What Does Security Clearance Recruiting Mean?
Security clearance recruiting is an exclusive recruiting and staffing service that concentrates on finding and attracting qualified candidates for positions in highly-sensitive departments that need a security clearance. Such roles are typical in government facilities or government contractors’ worksites.
Potential candidates for security clearance positions must be duly qualified. This is because they need the requisite experience and skills to conduct daily tasks associated with the job position and hold the credentials and backgrounds required to access classified areas and information.
The hiring process for security clearance positions is often highly competitive and fast-paced; in most cases, top candidates already hold several jobs.
Why is Hiring Security Clearance Candidates Challenging?
Security clearance positions are among the toughest jobs to fill because of their competitive nature and high demand. Statistics show that the number of cleared candidates is shrinking and limited, making filling these positions even harder. For instance, in 2013, around 5.1 million candidates had active security clearances. However, in 2015, the number reduced to about 4.2 million.
The FY17 yearly report about security clearance determination headed by the Director of National Intelligence showed that the number of security clearance experts probed and adjudicated favorably dropped by 1.2%. Also, this report noted that the number of revocations (+0.6%) and denials (+0.5%) for clearance increased during the same period.
While security clearance jobs are usually considered government positions, the most demanded jobs are in the managerial and IT roles, like project managers, system administrators, and network engineers. In 2016, 44% of the available security clearance job offers were IT-related. Among those open roles, 48% were for information analysts and software engineers.
Vulnerable Types of Information
Before going deeper into types of security clearances, it’s crucial to understand various forms of sensitive information that require only people with secret clearances to handle. They can be classified into two:
- For official use only. This type of information is unclassified but spared from public release because it is not suitable for release to the public.
Controlled unclassified information. This data is accessible to authorized personnel but cannot be redistributed to other people who do not need it to fulfill their responsibilities at the workplace.
Types of Security Clearances
There are three ways in which public sector workers can be authorized to access sensitive data, including:
- Top Secret. Information under this classification can cause catastrophic danger to national security if it leaks.
- Secret: Disclosing data of this level of security clearance can cause serious harm to national security.
- Confidential: This is the basic security clearance level given to most military personnel. The information under this classification will cause some slight damage to national security if it leaks.
Security clearance for confidential, secret and top secret requires renewal every 15, 10, and 5 years, respectively.
Other Special Security Clearances
Three more authorizations may impact what information security cleared workers can handle, namely:
- Agency Specific Clearance. In this case, agencies allow people to access low accessibility data needed to accomplish a specific task.
- Special Access Program Clearance. It authorizes a few personnel to work on a project – for instance, military technology development.
Sensitive Compartmented Information Clearance. This level of security clearance offers access to sensitive information related to the person’s department or role on a need-to-know basis. A nuclear weapon-related job is an example of this unique type of security clearance.
What to Consider When Hiring Security Clearance Candidates
When looking for talent to fill your company’s security clearance positions, it’s crucial to consider various factors, including:
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Does the candidate have prior criminal conduct?
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Is the candidate trustworthy or able to handle sensitive data?
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Does the applicant highlight that they want to serve their nation or government?
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Does the candidate have ties with foreign countries?
The sole aim of this background check and investigation for security clearance roles is to determine where an applicant stands regarding these subjects. This will help decide whether or not they qualify for the job.
Vetting Security Clearance Applicants
To avoid unauthorized access or dissemination of sensitive company data, employers must thoroughly vet applicants to ensure that only trustworthy ones are hired. Otherwise, sensitive data may land in the wrong hands, leading to massive losses and threatening national security. The background investigation process is detailed to ensure thorough vetting of potential candidates before letting them access crucial data.
The usual process for vetting security clearance personnel involves five primary steps:
01 Opening Investigation
The applicant must answer personal questions about employment history, relationships with other countries, and family. Also, you must provide your fingerprints.
02 Background investigations and checks
The candidate undergoes multiple tests, ranging from national and local background checks to polygraphs.
03 Personal interviews
The investigator interviews the security clearance candidate and their family and friends on questions about drug use, international travel, and background.
04 Decision
The security clearance recruitment service provider will decide whether or not to proceed to grant the security clearance job to the applicant depending on the data provided in the previous stages.
05 Briefing
Once approved, the qualified candidate is briefed on expectations of their new position and signs a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), vowing to protect the transmission and sharing of sensitive information or face legal penalties.
Expert Recruiters for Security Clearance Positions
SJH has effectively handled security clearance recruitment services for 2+ decades, supporting various DoJ, DHS, DoD, and IC programs. We operate as a strategic recruiting and staffing partner to our government and other government-contracting organizations, regardless of their sizes.
When you partner with a security clearance recruitment service provider like us, peace of mind is guaranteed. Your hiring department will not be overburdened with spending a lot of time performing background checks on out-of-scope candidates. As our area of specialty, it will take us minimal time to find the right candidate while reducing the cost of hiring.
Fill in the form given to schedule a free consultation session with SJH security clearance recruitment experts. Tired of the current job and looking for new opportunities? Visit our job board to see the latest open job opportunities.
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