How to Get Hired during a Recession aka Get a Government Clearance

In over 20 years, I have never had an issue getting a job because of this: my Personal Identify Verification (PIV) Badge. Basically, my government security clearance. I survived multiple recessions and the phone never stopped ringing because of this fact. It’s because my resume was diversified. Not only was I in engineering, but I also had a government security clearance and I had experience in healthcare. The more diverse your background, the more you will never have a problem being hired. EVER.

Please understand that I am not bragging. These are are just facts. I am merely trying to help you get a job. I don’t get paid to give you this advice. I don’t get paid for these words that I write. As a matter of fact, I am doing this full time because I genuinely care about you and our future. I care that much.

Everything I do here is for free. Why? Because I want to help with the unemployment crisis before it becomes a homeless crisis.

Me Hugging My Lil Guy 🙂

So why do I believe that a government clearance job would help you?

Because it is a niche job. It is a job that is always in high demand in any capacity. It has given me security (no pun intended) throughout my career.

What is a US Government Security Clearance?

Here’s a quick summary of government security clearances in the United States, for those of you unfamiliar with this stuff.

I had a Secret clearance for most of my career and in the end, I had a Confidential clearance because the data I worked on did not pose a threat to national security.

For most agencies and departments:

Confidential – this person works with information that could damage national security
Secret – this person works with information that has the potential for serious damage
Top Secret – this person works with information that has grave damage

For the Department of Energy Only:
Q-Clearance
L-Clearance

Working with the President or VP:
Yankee White

How do you get a security clearance without a job?

If you are a Current College Student or a Recent Grad, you can get a Government Internship, and I could be wrong, but I believe most of them will give you some kind of clearance, be it Public Trust or Confidential. Interns can even have higher clearance access as Software Engineers working on mission-critical code.
While most people will try to find Government Jobs through USAjobs.gov, I recommend thinking outside the box and looking for Government Contractor jobs instead.

Let’s pause here for a moment.

You’re going to ask me, “What’s the difference between Government Jobs and Government Contractor Jobs?

The Difference between Government Jobs and Government Contractor Jobs

-Government jobs employ people who work at the Social Security Office or the IRS. Government contractor jobs are private company workers who build interstate highways or manage projects.

-When you work directly for the government, the pay is… well… it’s not so great. When you work for a company that won a government contract to build a missile or something, guess what? You make bank.

-Plus, you are constantly in high demand because you have government experience, regardless of the job market. This part is what’s most important.

NOTE: Even if you don’t have a security clearance, the fact that you have any government experience at all would make you desirable to one of these government contractors like Boeing or Raytheon.

BTW, if you are a Veteran, you are even more desirable.

How do I find Government Contract Jobs?

-You could search for the major government contractors on Indeed like “Lockheed Martin”, “Boeing”, “Northrop Grumman”, “Raytheon”, “General Dynamics”. But these Fortune 50 companies are competitive — I would still try them though.

-The best way to search for Government Contract jobs is by searching for the smaller companies that still make a LOT of money. These companies are still big, but not Fortune 50, so the competition is not as fierce.

NOTE: I’ll try to write and video about my personal career journey and how I got into Government Contracting very soon. So make sure you stay connected with me on my blog and my YouTube.

The Backdoor Method to Find Government Contract Jobs

1) To find the smaller companies who are winning government contracts, do both of these things:

a) Watch my TikTok on how to search for “Contracts Awarded” in the “Content” search filter on LinkedIn and then, apply directly to the companies you find bragging about federal contracts they recently won!

@icathryn

#jobtips #jobsearchtips #careeradvice #careertips #careercoach #jobadvice #edutokcareertips #linkedin #linkedintips #laidoff #jobs #howtogethired

♬ Get on Your Feet – Countdown Singers

b) Google search “Government Contract Awards 2020”.

My favorite site is WashingtonExec.com but there are other sites — don’t limit yourself to just this news site.

2) Go directly to one of these sites and find companies that were awarded government contracts.

3) As an example, let’s look at Akima. Go to their site, and look for the “careers” page (or something similar).

4) In this instance, this company has 723 job openings as of 5/14/2020, and of those, 163 do not require a security clearance. 🙂

NOTE: The way I found these jobs was by selecting “Not Applicable” from their Clearance Level section in the “Advanced Search” (see below). Not all company sites will have this slick feature. It looks like Akima uses Taleo (an ATS). Don’t expect every company to be this organized. If they don’t have something like this, you’ll just have to search for “No Clearance Required” (in the keywords) or just read each job posting carefully. Sorry 🙁

5) Now, the most important part. What you do here is this. You get your foot in the door. You apply with your awesome resume that you’ve quantified, and please follow my other tips — they will all help you.

6) Once you’re in, your job may either turn into a security clearance job depending on what you do, or you can move into a security clearance role. When you’re working for a company that does government work, it is 1000 times easier to get a government security clearance. This is how I did it and I know it will work for you, my friend.

Why is it so hard to find a job?

Right now, it is tough out there. It’s not easy to find work. I wish we could go back to 2018 and 2019 when there were more jobs than people. But these are different times. Have you ever read Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck? Is it the Great Depression right now? I don’t know. I sure hope not.

My Dad and Barefoot Lil Me at Age 3 🙂

All I know is what my dad taught me growing up. “Work every day, Cathryn.” I’m the daughter of an immigrant — came to the United States when I was 3 years old. My dad was always too busy to feel sad or mad because he was busy working. Nothing good comes from being idle. I’m not saying to overwork — I’m saying to just work. My dad taught me a good work ethic.

I know it’s hard right now, but what’s harder is not having food on the table.

I know that my tips may seem controversial. I give you alternative tactics and strategies that you can’t google search, and I somehow end up flying against the norm. What I say might challenge the establishment a lot. But I’m in the business of helping you succeed, nothing more and nothing less.

You’ve come to me because nothing else seems to work and you’re ready to try something different.

If my advice for you does not work, there are plenty of others out there who may help. I encourage you to just learn and find success. For every pot has a lid, ya know? 🙂

I want to see you succeed. It’s why I stay up until 5 am sometimes on all this stuff (all for no moola)… after feeding my toddler and trying to do chores. 🙂 What keeps me going is that I’m making a difference and ensuring that my son won’t have to emigrate to another country to find a job when he grows up.

Hope you all understand how much I deeply care for you and your success. Lots of hugs and don’t forget… TikTok videos are super short — I can’t squish everything that I want in there! 🙂

For more valuable tips, don’t forget to check out the rest of them here and the videos. Stay connected with me for more career advice and more job alerts — subscribe to my newsletter below, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. I want to see you succeed!!! 😎🤗💪🏆👍😉