are made in the image of God Yeah, okay, which means that you can't weedle them down to a piece of paper called a resume Right, and so it is a distinctly human process to hire someone right and so you're using AI to help bring efficiency and effectiveness to the humans But AI should not be making human-based decisions about grit desire at work ethic, etc So we've built a lot of cool tech around that and then once we've done that We could then apply it to these military veterans and put them in a great spot to be successful in the labor market And then it includes things like fill in the gaps technology which we've built also we have these incredible hiring fairs We had a hiring fair last month. We hit 7,000 veterans at this hiring fair Physical hiring fair online online hiring fair for four years for four hours And you get to actually have conversations and so like one of our customers general dynamics huge company, right? One of these a gal who was coming to the army applied to their job got rejected immediately and she's like, okay So now what I do so she comes the military hire career fair She sees a booth for general dynamics and like I'm gonna stand line it And she ends up talking to the recruiter for that position Yeah, when he actually had a conversation with her as a human being right other than the AI So she got rejected in the resume process. Yes immediately meets the recruiter on Line and gets hired on the spot. It's like you're incredible Wow, you have the background you have the experience and this is where I think AI is basically filtering out the good people Yeah, and it's looking anyway long story board Yeah, so now now we got the military hire. We're already doing stuff for a border patrol Which gets us in trouble, you know ice border patrol. We have to do hiring for them fantastic But then two months ago we Contracted with the Department of State okay to be the official recruiting arm for their for their foreign service officers FSOs okay, and and just a lot of people don't know what an FSO is There are thousands of FSOs around the world and the Department of State is obviously marker rubios organization Right he's the head of that. I think he's doing an extraordinary job I don't know if you looked at this listen to any of a Senate hearing but he was Recently recently recently was like earlier this week what was it about and it was just a budget and stuff like that Okay, man. He just that does not take any punches. He is happy to push right back. Yeah, yeah, anyway It's just extraordinary. I missed that off the check out So like if you go and look he he did this this post talking about how you know the center of Of America is we were a country founded with God at the center. Yeah, like he's really he's not afraid to say this Right, okay, so he thought like I feel like when when Rubio Against President Trump years ago. Yeah, let's 2016 that 2015 16 race He came off like such a kind of a softie to me and of course Trump will kind of do that especially if you're new in the race kind of thing But now you know, it's like we have the saying in our community courage be gets courage Yeah, and I think the courage of Trump is rubbed off on Rubio. Yeah, but Rubio's a Christian. Yeah, you know So I really I've really liked and enjoyed Rubio this this uh this last couple years and everything's been a lot of fun Yeah, so many so he comes into the department state and finds that low and behold And this is anecdotal. I've heard this from multiple people at department state. I haven't confirmed it Less than 10% of the people who work for department of state voted for Trump in the last election. Yeah, sure So it's not a politically diverse group. Yeah, it is a it's very leftist organization organization Who loved USAID all the things right? Yeah, right? So he comes in okay now he's in charge of it He starts bringing in his people and they realize a lot of the recruiting was focused on DEI It was focused on um trying to get in you know the guy with a PhD in black dance Rather than people who can actually do a good job And what happens when you do that when you don't hire the best people you don't focus on merit low and behold they're like hey embassy in Botswana We need you not exactly Botswana, but that's an example We need you to go and meet with the government and negotiate this thing on behalf of the American people Because it's we're in an American first moment Yeah, because that's what the president wants. He's in charge and in most organizations that the boss tells you to do something And you don't do it you lose your job right? And so what they're finding is all these foreign service officers like yeah, I don't really want to yeah, that sounds really hard So I'm not going to because there are more than not leftists and they don't want to do president Trump's agenda Correct, yeah, right they want to look at that and they want to drag their feet And so they're like okay fine So they actually got rid of the entire recruiting department at department state They really like 50 people like you're all out I was just I was just uh in another interview And uh, you know Over the last 10 years I've been doing consulting and I've consulted with a variety of companies and Um and when I do consulting and I got it whether it's part of the Project or not. I still need to know who the CEO is I still need to know kind of this the organizational structure and all that stuff and everything And I almost always walk out of My analysis before I figure in the work and look at I almost always walk out and conclude That you need to fire your marketing department and your HR department. Yeah, yeah, and for different reasons But the HR department was always like and I mean, I'm still dealing with this The HR department is always ee either how you lose your Christian Culture yep, or you go, you know d.i You go down the d.i. Road the HR department is not about the mission of the company and the values of the company And it's about, you know I don't know department labor and the de i stuff that they use to buy this Which is a FinTech company he just fired his whole HR department and he's quoted in the newspapers saying I fired them because they were causing more problems than they were Um, fixing right they were actually making the business go slower in every single area So just got rid of the whole department. Yeah, it's amazing anyway back Department of state so they get rid of the whole so he defires HR department, right? But it turns out you still need to try and get people into Into these organizations of hiring process and hiring process and so on and so forth and so and and and present Trump's like hey We want merit. We want speed to hire. We want to have the right thing and so as I'm married such a weird Talker secrets, right? So I'm talking to these people inside the department state wonderful people and they're like So we think one of the most critical positions in all of government is foreign service officers, okay? So the foreign service officer tests is administered three to four times a year by Pearson Or we'll put a link also in your links please show right? So you can go in there. There's lots of FAQs lots of information It's administered three to four times a year And the people who pass it it's hard. It's like the LSAT it's like the MCAT. It's a hard test. So mean you can pass it No, not so much Our wife's good at it's actually true. That is actually true. So Yeah, so anyway, so if you can pass this test then you're into the process then you have to go through the board of examiners And they do a negotiating test they do so they maybe won't even interview you look at you unless you pass the test This is like the first step and it's free to take the test if you don't pass it you can't take it again for another year Yeah, right, but but if you pass the test then you're into the system and then you get security clearance You can get all these things and then you're a foreign service officer will it turns out And these foreign service officers basically work at consulates and embassies all over the world Work for the ambassador and there's different tracks whether it's political whether it's policy whether security etc But these are the people who are the face of America out in the world But the founding fathers did a lot of this foreign service work before they actually founded our nation And if you look at key positions all around government I'm not talking about elected officials talking about people who actually had the levers of power in DC Most of them were foreign service officers This is one of the most critical positions for influential powerful positions in government over the long term still interesting You know, I would love to see a lot of Christians applying taking the test yeah doing the hard work Becoming a foreign service officer. Yeah, going to Germany for two years or Botswana or Thailand You're gonna learn they do language intensives. They do cultural intensive. So they'll do all this training for you You're working for the ambassador. You're gonna build connections and relationships that you can't get any other way And all of a sudden you're in a position where you can have a huge influence for the rest of your life On the US government. So this is one of those interesting pinch points You know sansu are to war like what yeah, like this is a a pinch point That should have a huge impact. So we need people who are clear thinking merit driven patriots To actually jump in take the test and go through this process if um if I pass the test Let's just kind of theoretically theoretically could I choose to go to the Bahamas or They would definitely sign you the Bahamas Yeah So this hiring process takes like 12 to 18 months So you generally have to have a job already right and and actually we're encouraging a lot of people all the NSA students like Start your senior year by taking this test or in your junior by taking this right so that you're in a position where you can take this job Well, this is a job That is you know, basically it's family friendly so they will pay for the travel for all your family How's you so housing is free wherever they send you right you're usually on a two-ish year assignment Right, so you're probably gonna need a homeschool back to classical conversations right so you know We got a solution for everything around here. We do we're working hard for a little economy So until you get assigned for two years you're gonna do that you're probably to sign somewhere else for a certain amount of time And then you can go into the private sector having earned anywhere between 50 and 90,000 a year with no housing costs Yeah, and you've got all this experience you have this language Foreign service officers me and that is if you have that on your resume You have incredible opportunities inside of governor or outside of government It is a worthwhile thing to do and we just need more of your listeners You to actually say you know what I'm gonna belly up to the bar and realize that It's gonna be hard, but I want to have an impact on the direction of our country and I believe the world. Yeah Is it I'm curious about the test that I can't get a king get away from the test I almost like want like all our elders to take the test Let's let's see you know or have like a test off between cross-politik and red balloon So the foreign service officers general test it's hard. It's like this like one Like Elsa like what's the genre of the test? Um, so it's interesting because we're actually I'm trying to introduce classical learning test in the conversation because it's all about history and politics and culture It's all the things like I was talking to foreign service officer and she was like she's like I'm in DC And I get a call I'm at the gym at 10 o'clock in the morning. They're like hey, you need to be on a flight at three o'clock And where you're going is gonna be about 60 degree weather's address accordingly But we can't tell you tell you around the airplane where you're going. Yeah, yeah, and she's like okay So you know it goes gets on the airplane. They're like okay, so you're going to Istanbul and you have 24 hours that when you land To completely coordinate a negotiation between these two ambassadors from these two different countries And you need to basically not offend anyone to the point that we go to war yeah and go yeah Right, she's like it was amazing like so it's fun because she's like I had the training they train me how to do this New how to run the process how to run the play and then just get to see their sit there And see this huge negotiation happen. Yeah, and I was the person that made happen So that's what foreign service officers get to do. Yeah, so like if you want to change the world This is a path into it, but if you don't pass the test Let's imagine you and I don't pass that yeah I like like you said you said only one to three percent pass it one to three percent. Yeah, wow It's a hard test, but there are 17 specialist positions within the foreign service So IT positions office positions most of those are based in DC. Yeah, but if you don't pass that test There's easier tests that are more designed towards those specialties. Yeah, and again Same thing you have the opportunity to be an officer within the Department of State It's a great paying job your in DC in the quarters of power And I just think Christians on average have not done a good job of saying you know when I throw myself into this It's hard. It's outside of my comfort zone But we need to go and do things that are hard. Yeah, that's how we're gonna change the world So I'd love to see more people jumping on take that test And then we have practice tests on the on the sites so you can go take it without Nuking your opportunities for a year. Yeah, we have on red bulletin's website or on that I'll send you like it's a military hire. It's actually an official Department of State military hire landing paid. Oh, okay Yeah, and we are the system of record for these people coming. Okay, so you can actually do a practice test Do you even see how you stack up see how you do and then and obviously there are these 17 different specialties within department of state You can take that test to the same process So anyway, that's that's my big it's a big deal. No, it's gonna have a huge impact if we can get 500 to a thousand people who are clear thinking patriots that's right foreign service officer. That's right It will have a generational impact on the American world. Yeah, like that's it And that's not that many people know right so many people are they hiring next couple years They would love to well, they would love us to bring them about 500 a year. Okay applicants Basically or people passing this test. Oh wow They need to hire a lot of that is they're cleaning house a lot They're removing a lot of people who are not aligned with the current administrations Yeah, right, and they want to get people who are more aligned well So it's so easy. That's great man. Yeah, any big things happen in this next year's red balloon besides what you we just kind of walk through Yeah, we're moving into this building with you guys. Yeah, we're gonna be friends So our studio is on the third floor of the building and then Andrew red balloon will be kind of the back half Yeah, the second floor and we're gonna have a big deck out there. Yeah, barbecue's I love that deck. We're gonna be friends I like that you took the roof off part of it. Yeah, we did it. It'll it changed the whole complexion of the building Yeah, which is awesome. Yeah, you know on the red balloon side so the mill it we just got another contract with the VA We're doing some political pointy level agreement for them which will really cool. Yeah We are working on a project with Department of War that I can't talk about. Yeah, and do we know that we can't talk about and So, you know, we feel like we are in a moment right now Red balloons continued to grow just kind of the private sector. So yeah, it's steady. She goes, you know Yeah, call it 20% growth a year kind of thing. Okay. We're happy about that But more importantly like we have this window of opportunity in DC right to Get to have a real our people in the right position. Yeah, and so we are I am working a lot of hours and we are Grinding that's great man. It's really important. I we should talk afterwards. Um Very good. So people go to red balloon. Work for their business stuff But where do people go for this military hire? Yeah, so you can get a military hire.com if you're a veteran and you're looking for a job where Um, and there's a lot of larger businesses like DHLs of customer Mentum general dynamics. Yeah, and they're just looking they want a higher veteran talent and they're gonna use our technology to do that Um, and then I will send you a link. It's like Department of State Dot M higher Yeah, so it's from Department of State the link is that's right. Yeah. Okay, so I'll say anybody can apply to this not mill it's not military thing or not Yeah, they they contract so Red balloon's a little hotter to handle than military hire.com and so PR front. Yeah, military hire.com Got the contract not red balloon It's fine with me. I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm happy. Yeah, awesome man. Thank you so much for joining crossball to go on on with just me Yeah, buddy. It's been fun. Yep. Make sure you guys Go to fight lathees.com to sign up for our conference in October 1st through the third will be in Franklin Tennessee at Franklin Factory the factory in Franklin is actually what it's called A great location. We're very excited about Senior guys in October and our fight lathees conference until next week. We'll see you later