My Secret Clearance finally came through. My timeline:
Actually applied for the job: Some time in June 2016
Interviewed for the Position: August 10th, 2016
Tentative job offer: August 24th, 2016
Actually submitted SF-86: September 1st, 2016 (approximate)
Investigation Opened: October 12th, 2016
—Madness—
I finally decide to send a letter to my Senator’s office: September 1st, 2017.
I have no idea if the letter makes any difference, but two months later I finally hear from a human being.
Interviewed for clearance: November 13th, 2018 (takes roughly an hour and fifteen minutes, mostly affirming everything I wrote on my SF-86.)
Late December 2017: A job reference at a former employer texts me to let me know that he spoke with an investigator.
And now for a brief comedy of errors:
Late January 2018: I get a phone call from my investigator, asking me if I’d be willing to fill out a form giving them permission to speak with a psychiatrist who had previously given me a prescription for antidepressants. They note that they have already spoken with this person, and my filling out the form isn’t strictly necessary. Of course by this point I am willing to hop through any form presented to me, and I wind up meeting my investigator and filling out the form in the parking lot of a Fuddruckers.
Late February 2018: I am told that I need to redo the form, because I signed the date in 2017 rather than 2018.
April 30th: Clearance is granted.
May 29th: I actually get a phone call from the hiring agency, asking if I still want the job and telling me that my clearance is granted.
Again this is a for a direct hire accounting job with the DoD and a Secret clearance.