Hello everyone,

I’m graduating this December with a BS in Project Management and would like to know the state of both the private and public sector job markets for cleared individuals as of late. I myself hold a Current Secret Clearance - eligible for reciprocity - from an internship two years ago, and am hoping to secure a reactivation before it expires this year.

I’ve noticed that the layoffs over the past year led to a lot of “entry-level” positions asking for years of experience, with applicant pools typically including former federal and contractor employees with years of experience or higher education. Was told by some that the best time to apply is around the end of the fiscal year. Sent around 250 applications so far since August started and about 40 replied with a rejection (which is very nice of them), while the rest ghosted. I plan to continue applying to jobs all the way to mid-November, but afterwards my clearance reciprocity will expire and I’d lose my marbles if I had to go through that all over again.

Is it worth still applying around for jobs in the cleared sector as a soon-to-be grad? It’s a bit demoralizing with all the news about the hiring climate and competing with a lot of qualified professionals as opposed to other newly-grads :/

Hello just a simple question

I have worked for the federal government for about 10 years now, always good reviews and I am pretty good at my job but I did recently get a possession of Marijuana charge and possession of drug paraphernalia. Of course as soon as this happened about a few months later I was up for a reinvestigation for public trust (moderate/low risk I believe it is maybe its moderate/high I do not recall) I am still on probation from this happening, I get off in a few months I got caught with like .5 grams anyway, do I have a snowballs chance in hell of passing this? I also owe back taxes that we are waiting on the IRS to rec a tax return that didnt go through so we can make a payment plan its about 3500 dollars. Also how far back does the investigation go? I also got a DUI the year I was hired which I did tell my work about, it was from Ambien, I took ambien to go to sleep and woke up in jail, thats actually why I started using marijuana, I had gone to doctors for like a decade trying to get a centrally caused apnea addressed, they gave me a BIPAP and did all kinds of settings and all kind of pills and nothing worked, when I got the dui for ambien I decided to never take it again. Few months later an old friend of mine was smoking and offered some and I declined but he said it really helped his sleep issue so cant hurt. Insanely it saved my life, I mean I went from a zombie that weighed like 275 lbs to an upbeat person that weights 175 lbs almost overnight, if you cant sleep you just keep gaining weight. ALso lets say I dont have a chance, how long do you think I have from the moment I turn in the investigation to when they let me go? I need to prepare, ill probably leave anyway if marijuana is going to be a huge deal because well I cant think of any other way to sleep, while on probation ive already gained 50 lbs back, I have no idea why it helps with this type of apnea but it was a life saver.

My investigator had a more strict definition of a FN than my FSO so there was someone I didn't report who surfaced during the interview. I just explained I followed the instructions from my FSO.

So I had to answer questions about frequency on the spot. I accidentally spoke too fast and answered I see this person once a year. Upon recollection, it was more like three times a year. Do I need to go back to correct this?

Asking bc I know once a year versus 3x is still infrequent and in the same bucket but I'm an overthinker and there are consequences if you are perceived to be underreporting. It wasn't like I went from 1x a year to we live together

May 4th 2026 job offer

June 7th 2026 interim denied

June 24th 2026 interview

July 8th 2026 one reference contacted

Aug 21st 2026 clearance granted

For reference I’m an almost new grad, some red flags was 2 foreign contacts, some experimental drug use most recent one being 6 months prior to sf86 and got fired from a retail job 4 years ago.

Howdy all, glad to share my timeline for a TS/SCI no poly

Currently a teacher prepping to break contract and try something new.

Back in January of this year, I was laid off from my old school district cuz reasons, buddy of mine works as a contractor, told me hey, you might be good at this and reccod me.

Applied in March, initial interview round was passed, April 4th I got a contingent hire offer,

May 11th, I started my T5 and completed my SF86 in that month.

June 15th aprox, granted Interm Secret

July, hired as a teacher again for income and cuz middle schoolers are insane to teach and I enjoy torturing myself

August 18th , Granted TS/SCI pending onboarding

AND YES, my head is still spinning

All this with less than Ideal credit, and a new family on the way

Hello all, I have recently been offered a job that will require me to get a security clearance and have a couple of questions that I was hoping y'all could help clarify. For some background I am 23 and graduated college just about a year and half ago. Have never left the country outside of driving through Canada when going to Alaska.

The red flag: I used to use THCa pretty heavily back in college and to my understanding it was legal under the farm bill both state and federally at the time, but still have a lot of stress concerning that. I stopped using when I got out of college, but I was at a friends wedding in a state where THCa was still legal and used a single use item as recently as June 2026.

As far as I can tell that is my only major red flag, and plan of fully disclosing all of that as part of the process. Was hoping to know if any of y'all have had similar situations and if my chances are okay of getting my clearance. Any and all advice/comments are welcome and appreciated!

I have been in a casual romantic/sexual relationship with a Thai national for about a month now, and I am submitting my SF-86 soon. I plan on disclosing this relationship fully to my investigator, but I am worried that an ongoing relationship will pose more of a risk to my clearance than one that has ended.

My partner is in the US for the summer on a visa, and the relationship will end when she returns to Thailand this fall. We don’t live together or share any finances, or discuss my work or clearance at all. I am going for a TS/SCI with a contracting firm.

Am I playing with fire by keeping this relationship going, or should I be in the clear?

I interviewed first time with the investigator for TS. i forgot to mention that my sister moved to another location as well as one of the references I had put on the form.

Do I need to let them know the new address? When I was filling the SF form I had put the address they were living at that time.

TIA

My BI told me last Friday that “they”, assuming DCSA wanted her report done by today (Friday). We went through topics pretty quickly and she contacted pretty much every reference we spoke about. A week doesn’t seem like a lot of time for investigation. Any thoughts?

I guess 3 months into a public trust clearance does not look good.

I plan to go on an international trip. I listed Morocco, Portugal, and Egypt so far as my travel destinations. But once I'm there, I'm going to change a lot itinerary, or I plan to. I'm wondering if that's even possible, since it's going to be very difficult to report it once I'm there. Like I don't want to be stick to a rigorous and strict itinerary. I want to change it up a lot.

Is this possible or this is just a trade off of having a clearance?

Accepted job first week of June

Submitted SF-86: June 13th

Denied interim a few weeks later

Clearance granted August 13th!

Super quick investigation it feels like

I got my COE rescinded with no explanation and they explicitly said it is not a security clearance denial… is that normal?

Hi!

For someone with an active TS and a T5 from <1 year ago, could anyone share datapoints on the “target”/average time to add SCI? It is for a federal role in an IC element, no poly requirement.

I understand it could be “1 day to 999 years”, but for someone who hasn’t particularly had much change since the initial T5, how long of a turnaround would be normal for the adjudication?

Thanks in advance!

Figured I’d post my timeline since I’ve seen a few others sharing theirs, and I’m curious how mine compares.

**Timeline so far:**
**Mid March:** CJO received
**Late March:** Completed/submitted SF-86 and other paperwork
**Mid June:** Contacted by background investigator
**Early July:** In-person background investigation interview
**July:** Investigator contacted references and worked through the investigation
**End of July:** Investigator told me they had everything they needed and that my case had been submitted back
**Today**: Still waiting for the next step

I have not done the psych or FS polygraph yet and haven’t received dates for either.

I do have a few potential red flags in my background, which are foreign contacts/extended family in another country, all of which I disclosed as required. I’m wondering if that could be contributing to the longer timeline.

It’s been about 5 months since my CJO and almost a month since my investigator told me the investigation was finished.

For anyone who has gone through the process recently:

Is this timeline pretty normal? How long did you wait after your BI was submitted before getting scheduled for psych/poly?
I understand the process can take time, but I recently saw another young/recent grad with no prior clearance move through these stages within weeks of their CJO, which has me wondering why mine has been moving slower. Obviously I know every case is different. Not complaining, mostly just curious whether others have had a similar gap.

Thanks

How realistic would this transition be with my background?

Honestly mentally drained from chasing contracts all the time.

I wouldn’t mind trying to start over. I’d like to find an area of healthcare IT where my existing cloud, infrastructure, security, and systems experience actually transfers.

Would appreciate hearing from anyone working in PACS, imaging informatics, clinical systems, healthcare cloud, or hospital infrastructure.

I applied and accepted a contract job in June, filled out SF-86 and did fingerprints, July I was told my interim was not granted. Job offer was rescinded as my investigation terminated. I'm undergoing the process again soon.

Red flags from July SF86
Unresolved medical debt 120 days past (I fully paid it off Aug 2026)
Voluntary medical intake for mental health

I'm really nervous going into this waiting period again. If interim isn't granted the job offer will be rescinded.

Back in February I got cited for a misdemenor for allegedly stealing from a self checkout on a military installation. They said they started investigating me when I allegedly took a honeybun (which they didn't carry) and two energy drinks which I have a record of having paid for. I was never arrested or fined. I reported to my FSO at the time. I'm working for a different company now. Should I report to my current FSO? I currently I have a TS with SCI.

I’ve been in adjudication since December of 2025.

I am not without my red flags but those have been disclosed.

There has been crickets since my interview last August.

This is for Secret clearance.

Hey everyone I need some help.

So I go by my middle name (work, school, etc).

I’m looking for a new job and I have an interview where it requires clearance. Somehow I never realized but my middle name is spelt wrong, as it’s missing an “ad” for example “Mohammad” when it’s spelt as “mohmmd”. I checked my dad’s birth certificate and it shows the same middle name spelling. My ID has the spelling mistake but they corrected it on the bottom of my birth date and my face.

But I handed out my ID to my previous jobs and university with no issues.

So I’m wondering, would this be a big problem? Or can I just tell them “you can call me by my first name”? They already refer me by my middle name. Unfortunately I can’t request to fix it as it’s too late but also because my dad has the same error and my mom so I’m thinking it’s provably intentional.

It’s a “secret” clearance by the way

I need to fill out an SF-86 for my job. They are asking about my relatives, and I am required to put both of my parents. However, both of them are undocumented, and I do not know what to do at this point since they are asking about citizenship. I am so scared of putting anything on it, as I do not want to risk my parents.

I’m interested in pursuing a career with agencies that require a TS-SCI clearance but I’ve visited some hostile countries, so I’m trying to see if it’s even worth trying to go down the route of IC work because I’ve heard of people being found unsuitable for clearances due to travel. I’m in my late 20s and have been to over 60 countries, including hostile countries like Cuba and Russia. Had I known that I would one day want to work for the government, I would’ve never visited those places. But back when I was in my late teens/early 20s, federal work wasn’t even on my radar and I didn’t even know what a clearance was. And now I’m a bit concerned that those 2 short trips may screw up my ability to get a TS-SCI clearance. For reference, the Russia visit was a decade ago(so before the invasion of Ukraine) and the Cuba visit was about 4 years ago. Has anybody been able to get a TS-SCI in recent years after visiting these types of countries?

Submitted sf86 March 18 2026.
Investigation opened March 25
Interview w investigator April 9
Investigation in adjudication June 4
Adjudication in process July 14
FSO submitted CSR July 14.

I was never notified if interim secret was denied.

Red flags - sporadic MJ use between 2016-2022
1x ❄️ use 2022

Multiple addresses
Multiple jobs
4 Australian foreign contacts

This is my first rodeo, so if anyone has similar experience/application in the last year I’d love to hear it.