News + Career Advice
Stay current on security-cleared job search tips, trends, and news.
SF-86 Section 23: Disclosing Past Drug Use (and What Actually Happens If You Do Not)
Section 23 of the SF-86 is not one question with a seven-year window. It is seven questions, four of which turn on the word EVER, capitalised on the form. Most write-ups quote 23.1's seven-year line and stop.Key takeawaysSection 23 (SF-86, Rev. November 2016) holds seven question… more
SF-86 Section 21: Answering the Mental Health Questions Without Damaging Your Clearance
Key takeaways The SF-86 in use today is the November 2016 revision. Section 21 is five questions, and none asks whether you have seen a mental health professional. Question 21D names seven diagnoses. Depression, anxiety and PTSD are not among them. Over roughly 2012 through 202… more
Bill Rate vs. Pay Rate: Why Your Recruiter Cannot Go Higher
A price list on GSA Advantage bills a Network Security Engineer at $105.39 an hour and a Senior Network Security Engineer at $132.76. Real awarded prices, contract GS-35F-527AA. Neither is anybody's salary. What separates a published rate from your offer letter is mostly not nego… more
Getting a Facility Clearance: FCL Sponsorship, the Timeline, and What You Cannot Do Without One
One sentence in 32 CFR 117.9(a)(10) decides whether your company can hire a cleared engineer this year: "A contractor or prospective contractor cannot apply for its own entity eligibility determination." Someone else has to ask, and until they do, no employee of yours may touch c… more
SCA Wage Determinations: The Floor Under Every Cleared Support Contract Salary
On Revision 37 of wage determination 2015-4281, the line for Computer Systems Analyst II carries no wage. In its place the schedule prints "(see 1)" and routes you to a footnote. The same blank runs across Computer Programmer I-IV and Computer Systems Analyst I-III. What the sche… more