Boom expected in hiring security-cleared workers

In 2007 will see a surge in the hiring of workers with security clearances as a result of the many multimillion-dollar Department of Defense contracts that were awarded in December 2006.

Security Cleared Workforce Data:

• 18 Months - The average time to thoroughly vet a prospective worker with no security clearance. (Office of Personnel Management reports that clearances can be reduced to six months or less)
• More than three-fourths of government contractors agreed that the need for cleared employees to work on federal contracts had increased, in the past five years:
• “greatly” (51 percent)
• “somewhat” (26 percent)
  
  
• 50% of the respondents of a 2006 Federal Computer Week survey believed the security clearance process, run by the Defense Security Service and OPM, had:
• worsened (31 percent)
• not improved at all (24 percent) in the past year.
  
  
• There are some 79,500 contract employees working on federal information technology projects.
• Of the top 10 locations seeking cleared candidates, seven are in the national capital area.

1. Chantilly, Va.
2. Washington D.C., metropolitan area
3. McLean-Arlington, Va.
4. El Segundo, Calif.
5. Fairfax-Reston, Va.

In terms of salary:

• Cleared workers sent to Iraq can earn on average $98,400
• Cleared workers earned on average $78,400 in Maryland
• Cleared workers earned on average $76,500 in Virginia
• Arizona ranked tenth in the nation at an average earning of $64,400.
• Candidates with higher clearances can earn on average $10,000 more a year than workers with only a secret or confidential clearance.

Boom expected in hiring security-cleared workers. [Clearancejobs.com, Federal Computer Week]

Workforce Vision * Post: Bill Inman * Human Capital * Contingent Workforce * Globalization * Trends * Outsourcing