In category: career
The DoD Hiring Freeze: What It Actually Does (and Does Not Do) to Contractor Hiring
At noon on January 20, 2025, every federal civilian position that sat vacant in the executive branch stopped being fillable. A presidential memorandum froze those billets in place and barred agencies from creating new ones. Defense contractors kept hiring the next morning. Key ta… more
NISPOM in 2026: What 32 CFR Part 117 Requires of a Cleared Employer
February 24, 2021 is the day the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual stopped being a manual. On that date it became a federal regulation at 32 CFR Part 117, with the force of law behind every paragraph, and contractors had six months to implement it. If you run … more
CMMC Level 2 and the Staff You Now Have to Hire: Assessors, ISSOs and Compliance Leads
On November 10, 2025, the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification took effect. That date started Phase 1 of the rollout, and it is the moment CMMC stopped being a policy slide and became a clause in live Department… more
How to Read a DD-254: The Form That Defines Every Cleared Job You Post
Item 1a of a DD Form 254 holds exactly one of three words: Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret. That single box sets the clearance level of every requisition you write against the contract. Name a higher level than the work needs and you commit your company to an investigation th… more
OFCCP Compliance for Federal Contractors: The Hiring Rules That Bind Every Cleared Req
Executive Order 11246 governed how federal contractors hired from 1965 onward. On January 21, 2025, Executive Order 14173 revoked it. The affirmative-action program most recruiters and FSOs mean when they say "OFCCP compliance," the one built on race and sex, is now gone. A 90-da… more