Susan . . . I don’t recommend putting your life on hold to wait for your clearance. Look around here 12-24 month waiting periods are not unusual. You’ve applied, now get on with life and do what you need to do. When anything pops that you need to do for your clearance application, they will let you know, you can address it and then go back to your life.
Get out there, find a challenging job, learn and enjoy yourself.
Unfortunately you’re all probably right!
Thanks and good luck to all.
I have personally put off some things like law school. I’d hate to get 2-4 semesters into law school and in tons of debt, only to have my clearance and awesome job come through. I’m in a good job now though, which makes the wait sliiiiiightly less painful.
On an unrelated note; I’m considering moonlighting some other sort of job - possibly Uber driving on the weekends in case I want to save some cash for law school. It’s all 1099 in that case. If I’m already in adjudication should I have to update anyone on that? I filled out my SF-86 over a year ago. Wouldn’t leave my current job or anything.
Be careful with Uber and get some tax advice before you start . . . NOT from Uber . . . Being an Uber driver makes you a “small business”. This means that you are responsible for your own federal and state taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes and keeping all of your records. You tax filing will be more complicated, and more expensive if you pay to get your taxes done.
This isn’t the time to get in trouble with the IRS.
Yeah, if I did I’d keep good records and set aside money for next April. Just wondering if it would impact my current investigation or who I’d need to inform I’m moonlighting.
I don’t think that there is any reason to tell anybody unless you are asked. The system really isn’t designed for you to feed information in during the process.
Is there a way I can go outside the FSO and find out my clearance?
I’m glad I made the decision to apply for graduate school (two years out of undergrad) last fall so that I’ll be able to start this fall. I figure if the clearance and EOD comes through I’ll try and work something out with the agency in order to start after I get my degree.
Not that i’m aware of. If you are going through the department of state you could email securityclearance@state.gov for your status. If you are going through department of defense you could try and contact OPM, the contact information is somewhere on this forum. Honestly, there isn’t much you are going to accomplish outside of your FSO. Once you clearance is granted, they will let you know. There isn’t anything you can do in the meantime but wait. I know it would help to know exactly what step your clearance is at, but usually you are unable to find that out. As others have mentioned, try and continue with your life and put this process in the back of your mind.
On a similar note to Fullcast, once adjudicated and given a firm offer, how much “wiggle room” is there? What is the typical timeline (min/max) for entrance on duty? How understanding are gov employers of individuals needing to finish up work obligations/school/newborns after waiting 24+ months to get cleared?
FYI - TSC/IC
5/2016 - APPLICATION
10/2016 - INTERVIEW
01/2017 - COE ACCEPTED
01/2017 - SF-86 SUBMITTED
06/2017 - CREDIT CHECK
06/2017 - 10/2017 - REFERENCES CONTACTED
08/2017 - BI INTERVIEW
10/2017 - FOLLOW-UP BI QUESTIONS
12/2017 - POLYGRAPH
02/2018 - FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS - ADJUDICATOR &
INFORMED IT WOULD BE 2(MIN)-3 MONTHS UNTIL FINAL DECISION
It’s hard to wait, but trying to be patient. What’s the alternative?
Working to enhance current skill set, keeping healthy.
It depends on the agency’s HR policies and your current situation. Also, there is a Code of Federal Regulations that governing this. Again, it depends on the agency. You should contact your agency representative and ask.
Nonetheless, I will speculate here… I can imagine that you will be given a short turnaround similar to the tentative offer, which you were given 48-72 hours to accept or decline the tentative offer. I can imagine that HR, at best, can give you a month. I believe there is a statute that governs this action; however, it depends on your status in civil service versus excepted service.
However, you can work out an agreement with your to-be-supervisor. For instance, your supervisor can authorize Leave Without Pay (LWOP) status. There is no limit to that. However, most supervisors aren’t going to wait beyond a month. For that reason, I would suggest you to wait until you are adjudicated and given the firm offer before negotiating your onboard date.
Great insight AWoodhull. As a follow-up, what about salary negotiations for applicants that have accepted a CJO but waited 2+ years to clear, and gained further experience/education in that time period?
For example, let’s say an applicant signed a CJO for a GS-10 position, and went on to graduate from law school or became a manager at their current company in the two years while waiting for a clearance. Is there an avenue to approach a salary negotiation? A grade/step negotiation? Or even a application for a different position within the same agency? (I know this is generally frowned upon after a signed CJO, but so is a 2+ year wait for a clearance).
Who told you your investigation was in Adjudication?
The “new” person “working my case” had questions regarding Guideline (F). Informed me that after the report was prepared it would go on to the supervisor. The word “adjudication” was not mentioned; it was my assumption based on the questions asked.
The reason why I ask is I am in a similar situation. I am hoping my investigation is closed and went to adjudication. You know you can call the 724-794-5612 extension 7400. They should tell you if your investigation is closed or not. I really need to call them sometime.
This was my plan exactly, basically wait until they give me the final offer and start date and basically tell them “look y’all took like 27 months so I’ve kind of moved on but I’d love to still work there etc.”
Government is generally ruthless when it comes to something like this. So, expect to put up a fight. As for your question, it depends on the position that you accepted and your employment status. If it is a GS 10 position, you can only negotiate for step increase not grade. If it is GS9/12, you can negotiate for grade increase and/or step increase.
Also, if it is a delegated examining unit (DEU) position, you can literally negotiate any grades without the Time-In-Grade (TIG) restriction. If it is a merit promotion (MP) position, TIG restriction applies. You can find out about the position via the vacancy announcement which you are filling.
In either way, you will need to provide justification (ie: salary history, level of education, etc.) Again, I would suggest you to review, job announcement, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), applicable Office of Personnel Management (OPM) or agency Human Resources (HR) policies. Again, expect to put up a fight.
In the eye of the Federal Government, it does not make any difference if you have a clearance or not. Your grade and pay will not increase because you wait 2+ years for the job.
As for applying and accepting jobs, it is generally frown upon to even apply for other jobs given how long the process takes from employer’s perspective. Nonetheless, it is not illegal. You can apply and accept as many job offers.
Furthermore, the tentative offers usually contain a language that basically says something to the effect that the job is not a guarantee; thus, do not make any major decisions as result of the tentative job offer. So, go ahead and advance yourself.
This is why folks on this forum constantly advise others to go on with life while clearance is in process.
Good points AWoodhull. Taking the worst case scenario of “losing the fight” for a promotion: what happens to a candidate’s clearance if they decide not to take the job after begin cleared+adjudicated?
Does the secret/TS/Poly/whatever clearance vanish overnight, and for any new government jobs the process has to begin all over again, or is there some “grace period” where an unemployed person can hold a clearance and “shop around” for a more suitable job? Is a TS with, say the NSA, transferrable to DoE or CIA or DoD and vice-versa?
Are there any repercussion for this, is it generally frowned upon? I am imagining there is a non-zero number of cases in which fresh college graduates started the hiring process, and are soon-to-be newly minted lawyers/educators/managers. If an agency/department is not willing to negotiate or be flexible about EOD dates, what are a candidate’s options?