I worked with a recruiter named Drew Zenick who was great and kept an open communication. I got an initial interview which asked about my background and skillset, specifically with Cisco ISE. After that, they seemed interested and passed me along to their customer panel to essentially vet to see if I was a good candidate or not. After that, Drew told me it is now up to the government to see if I would get through or not I suppose because they were offering to upgrade me from a Secret to a Top Secret. Lastly, I was told I was not a fit although everything seemed to be all in the green and they liked me because I was not a quote on quote "Subject Matter Expert" for Cisco ISE and they wanted somebody who wanted to get things started and ready without help. This was rather disappointing because I wish they would have said this in the initial interview, so I felt like my time was wasted and I was hopeful for no reason. I understood the reason and I even told them I am a great self-starter, researcher, and learn quickly but I understood their need for an SME. My advice is if a SME is a hard requirement, PLEASE state that on the job description or let the recruiters know that a SME is a required.