
Oracle National Security Regions
Josh Barrow has held many responsibilities in his 25 years in leadership. As a C-level leader and strategic consultant, he’s delivered multimillion-dollar cost-saving initiatives and multibillion-dollar technology programs. Now, as Chief of Staff for Oracle National Security Regions (ONSR), he’s taken on a fresh challenge that combines business know-how with his senior leadership experience in the Army National Guard.
ONSR occupies a special place as the Oracle cloud solution for customers in need of a proven platform for classified workloads. Designed for the US Defense Department and Intelligence Community. It supports the delivery of workloads at Secret and Top Secret levels. These close defense ties made it a natural choice for someone with Josh’s skillset and military experience.
He’s always understood the value veterans and reservists bring to the private sector but never imagined he would be asked to bring his professional experience back to the military.
“The National Guard was struggling with recruitment in Washington. They said, ‘Hey, let’s find a senior leader in our formation that has business experience, and military experience, and can take tools from the private sector and problem-solving from the military, and apply them to this problem.’”
Active service
This all added up to make him a perfect fit for what came next. Soon, Josh was informed of a new mission that would take him out of his role at Oracle and back to active service for 12 months. His objective: tackling falling recruitment numbers in the Washington area with techniques from the private sector.
“I was hand-selected for that. I’ve been in the private sector for 25 years, but I’ve also done active duty for four years,” he adds.
At Oracle, Josh drives strategic initiatives, critical projects, and leadership communications while delivering insights to senior leadership. It’s a very different approach to attracting and developing personnel in the military and he had to think differently to bridge the gap. And because Oracle had given him the flexibility to take on the challenge, he knew his responsibilities at work would be covered while he served.
“It was a tour like nothing I’ve ever done,” he shares. “I’ve never been part of military recruiting before. The big difference is when you’re in a unit and you’re commanding, you’re fed people to be in a position, then you develop them.”
“You build experience in the unit versus recruiting into the unit. And so, you’re focused on retention and keeping people in and making it a good experience, but also making sure the unit is combat-ready.”
Cycle of service
May is Military Appreciation Month and a time to honor the sacrifices of those who serve. Josh’s call to overhaul recruiting at the National Guard was significant for its part in continuing that cycle of service, but there was also a personal side.
“I have three children and my oldest daughter is 18, and she’s part of this generation and during this time she started in the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corp,” he shares.
Fully briefed, he was ready to dig into his Oracle recruiting knowledge and study the Guard’s challenges. Josh interviewed recruiters, people from the frontlines, senior leaders, and even outside experts.
Provoking thought
“We came up with three lines of effort,” he explains. “One was to fix ourselves internally. What are we doing in our recruiting organization that we can do better? Two was external. Are we really in schools and communities the way we should be? Lastly, we wanted to modernize our marketing with an analytical approach.”
With his corporate-inspired strategy in place, Josh turned to the most effective type of execution he knew—military style.
“I got all the leaders in a room—a drill hall essentially, in our physical training uniforms, and I broke them up into groups. We did a miniature version of the Navy SEAL’s ‘Murph’ workout!
“Nothing crazy, but just to get the juices flowing and provoke some thought. I knew what the answer was. But I wanted them to see the answer, not just listen to me come up with it.”
Lightbulb moment
“They all came back, and they all agreed. It was accountability on us as recruiters. What’s the one thing that is going to fix accountability? It was leadership, and that was when the lightbulb went off for everyone.”
This lightbulb moment would set the tone for the next 12 months as Josh and his team worked to create a flatter, leaner recruiting organization at the National Guard. By the time he left command, recruitment was already up over 50% versus the previous year.
“We blew it out of the water,” he adds. “It was a massive turnaround and so cool to be part of.”
Hidden strengths
It’s a stunning outcome and shows how the flow of knowledge between military and professional life doesn’t just run one way. It also highlights the hidden strengths reservists can bring.
While transitioning service members, veterans, and military spouses often have clearer career routes available to them through programs like SkillBridge. Some are wary of hiring reservists due to uncertainty around their availability.
“Employers may think these applicants are going to be gone and they shouldn’t hire them,” Josh shares. “There’s bias and people don’t tend to know much about it. But look at me, I learned new skills in the last twelve months that I’m already applying to challenges at ONSR.”
Realizing the potential
The biggest part of the battle lies with hiring managers. Reaching them, educating them, and helping them realize the potential on offer.
“If you have someone getting a deployment—they’re going to be a better leader, a better manager, or they’ll learn skills that can be applied at work.”
The kind of specialized clearances reservists and veterans can earn on deployment also have immense value, Josh explains. “Employers, Oracle included, are keen to connect with people with the kind of security clearances that come from service. There are all kinds of benefits.”
Oracle understands this, which is why we offer such a wide range of support for those who serve with options to retrain, upskill, and even pivot careers—as well as accommodations for those on deployment. It’s part of what makes us a VETS Indexes 5 Star Employer.
Oracle honors all those who serve, past and present, active and in the reserves. Help create the future with us today—learn more about military and veteran recruitment at Oracle.