• Print

Is It Just The Salary?

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.