Should I apply for jobs that require a security clearance if I don't currently have one? (how much, transfer)

[Nate_VA]

I'm looking for a job. I'd guess that 40% of the postings that list my skills also say that a current security clearance is required. Should I skip those jobs, or hope that they would sponsor a clearance? I don't know anything about the process, so any insight would be helpful. But, I really don't want to waste my time applying for jobs when my resume will be ignored due to the lack of a clearance.

I know this really belongs on the 'work and employment' forum, but I figured I would get more responses on the NoVA forum.

[Vectorhead]

If the job requires a secret clearance then absolutely still apply. If it requires TS or TS/SCI or any variation thereof, well... you can apply but it's unlikely that they'll consider you. It's not so much the cost of getting the clearance that will stop them -- it's the cost of employing you for the year or so that it can take to get a TS clearance. They'll have to be paying you even though you can't work on the stuff they hired you to do, until your clearance comes through.

[Nate_VA]

Originally Posted by Vectorhead

If the job requires a secret clearance then absolutely still apply. If it requires TS or TS/SCI or any variation thereof, well... you can apply but it's unlikely that they'll consider you. It's not so much the cost of getting the clearance that will stop them -- it's the cost of employing you for the year or so that it can take to get a TS clearance. They'll have to be paying you even though you can't work on the stuff they hired you to do, until your clearance comes through.

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, many of them have TS/SCI listed in the requirement. I guess I'll focus on the secret clearance.

Are there really that many people out there that already have a TS clearance? It must be pretty easy for them to find jobs!

[Lyndarn]

Have looked up the costs yet? It all depends on who the actual Company is and IF they do contracts with Government ...IF that is so..then THEY have to pay for such a security clearance...Now IF the company does NOT do Government Contracts it could be expensive...Here's a link for you This write up was 2011 so have no clue what it is now..But I hope it helps..

How Much Does It Really Cost to Get a Security Clearance?

[Nate_VA]

Originally Posted by Lyndarn

Have looked up the costs yet? It all depends on who the actual Company is and IF they do contracts with Government ...IF that is so..then THEY have to pay for such a security clearance...Now IF the company does NOT do Government Contracts it could be expensive...Here's a link for you This write up was 2011 so have no clue what it is now..But I hope it helps..

How Much Does It Really Cost to Get a Security Clearance?

Thanks for the link!

[Vectorhead]

Originally Posted by Lyndarn

Have looked up the costs yet? It all depends on who the actual Company is and IF they do contracts with Government ...IF that is so..then THEY have to pay for such a security clearance...Now IF the company does NOT do Government Contracts it could be expensive...Here's a link for you This write up was 2011 so have no clue what it is now..But I hope it helps..

How Much Does It Really Cost to Get a Security Clearance?

You, as an individual seeking a clearance, will never have to pay for your own clearance. Your company will pay for it, and this article claims that most often the gov't is actually covering the cost. And the article backs up what I was saying -- people often assume a TS clearance is hugely expensive, but it actually isn't.

The difficulty with getting a clearance is that the only way to do it is to get hired by a company that has a contract that requires you to get a clearance. It would be great to be able to pay for a clearance all on your own. I would have done it in a heartbeat the last time I was looking for a job. But it doesn't work that way.

And to answer the OP's question, yes, there are a LOT of people in this area with very high clearances and those clearances are worth their weight in gold because they can be transferred from one company/contract to another.

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by Vectorhead

You, as an individual seeking a clearance, will never have to pay for your own clearance. Your company will pay for it, and this article claims that most often the gov't is actually covering the cost. And the article backs up what I was saying -- people often assume a TS clearance is hugely expensive, but it actually isn't.

The difficulty with getting a clearance is that the only way to do it is to get hired by a company that has a contract that requires you to get a clearance. It would be great to be able to pay for a clearance all on your own. I would have done it in a heartbeat the last time I was looking for a job. But it doesn't work that way.

And to answer the OP's question, yes, there are a LOT of people in this area with very high clearances and those clearances are worth their weight in gold because they can be transferred from one company/contract to another.

I have many friends from many walks of life, but not a one of them has been rejected or barred from getting a secret clearance. There cannot be that much to it.

[Vectorhead]

Nope, secret clearances are quite easy to get. TS are tougher. And it doesn't take nearly as long to get a secret clearance, which is why companies who are looking for people for a job that requires a secret clearance are usually willing to consider people who don't have a clearance yet.

[PK12]

Also keep an eye out for jobs that require a Public Trust or Position of Trust clearance.

Those are a lot faster and easier to obtain.

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by Vectorhead

Nope, secret clearances are quite easy to get. TS are tougher. And it doesn't take nearly as long to get a secret clearance, which is why companies who are looking for people for a job that requires a secret clearance are usually willing to consider people who don't have a clearance yet.

LOL, if Edward Snowden and a number of other seemingly traitorous individuals (Snowden politics aside) could hold high level secret clearances...what exactly are they looking for?

I've been interviewed a number of times for my friends' secret clearances, and the interviews always make me laugh. They are stuck in the 1950s, and ask questions like, does your friend have any contemporaries in Axis power countries (not in those words, but that general sentiment), like we are living during the red scare.

And funny, they will ask a ton of questions about drug usage, but I don't think they actually TEST for drug usage. Strange, because to get some very low-paying jobs you have to **** in a cup, but "clearances" that my tax money is going toward just take your word for it.

My husband is a contractor with the highest level security clearance that you can hold, with the polygraph, and I'm in the private sector.