I was told by my future Employer to plan on starting in March or April. I was told to complete some Certifications while the future Employer got my clearances in order.
I have not heard anything and have spent a lot of time working from my end. However, I do not know if my future Employer is pursuing their end goals. Is there anyway to find out?
First off, what type of clearance is required? Have you filled out the SF-86 yet for a secret or top secret clearance? Is your job dependent upon a clearance or can you start without one? There is a lot of information that still needs some light here.
But if I were you, I would contact the employer directly. More so, contact the person you have been in contact with previously.
I was lead to believe that my employer was going to handle
this while I took care of some serious Certs…and they were T.Secs.
many thanks!
Your employer can only do so much. They give you authorization to fill out the SF-86 online (e-QIP) and then it’s up to you. They don’t know your life to be able to fill it out. Just a heads up, if you’re being put in for a TS you’re looking at definitely greater than a year for processing.
Well, there is a possibility that
someone may have access to some pre-existing clearances.
If they did and they were just not current, would that change anything?
Especially if they turned out NOT to have to be T.S. ?
I am trying to find out if this
job is a go as I was told, or if I
am being stalled. I got told…
in mid January …
“You should plan to start in March or April…that should give you time
to take care of your end and by that time we will have everything set on
this end”. So I don’t know what to think now. I hope someone wasn’t playing
a really nasty joke.
Thank you so very much! I really appreciate all of your help. There is no
telling what is really going on.
Sounds like a management and HR question. Nobody would submit a previous collected Equip/SF86 document and pass it off as current and fresh. You have to swear or affirm it is legit and true and current. 5 years in between clearances means a lot of bad behavior can take place and they want a fresh review. If one is out of access past 2 years it isn’t uncommon to request a new SF86/Equip. But your company would know if they pursued the cleared work and you were required to have access in this higher cleared level.
We don’t have time frames here . . . When did you last have a clearance? If you worked a cleared position in the last two years and have not been due for reinvestigation, the new employer should just be able to grab your previous clearance and have you start working. It doesn’t even take two months to check and complete.
If you haven’t had a cleared position for over two years, a reinvestigation will be required. You basically go back to the beginning and start over from scratch. This process can take FAR longer than two years as you have likely been reading here.
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This is so true. But if they want you to start, they can make a lot if things work…and pursue the clearances I guess as a person needs them. I also heard that it depended on who actually needed you to have them. There are entities that can make things faster than others.
Thank you very much!
Thank you very much! I think that I can start where I am and get the newer clearances after I start. I would just have less of a role in some of the work. You have been a great help.
Thank you so much!
TrueTrust
You are welcome! Happy to advise from what I have experienced. Cleared contracts is where it starts, followed by cleared positions, and who fills them follows. In many cases a company has multiple contracts, some cleared, some not. If an employee appears promising and diligent the company may encourage them to put in for the clearance. This is a vote of confidence in what you are doing, expanded responsibility, and should be viewed from the employee as a means of growing their value proposition to the company. Now as companies go, once they hit SAIC or Lockheed Martin level in size, they handle so much classified at so many facilities it isn’t much of an internal discriminator. But to a newly formed 8A contract company first getting feet wet with classified work, having a clearance makes you the employee a commodity. It opens other doors for you as well as you can then apply for other work with other companies or grow where you are planted. As the company gains other cleared work they like to have higher cleared employees to fill slots, again a win for the employee. As you gain clearances to a degree you can command higher pay as well. I have Secret , Top Secret, and varying levels of much higher versions of Top Secret in my employee pool. I agree on starting with the Secret clearance and making sure you are comfortable with where your finances are and your potential to be eliminated if you lose your clearance. Too many times companies want all employees thrown into the system to gain higher clearances with no regard for potentially losing the employee if they cannot clear. Where I am, if an employee loses clearance, including me, they (or I) lose their position. So I do a lot of educating on financial standards for TS, along with recreational drug standards, and criminal events. You don’t want to lose valued employees if you can keep them. So we tend to start with Secret, educate them on TS, submit for that, and if they clear there, encourage them to get the highest clearance we have requiring a polygraph. This way they are more comfortable knowing they have been investigated and they do meet the standards.
Old Cold War Warrior!
Amber Bunny,
That was very kind of you to go
into such detail. I used to get around and Security Clearances were very
limited. Now they seem to be a rather
abundant commodity. However,
without a current Clearance,
it would appear that everything
comes to an abrupt standstill.
I was told that the person in charge of hiring wanted me on their Team and
to plan to start
work between next month and
April. They asked me to work on my end for a couple of Months and that
would give them time to get things squared away. Now, other than
" You’re hired…and get your Certifications" by this time I have no
idea what that means.
I have invested 1000s into
getting Certs. for things I can
do in my sleep and a lot of time
learning how someone wants
to here how to do something on a test, that I was doing before there were
Certs. But,
I don’t see how they are going to get me Clearances. I am at a loss. I am
an Information Security Analyst and a Network
Engineer… as well as a Systems Analyst and System’s Admin. Now I am
worried that the job I was told would be waiting for me, might
not be… I have built and Hardened and protected more systems than a
team of 300 has. I am at a loss. But, I know
the guy that told me he was
going to put me on the Team
as a Sr. Security Analyst would
not tell me something that wasn’t true. But with the information you have
shared, I
don’t see how he will make that
happen. I am sure I can count on this person and that
it will all work out.
Thank you So Very Much for
sharing your thoughts and experiences with me. I am in your debt.
All the best,
True Truth
Keep us informed . . . Interesting story . . . Perhaps they have work that you can start with that doesn’t require a clearance?
They said they had work and told me to plan on starting.
I appreciate everyone’s help
and advice. Just an old small town farmer’s boy trying to
help out the best way I can.
Once again, Thank you for the advise.
All the best,
True Trust