I was laid off on March 2nd, received a job offer contingent on grant of a Secret Level clearance ~March 14th. Did the new hire paperwork and filled out and submitted my SF86 March 15-18. Its been a month, and I have about another months worth of bills in the bank. Should I continue to wait for my interim, or should I try to find another job for the time being? I don’t want any negative fallout from my “new” company or my investigation to be interrupted because I took another job, but bills gotta be paid. I understand I’m VERY early in this process compared to many individuals on this forum, but I do not have the means to wait months and months before getting an answer.
My advice, get another job and continue life as if you aren’t even waiting on a clearance. Not many people are receiving interims these days and clearances are taking up to two years. My clearance took two years, and if I had not been working during that time at another job, i would be under water.
-You start the new job with high ambition and don’t even think about the possibility of leaving. When the day comes that you get the clearance, then you make the decision to quit or stay where you are at.
Don’t wait around for a clearance, interim or otherwise. A lot goes into the decision to grant an interim and there is no guarantee that you will get one at all much less in a timely fashion.
Go and live your life. Your clearance process will raise it’s head every now and then and you will need to address something. Then, one day, you will be granted access. Two weeks from now? Two years from now? Nobody knows. Don’t let you finances go to crap while you wait. It will come back to haunt you.
Given where you are in the process, I would get another job. If you are a contractor, clearances may take a while. Get a job where you know there is no chance of being a career and that has a lot of turnover so you can easily get out when the time comes. However, before you do, try to find out if the company or agency can give you a timeframe on an interim decision and if you can work on an interim.
Sorry to come in out of nowhere, but I’m actually pretty interesting in your opinions here considering the nature of this topic.
If I was given a job offer, which I signed, for a job that is contingent on me being granted Secret clearance, would it be “kosher” to quit my current job (NOT the one I’m waiting on clearance to start) for another one in the meantime? It seems as though that’s what you’re suggesting to B1U3B1RD.
I would suggest that you live your life and not let the fact that you are waiting for a clearance affect your choices.