Job Outlook: 2007 Rosy For Security Experts

For IT professionals carrying security clearances, 2007 has the makings of a very good year. According to two recent studies, candidates with clearances can earn as much as 24 percent more than their "uncleared" counterparts, and call the shots in terms of job opportunities. But for the government solution providers that have to employ cleared staffers to stay competitive, government-agency requirements drain resources and force a trade-off to meet the demand for this valuable labor. ClearanceJobs.com surveyed more than 2,175 job seekers with active or current U.S. security clearances between Jan. 21 and Sept. 30, and found that salaries for candidates with "Confidential" clearances increased more than 13 percent in the third quarter of 2006. Salaries for those with "Secret" clearances remained flat, while those with "Top Secret" clearances increased about 2 percent. Likewise, the Human Resource Association of the National Capital Area and the Professional Services Council (PSC) surveyed 90 employers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, and found that 47 percent of respondents provide additional compensation to employees with security clearances. That additional compensation is provided through increased base pay--from 3 percent for those with Confidential clearances to 23 percent for those with Top Secret clearances--or sign-on bonuses of $4,000 to $11,400. "As the process government uses to award clearances has ebbed and flowed, the salary has been impacted," says Alan Chvotkin, PSC's senior vice president and counsel. "Then, when the Department of Defense (DoD) stopped the clearance process, there was uncertainty with anyone being hired. Salaries spiked." In April 2006, the Defense Security Service notified defense contractors that it was suspending new personnel security-clearance requests and reinvestigations because of the overwhelming volume of applications and funding constraints. Within a few months, acceptance of applications had again resumed, though the backlog clogged the system. Even as the government tries to improve the security-clearance process, agencies struggle with programs that demand more cleared workers than ever, and contractors wait with valuable employees on the bench. "It's been a bit of a roller coaster, to say the least," says Deborah Tillman, facility security officer at Presidio. The Greenbelt, Md.-based systems integrator hasn't had a single employee security clearance approved in about a year. "The process starts, then stops, then starts again, and all the while with the systems used going through different upgrades that impact our applications. When [industry is] not able to fulfill the requirements of a contract, the customer doesn't get its needs met. I'd imagine some customers have had to compromise to a point, maybe decreasing the workload so the most important tasks can be assigned." NEXT: Little wonder that IT professionals with security clearances are commanding higher paychecks.

According to ClearanceJobs.com, the average salary of a cleared professional in Arizona is $64,000 and nearly $80,000 in the D.C. metro area. According to the HR Association/PSC study, employers most often sponsor employees without current clearance and recruit employees with clearances from other companies--32 percent and 33 percent of respondents, respectively. "If nothing else, it's become a skillset," says Dave Nodonly, resource manager at Presidio. "That means they have a ticket to a bigger dance than someone else without the clearance." While a higher clearance results in higher earning potential, candidates with the lowest clearance enjoyed the biggest boost in salary, according to ClearanceJobs.com. Employers find it easier to upgrade candidates with basic clearances to higher levels. Unfortunately, Nodonly says, the trade-off can sometimes be difficult to swallow, as employees that tout highly sought skillsets required for a particular defense project are passed over for others who may be less qualified, but carry the required security clearance. Evan Lesser, co-founder and director of ClearanceJobs.com, says government agencies are taking the situation one step further, recruiting high-school interns, who can be easily cleared and groomed for government work down the road. "A high-school junior gets a job at the FBI when he graduates, but dad has tried for two years and can't get the clearance," Lesser says. "It happens. Government may not be getting the top quality available, but it's a smart strategy for investing in the future." And for the present, companies often make inroads with the military, recruiting employees as they come off active duty to leverage clearances--many of which are high-level. With the DoD incorporating more and more IT into on-the-ground operations, many of these veterans also bring valuable skillsets. Regardless of where they're tapped, recruits that carry security clearances allow companies to cut out significant red tape. According to ClearanceJobs.com, the average time to process a security clearance is 18 months. And according to the HR Association/PSC survey, recruiting employees with clearances takes six to 12 weeks, depending on the level required. That challenge is compounded by the fact that clearances don't transfer easily between agencies or projects. "The time it takes to get somebody cleared is really outside a company's control, and yet government isn't saying, 'Here's your contract; start a year from now when you have your people,'" Chvotkin says. "At the same time, they don't provide clearances for [industry] to build up some 'bench strength' either. So the price premium is going up as companies steal [employees] from each other with the expectation they can start immediately." It's no surprise, then, that a big systems integrator such as Lockheed Martin can staff all of its programs adequately and meet all customer commitments with relative ease, as stated by a company spokesperson. But for small businesses, the red tape of security clearance--and the capital required to work through it--poses a barrier to defense-contract entry. These players have limited financial and human resources to service their own security clearances for employees, wait for approval or pay the premium for already-cleared candidates. For those businesses, gaining sponsorship from a prime contractor (such as Lockheed Martin) is the only option they have to play in the game. "Someone has to sponsor or service an employee for clearance--their employer or the prime," Nodonly says. Presidio's headquarters carries a Secret Facility Clearance, making the company eligible to access information classified at that level or lower. That's in addition to security clearance for industrial personnel. At its current level, Presidio has the ability to place its own cleared employees on projects that require Secret clearance or lower and to sponsor Secret clearances from subcontractors. But the company can't service opportunities with requirements for Top Secret clearance. In that case, the integrator would have to look to a prime to service its employees. As a temporary workaround for delays, solution providers and systems integrators can leverage interim clearances, which are being accepted more frequently by federal agencies. An interim clearance, which takes far less time to acquire, allows a person to have access to a limited amount of classified information while their final clearance is being processed. While not a permanent solution, it does enable projects to proceed. "Government realizes that because of the backlog created in its own backyard, [agencies are getting] subpar-quality resources in exchange for the clearance," Nodonly says. "They say, 'Why should we as a segment take a lesser skillset because of a single variable we created?' The process is slowly becoming more flexible now to make it easier to work with industry."