I am a contractor in DC and I have been told in a month or two my company will be doing layoffs.
I have already started to search for jobs both gov contractors (my preference) and maybe in private. Also, my clearance(equal to TS) expires in January since I received it in 2020, but my SCI and Poly were completed this year.
What would happen in each of these scenarios?
I get laid off this month, but I start a new gov job by let’s say February(knowing how long things take) or after.
I get laid off this month, but I start a new private sector job in October, but new job says no start until February.
Cause imagine this is February 2025 or later, I still have no job and the questions on application form asks “do you have a clearance”?
Do you know if you have been enrolled in “Continuous Evaluation” (CE) or something like that? I’m still trying to figure out if it is universally accepted. The usual rule of thumb is you can get back into a cleared job within two years.
Anyway you are on the right track in looking for jobs now.
I have not received any notification that I am in CE. Also, this is Department of Energy.
Also, my TS or I should really say Q was from a previous contractor and this contract I been with for a year so that is why the SCI and Polys were done.
Def look for jobs. BUT, I don’t recommend taking a private sector job unless you’re willing to 86 your clearance. TS Cleared personnel are hard to find and if you look in the right job area, they will hire you site unseen.
I much rather stay in cleared space over regular private sector job. I also enjoy being in DC. Private sector generally pays more than any cleared role but I rather stay in cleared space even if it’s less money because I like the work and feel motivated by the greater cause to help the country.
The current contracting group is trying to flush people out yet I have STEM qualifications which makes no sense. If another gov contracting group would hire me tomorrow, I would take the offer cause the current one is not operating professionally.
I used to work as a contractor supporting NSA. They were losing a good number of people (blue badge NSA employees and contractors) who were going to jobs in the uncleared space. I don’t have any hard numbers but clearly it was well above historic levels.
When some of the high-tech companies starting having layoffs, NSA and its contractors were hoping those folks would come begging to get back into the cleared world but I don’t think there was a huge rush.
Then I’m looking in the wrong places. Please show me several private sector Mid-Senior (not executive level or helpdesk level) IT jobs that pay more than the exact same job with TS/SCI/Poly in DC and I’ll re-evaluate my jobs search.
Any FAANG or FAANG adjacent company, you will most likely be getting paid more. non private sector seems to have a cap almost at around 200-250k it seems for mid-level. For a lot of these FAANG adjacent companies, 250k is like the bottom of the pay band for non seniors with less than 4 years of experience. These people can easily break 325k+ for less then 4 years of experience. I don’t know many places that will offer 325k for someone under 4 years of experience besides private sector. With External seniors being able to clear 500k pretty easily.
This true Bobby. The non-cleared side of the FAANG will pay more but stability could be lost relatively speaking compared to a cleared FAANG role. Also, HIPPA related tech is paying a lot too in non-cleared space.
I want to stay in cleared space. My only question is my current contractor is an unstable and acts not much better than a small upstart private company instead of a federal contractor.