Why HR Keeps Getting Tech Hiring Wrong

By Skeeter Wesinger

September 18, 2025

Are you in technology and job hunting? HR screens resumes like they’re ordering a pizza: “CISSP? Check. Kubernetes? Check. PCI 4.0? Check.”

The problem is, they can’t tell the difference between someone who follows procedures, someone who designs systems, or the person who literally built the technology itself. You could have authored patents in firewalls and encryption — and still get passed over because “AWS” wasn’t on line one of your résumé. That’s not just a miss; it’s malpractice.

Job descriptions make it worse. They mash together operational tasks (patching, SIEM tuning, user tickets) with executive-level responsibilities (board reporting, enterprise risk, regulatory alignment). That’s how you end up with an “Information Security Officer” posting that reads like three jobs rolled into one — and satisfies none of them.

Leaders who have built companies, led exits, and advised boards across industries bring something far deeper than any checklist: the ability to navigate regulators, manage enterprise risk, and scale technology in high-stakes environments. Yet HR looks for “five years in a credit union” and misses the fact that these leaders have already solved far more complex problems under tighter scrutiny. That’s the disconnect.

The better path is direct. Boards and executives don’t care whether Kubernetes shows up in column three of your résumé. They care about outcomes: resilience, risk reduction, and transformation. The best hires don’t come from keyword scans in an ATS — they come from trust. A referral, a network, or a CEO saying, “This leader already solved the problem you’re facing.”

More and more, the trusted advisor or fractional executive route bypasses HR altogether. You’re brought in to advise, you prove value, and often that role evolves into something permanent.

 

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Titaniums Secret War

Titanium’s Secret War: Could Vale Be Eyeing Labrador’s Radar Project?
Story By Skeeter Wesinger
September 16, 2025

In the far reaches of Labrador, where winter stretches nine months and the land is as harsh as it is resource-rich, a junior exploration company says it may have stumbled onto one of North America’s most significant new sources of titanium. Saga Metals’ Radar Project has been promoted as road-accessible, near a port, an airstrip, and hydro power. But critics argue that in reality, it’s hell and gone from anywhere.
And yet, despite the challenges, whispers are circulating: could mining giant Vale already be circling?
Titanium is no longer just for aerospace engineers and medical implants. It’s the quiet backbone of 21st-century warfare: drones, hypersonic missiles, stealth fighters. The U.S. imports over 90% of its titanium feedstock, largely from Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. That dependency has become a glaring weakness at a time when defense spending is surging past $1 trillion. For Washington policymakers, securing a domestic or friendly-jurisdiction supply of titanium isn’t just an economic issue. It’s a national security imperative.

From communications satellites to aircraft carriers, titanium’s unmatched strength, lightness, and heat resistance make it indispensable — even the F-35 relies on it to secure America’s military advantage.

The F-35 is America’s military advantage.

Vale already has a commanding presence in Newfoundland and Labrador through its Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt mine and Long Harbour hydromet plant. Those assets anchor Vale to the province, with billions already invested and deep relationships built with government and Indigenous stakeholders. So if Labrador is being positioned as a titanium-vanadium corridor — with Saga’s Radar Project next to Rio Tinto’s long-running Lac Tio mine — wouldn’t Vale at least be curious?
Officially, Vale has said nothing. But that silence may say less about disinterest and more about timing. Mining majors rarely move at the exploration stage. They let juniors burn cash and prove up a resource. Only once grades, tonnage, and metallurgy are de-risked do they swoop in with capital and scale. The Radar site is remote, snowbound most of the year, and would require major road, port, and power upgrades to reach production. Vale is focused on nickel and copper, metals tied to electrification and EVs, but vanadium — with its growing role in grid-scale batteries — could give them a reason to pay attention.
What if the U.S. or Canada starts subsidizing titanium development the way they did rare earths or semiconductors? That would change the math overnight. Vale, with its capital, processing expertise, and political weight, could then step in as a consolidator. It wouldn’t be the first time a major stayed quiet until the subsidies hit.
Saga’s drill results have been splashy — magnetometer readings that “maxed out the machine,” multi-metal mineralization, comparisons to China’s massive Panzhihua deposit. For now, it’s still a speculative story. But the gravity of titanium demand is real. And if Labrador is destined to become a titanium hub, Vale is already in the neighborhood.
It’s easy to dismiss Saga’s Radar Project as another hyped junior play, complete with glossy investor decks and paid promotions. But it’s also easy to forget that the world’s mining giants often wait in the wings, letting the market underestimate projects until the timing is right. In a world where titanium has become the metal behind drones, jets, and modern defense, ignoring Labrador’s potential may not be an option forever.

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The Second Cold War now moves to the Caribbean

The Second Cold War now moves to the Caribbean

By Skeeter Wesinger

September 10, 2025

The Caribbean has once again become a stage for the rivalry of great powers. In Cuba, Chinese technicians and engineers have been working around the clock to expand a network of intelligence-gathering sites. Satellite photographs and on-the-ground accounts confirm the presence of large radar dishes and a new antenna array near Santiago de Cuba, along with several facilities west of Havana. These installations appear designed to intercept communications and track movements across the southeastern United States. Their placement recalls the old Soviet listening post at Lourdes, which for years operated as Moscow’s ear on Washington.

What makes the present moment different is that China has chosen to follow its land-based presence with a naval one. Reports now indicate that a Chinese aircraft carrier, accompanied by support vessels, is moving into Caribbean waters. The decision to send such a formation across the Pacific and into the approaches of the Americas is a first. The United States Navy remains stronger in every respect, but the symbolism is clear. A foreign fleet, commanded from Beijing, is operating in what for two centuries Americans have regarded as their own sphere.

The tensions with Venezuela lend further weight to this development. Caracas, under sanction and isolation from Washington, has cultivated close ties with both China and Russia. A Chinese carrier group near Venezuelan ports would strengthen the government there and complicate American policy. It would also demonstrate that the Monroe Doctrine, which has served as the guiding principle of U.S. policy in the hemisphere since 1823, is under direct test.

Technologically, the new Cuban installations may not represent the most advanced form of signals intelligence. Analysts note that a significant amount can be intercepted today through satellite and cyber networks. Yet, the presence of these bases, together with a Chinese fleet, alters the strategic picture. They indicate that Beijing seeks not only to contest American influence in Asia but also to place pressure on the United States close to home.

This pattern, of probing and counter-probing, of establishing footholds near the other’s shores, is one that recalls earlier periods of rivalry. The first Cold War played out along these lines, and it is in that sense that many observers now speak of a second. The Caribbean, once the flashpoint of the Cuban Missile Crisis, is again the scene of significant power maneuvering. For now, the balance of power remains unchanged. But the geography of the contest has shifted. America finds that its own neighborhood is no longer beyond the reach of its chief rival, and that the struggle of the new century may be fought not only in distant waters, but in the seas and islands that lie just off its southern coast. The words of Ronald Reagan resonate now more than ever: ‘Trust, but verify.

 

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