Anyone ever deal with overseas jobs with the company Vectrus?

fran304

How does medical work at CRC? Will they check my military records?

Fulcrum45

@Fran304- You will have the bulk of your medical work done prior to CRC. They'll check blood pressure, height and weight but not much of anything else. You'll get your shots and they'll check your vision if you have glasses but it wasnt that intensive. As far as your military records are concerned I assume they'll have access to just about anything they need.

joelsfood

Expect 7-8 vaccines that day if you don't have your medical records with you, but that's about it (other than eye check) as Fulcrum45 said. I don't think I even had eye check, as had recently dated eyeglass prescription with me.

Bakerself

Did they accept your counter?

fran304

Is there a dental wavier? or will they require me to get my root canal done before deployment? I am being hired by AC First.

joelsfood

If you have an existing dental problem taht could become an issue while deployed, they'll generally want you to get it taken care of before hand. I'm not sure if there's any option for a waiver. I had to get two fillings replaced before I left.

fran304

Do I have the option to pay them for it or do I need to get it done before CRC

joelsfood

Can't go to CRC without your dental paperwork signed, and that can't be signed off until your dental health is ready for leaving. You'll likely need it done before you go. Dentist has one of 3 options on DD2813
1. Patient has good oral health and is not expected to require dental treatment or reevaluation for 12 months.
2. Patient has some oral conditions, but you do not expect these conditions to result in dental emergencies within12 months if not treated.
3. Patient has oral conditions that you do expect to result in dental emergencies within 12 months if not treated.

If they select option 3, have to give information as to the particular conditions, and then on form 603A, you'll likely get a no-go during CRC. So I would suggest getting it fixed prior. Besides, depending on where you're going, you may not like the options if you do have a dental emergency while overseas.

fran304

@joelsfood Thank you. I will get this taking care of ASAP.

bertopr33

I finished all my paper work, but occu med need a psychiatrist letter about my past ptsd history. Problem is that I haven't see anyone in over a year I do not live in the states anymore and I can't find any psychiatrist that will give me an evaluation for a job unless the see me for at least 6 months. I haven't take medications in over 6 months and I haven't show no signs in over 2 years. Anyone know what can I do?

fran304

what is occu? and how did they find out about the ptsd?

bertopr33

Occu med is the people they use for the medical exam. Unfortunately I had Noone coaching me in the process and slipped up, I volunteered the info

manchild

Their response "Salary is NOT Negotiable. As per the Government Funding and the Contract Agreement, based on that your salary is fixed."

Bakerself wrote: »

Did they accept your counter?

Fulcrum45

@ Manchild- Yeah, thats what I got also. It's still not bad pay and the experience is not something you see everyday on a resume

original bacon

Hey all, first post and joined just to give my timeline.

I received an email from vectrus just yesterday about the System Admin I position in Kuwait. I confirmed a phone interview for today at 3PM. The interview lasted about 15 minutes and were simple things such as what is dhcp used for, what is (SAN) etc.
I was asked where i would like to work and i told him Qatar (as it's more westernized). I will let Vectrus know that i would like to take either Kuwait or Qatar depending on which one pays more when i receive my offer letter. He stated it will take 1-2 weeks for me to receive one and i will update you guys then.

A little about me ncase you are wondering: I graduated highschool in 2010, have about 3 yrs sys admin/desktop support experience and 1 year of SCCM admin work. Sec+, MCSA Win 7, MCSA server 2008, MCTS SCCM 2012

New York Nick

Hi OB. You have a nice set of certs there but I have a question. With your SCCM experience, why not go for the SCCM admin/engineer role? If you go on the Vectrus website, you will see an SCCM job posting. I can almost guarantee that the SCCM role will pay you $10-20K more than a Sys. Admin l

original bacon

New York Nick wrote: »

Hi OB. You have a nice set of certs there but I have a question. With your SCCM experience, why not go for the SCCM admin/engineer role? If you go on the Vectrus website, you will see an SCCM job posting. I can almost guarantee that the SCCM role will pay you $10-20K more than a Sys. Admin l

Hey New York Nick, thank you.
I have definitely considered the SCCM role, if they would accept as little as 1 year experience. It was phrased as "SCCM Senior System Engineer" in the email, so i assumed they may mean someone with 3-5 yrs at least. I'll definitely ask them about it, as it can't hurt to try

bretthexum

I actually interviewed for the SCCM role last month, but never heard back. And i have 9 years of SCCM experience plus 4 more years of Altiris. Dunno....

original bacon

I've got to say guys, the offer was much lower than expected. Lower than my current salary which is NOT six figures put it that way. The work week would be 56 hours so i assume that would be 7 days a week with 8 hours each day. I can see why these companies are like a revolving door. 7 days a week (waste of time when you can do 12X5), sub six figure salary, combined with no uplift or hazard pay.

They did say anything over 40 hours is overtime and paid "according to company policy" so i am not sure if that would be straight pay or time and a half. Does anyone have information on all this?

However i sent Vectrus a counter offer of simply a few dollars more, so if they accept it i will be on my way

original bacon

Reading through the forum posts it looks like overtime is at 1.25 and the workday would be 11.2 hours - Not bad
If they will accept my counter that would be a done deal.

New York Nick

OB, Vectrus is the lowest paying company that I know of out here. They do have a few good benefits but it is tough to watch people from other companies making $40K more than you.

There is a high turn over rate with Vectrus for good reason.

New York Nick

manchild wrote: »

Their response "Salary is NOT Negotiable. As per the Government Funding and the Contract Agreement, based on that your salary is fixed."

I don't believe Vectrus. Obviously, I can't go into too much detail but they can offer more money.

wtrwlkr

New York Nick wrote: »

I don't believe Vectrus. Obviously, I can't go into too much detail but they can offer more money.

They may be completely correct that rates are based on their contract agreement, but that only means they lowballed the contract to those agreed rates. Still not an excuse. I'm more concerned about the fact that they're still only offering 50% uplift for afghanistan when other companies are still offering the dept. of state specified 70%.

Fulcrum45

They could offer more but they wont. Vectrus almost has a monopoly on folks coming out here for their first stint because they'll pay for a security clearance whereas a lot of other places will not. I'm sure in their eyes it makes up for the lower salary because many folks wait the 5 months on their clearance and then split once it comes through.

Wabbit77

**The MTA level cert is no longer accepted in Afghanistan as a Computing Environment cert. You'll need a Win7 or above now.

Is there any way this can be verified? There have been some incorrect statements on certifications in the past, and I just need to be sure on this one in particular. This information is absolutely critical for us preparing to leap into this endeavor.

Also, I am assuming this is for a Level I position such as Desktop Admin I. I ask because on the Vectrus site under that specific job, it lists the acceptable certifications and the MTA is still listed. Though I have heard of people being mislead by recruiters and having to pass an exam upon arrival or get shipped out, which would not be ideal. Or they may simply have outdated info on the Vectrus site.

I am currently in the process of preparing for 2 exams before I even apply, so verification would be wonderful.

And thanks to all that have responded here. I have been watching this thread for a few months now and it has been more helpful than any other resource on the Internet, imo.

Fulcrum45

Wabbit77 wrote: »

Is there any way this can be verified? There have been some incorrect statements on certifications in the past, and I just need to be sure on this one in particular. This information is absolutely critical for us preparing to leap into this endeavor.

This was the case for me. They did not accept my MTA even though the ONLY reason I went and grabbed one was because my recruiter told me to. Minimum seems to be Network+ for your Baseline Cert. and an MCP for your Computing Environment Cert.

Wabbit77

Well then, I suppose the 70-680 exam (Windows 7, Configuring) and Security + would be the best route to take at this point for Service Desk Admin I. Network+ seems a bit useless since from what I have heard, S+ isn't much more difficult if at all than N+, and S+ is baseline for Sys Admin I. And then I guess the 70-685 or 686 would fulfill the CE for systems admin, if I decide to go that route. Interesting that A+ isn't baseline anymore for service desk.

I have 14 years exp (first 8 years direct exp with server 03 and 08, with the past 6 years mostly windows 7 configuration and maintenance), so it would seem to be the logical path. But it was mostly in education, so I never needed any certifications.

Eh, I had hoped to be able to take a couple easy exams just to get over there as a desktop admin I, and then knock out the more difficult ones once I was over there. Oh well, probably better this way in the long run.

Thank you. This is very important info you have provided.

netman28

Hello guys,

I am a network guy who has been in the field for a couple of years working on a level 2 desk at a very large corporation here in the states. I received an offer for a network admin position in Afghanistan last week and still contemplating on accepting the offer. My biggest fear is obviously death . Can someone fill me in on the process of getting there and living conditions in the area.

wtrwlkr

Hi netman,

Please don't take this as me being rude, but there's plenty of info you're looking for in this thread. If you read over that and still have any specific questions, feel free to ask here or send me a PM. As far as fear of death, that's certainly a valid fear since Afghanistan is still a war zone, but in my year there, only one person died due to enemy fire. That's still a tragedy, but your chances of dying over there are pretty slim as long as you don't go outside the wire.

New York Nick

I have confirmed with my colleague that he DID negotiate his salary with Vectrus. I can't give away too many details for obvious reasons.

Contracting companies generally have a salary range they can offer an employee. Most usually start at the bottom end of that range.