Should I apply for jobs that require a security clearance if I don't currently have one?

[Vectorhead]

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

LOL, if Edward Snowden and a number of other seemingly traitorous individuals (Snowden politics aside) could hold high level secret clearances...what exactly are they looking for?

I've been interviewed a number of times for my friends' secret clearances, and the interviews always make me laugh. They are stuck in the 1950s, and ask questions like, does your friend have any contemporaries in Axis power countries (not in those words, but that general sentiment), like we are living during the red scare.

And funny, they will ask a ton of questions about drug usage, but I don't think they actually TEST for drug usage. Strange, because to get some very low-paying jobs you have to **** in a cup, but "clearances" that my tax money is going toward just take your word for it.

My husband is a contractor with the highest level security clearance that you can hold, with the polygraph, and I'm in the private sector.

You could be right that their process is flawed. But it doesn't change the fact that it's very difficult to get a job requiring a TS clearance unless you already have one. As long as there are a lot of people with TS clearances floating around there looking for jobs, companies will be reluctant to hire people without clearances to fill those jobs.

[smarterguy]

Apply, apply, apply!

Not having a clearance is certainly a disadvantage, but if you're one of the best qualified, a contractor or gov't agency will consider paying for it, and waiting.

Also keep an eye for jobs that just require a secret clearance. They can start you off with just a interim secret which takes like a week or two (if you're background is clean). And you're at less of a disadvantage compared to a job that requires a top secret.

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

And funny, they will ask a ton of questions about drug usage, but I don't think they actually TEST for drug usage. Strange, because to get some very low-paying jobs you have to **** in a cup, but "clearances" that my tax money is going toward just take your word for it.

Not sure where you're working, but the contractors and govvies I know have been pissed tested for drugs.