So I just received word today that my final TS/SCI clearance with an IC Agency has been granted, but the position I have applied for is closed.
feeling all types of ways right now.
Is this common? What can I do with a clearance but no job? Being as the clearance “is not fully adjudicated until first day”, can I apply anywhere else, or do anything with it, in terms of searching for a job? I have no documentation to provide to prove this, just an email from a recruiter.
As I approach 18 months since submitting SF86, I fear this outcome for myself. Can I ask how long your process was? Was this a contract or full time position?
@Batdog123. Hi, I fully sympathize with you. If you look at my history you will know what happened to me. In a few words - got a call from the IC agency that my clearance process is finished, just need to come in for processing. And that last step didn’t happen, which means I don’t actually have a clearance, it’s like it never happened, you won’t see any info under my name in Scattered Castles, no matter that poly and adjudication was successfully completed. Now if I apply to another agency or a contractor - they have to start the process from the beginning. Crazy.
I have heard of this a few times before. If you never had a clearance and went through the entire hiring process with NSA and there was no job at the end, you never got read on and they never recorded your eligibility for external organizations to see. If you had a clearance prior to starting the process but didnt have a TS/SCI or FSP then you might see that one of these additional items would be present in your case. I suggested for @Batdog123 to seek employment with a contractor as soon as possible while continuing to pursue the gov position.
That’s what I am doing too. A contractor is sponsoring me for a TS now, but they have to start from the beginning even though it’s the same agency that’s going to do my BI (DOJ). It’s crazy, you would have thought that they would have some internal system to see that I went through the whole process, but no - they would rather spend another 30k or whatever and 2 more years going through the same thing.
Not necessarily Dima. If you were not applying for a covert position, the specific agency would show the completed adjudication in their proprietary system. Getting them to verify and share that info for reciprocitys sake is the challenge. I understand what you are saying is that you cleared but were never read in. That is when SC would normally get populated. If it was a covert position you were clearing for you may be out of luck as you may not even be able to tell another agency the one you were cleared with. But that specific agency may very well have a specific reciprocity agreement for sharing info.
@Amberbunny2 it was for a linguist position.
I just talked to my recruiter at the new contractor that is sponsoring me and he said that since they use some official channels to see my status on Scattered Castle and can’t find it - that’s the end of story for them. They are not going to do any extra efforts to find me in some internal system somewhere.
If you had a way to research the hiring authority vice recruiter it might be better. Recruiters are paid to provide “shovel ready” applicants. They don’t have an incentive to get the clearance verified. Now it may be doable to have the FSO put a note with it explaining you had a previous BI from Agency X, investigation by “Whoever.” The BI community has their backchannels as well. My experience is none of the three letters believe the other three letters do anything right…which is the way they do it and are reluctant to accept work from their sisters and brothers.
Yikes, they can’t tell other agencies if its a covert position? So if they are going for a covert position, I’m guessing they can’t reach out to congressman/Senator if it takes to long?
Unfortunately I don’t have a way to research it. And I don’t want to look too desperate, like the last time. Also, I was told that with this agency poly and an interview comes at the end of BI, not at the beginning like previously for me, so it’s going to be too late by then to try to explain that I’m going through this process again…
If it makes you feel better, I have a Tier 5 investigation and final Secret from DoD. When I applied for a position as a contractor with a 3 letter Agency, they did not take my investigation or the Secret, and I had to submit new SF86. It’s been 15 months and the only thing happened was the Poly back in January.
Wow. It’s such a waste of time and money for the government. Why can’t they just agree on the set of rules to satisfy everybody in terms of BI and be done with it!
For my agency, I actually was holding on of the longer timelines being shared on Fed Soup. It was 11 months and 2 days from submission of SF86 to TS/SCI being granted.
Just a mild update, was given the heads up that I have two phone interviews coming up, so thats a plus.
Final update, and some stats for anyone interested!
I received my FJO today, and have an EOD in June for a position different than which I applied.
It took 15 months, and 1 day from applying to FJO.
It took 11 months, 2 weeks and 1 day from SF86 to FJO.
It will be 21 months, and 5 days from applying to EOD.
I appreciate everyones help through this process! And the friendships made along the way. @Trey3, @Rkf4ever and @Porgy (Porgy, If you see this, I tried emailing you but may or may not have gotten the email address jumbled from trying to go from memory, ha!).