In category: Job Search / Career Development
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
Public Trust Positions: The Tiers, the Investigation, and Why It Is Not a Security Clearance
Key takeaways A Tier 4 high-risk public trust investigation is priced at $4,460 for FY 2027, against $455 for the Tier 3 investigation behind a Secret clearance (DCSA, effective October 1, 2026). Suitability is adjudicated against 8 factors in 5 CFR 731.202(b) today, rising to … more
Government Contract Jobs vs. Federal Jobs: Which One You Are Actually Applying For
Between December 2024 and June 2026, federal civilian employment outside the Postal Service fell from 2,410,800 to 2,083,700, according to the BLS Current Employment Statistics series. That is 327,100 positions, a 13.6% cut in eighteen months. The contractor side of the cleared m… more
FSO Requirements for a Cleared Contractor: Who Must Appoint One, and What They Actually Have to Do
Procedures. Security training and briefings. Determination of access. Reporting requirements. Information system security. Those five categories were roughly 82 percent of every open security vulnerability the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency carried across cleared… more