When I was honorably discharged form the service, there was hardly any market for IT security professionals. Either you worked as a government contractor or as a government employee. Sad part is that with my rank and credentials, I would have entered into the federal employment arena as a GS9-GS11 range. Good luck there. There is a real negative bias in government hiring of outside labor coming in at anything other than a GS4-GS6 range.

Yes, I am more than a little miffed that my clearance lapsed and it is a REAL pain in the backside to get another one today. It is the chicken and the egg ting. To get the good paying security jobs, you need a clearance, to get a clearance you need a sponsor (employer) that is willing to handle your clearance. The other sucky part is that most clearance related jobs require immediate employment. They can't wait 6 months for your TS / SBI to go through the system.

My suggestion to ANYONE getting out of the military or a government job. Make sure you can transfer your clearance and do what you can to keep it active. Find a job before your contract ends and make sure your new employer is capable of keeping your clearance up to date. Don't take anyones word for it, check on it regularly yourself.

Tags: Security Clearance, Government, DoD, Department of Defense, Civilian Contractor