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Much has been written
recently about the increasing salaries of
professionals with security clearances and
it harkens back to the Dot Com era when
talented professionals were able to garner
high salaries for their experience, skills
and abilities to handle risks. These days
the name of the game is what is the level
of your clearance and your particular skill
set, but the security cleared professional
also looks at many other features when considering
a new opportunity.
One thing that was learned
from the dot com boom and bust, that there
is more to life than the salary. For some
salary is all that is needed, but in today’s
market security cleared professionals are
looking deeper at their new opportunities.
While some organizations have taken the
time to do salary surveys, at ClearedJobs.Net,
we have taken the time to have the conversations
with these professionals and we know the
numbers are not the only thing that they
are looking for.
In the Washington DC
area and other major metropolitan areas
around the country, the number one concern
is the commute. At a recent event, many
of the job seekers were considering job
offers that they were offered at the event
and considering the balance with their quality
of life. Some job seekers were weighing
a $50,000 salary differential to a two hour
commute time each way. Many professionals
want to enjoy their life and time with their
families, and though a higher salary may
mean certain luxuries in life, how can that
be balanced against spending 4 hours a day,
20 hours a week commuting? While many in
the corporate world can look at telecommuting,
in the security cleared community this is
a limited option.
Other things that are
of interest to the security cleared professional
are the types of project they are working
on. In speaking with highly cleared professionals
from agencies such as NSA and FBI, they
have said that the salaries in the defense
contracting world are attractive, but they
will never be able to work on the cutting
edge technology or unique projects that
they do while working for the government.
On top of this, many of these individuals
are looking at losing considerable health
and retirement benefits because of their
seniority if they consider changing careers.
These two factors alone are keeping many
very talented security cleared professional
working for the federal agencies.
In the coming weeks,
we will outline other areas of interest
to security cleared professionals when considering
a new opportunity, such as the corporate
community reputation, retirement benefits
and military transitioning. In addition,
ClearedJobs.Net will also feature articles
about key employers and presenting how the
new employees can enjoy the work life balance
at these companies. |
