Security Clearances Presenters: Vala Richmond and Sonia Elwood - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Demystifying Security Clearances Presenters: Vala Richmond and Sonia Elwood October 2011 Updated: April 2014 Conference: 866-564-4530 Passcode: 857049#

Vala Richmond Sonia Elwood  Corporate Training Specialist  Regional Trainer

You’ve been assigned a requisition that requires a security clearance MUST CURRENTLY POSESS A SECRET CLEARANCE OR BE ABLE TO OBTAIN AN INTERIM SECRET CLEARANCE WITHIN 30 DAYS OF START DATE

What do you feel are the challenges in filling Security Clearance requisitions?

Volt FSO’s Diana Buthmann Alesa Trager  All Boeing  Various VIS and VMC  Various VIS and VMC clients. clients as well as Volt Delta

Advantages when Selling Proven Track Record Experienced FSO’s Established Process

Security Clearances What are they? How long do they take? What is Volt’s process?

What is a Security Clearance?

Personnel Security Investigations PSI

Security Clearance Types Confidential information could cause damage to national security

Secret information could cause serious damage

Top Secret information could cause grave damage TS/SCI (Secured Compartmented Information) TS/SAP (Special Access Programs)

Investigations Confidential and Secret investigations: NAC or NACLAC: National Agency Check and Local Agency Check with Credit Check Top Secret investigations: SBI or SSBI: Single Scope Background Investigation Other investigations include: Polygraph Full Scope or Polygraph Life Style and Polygraph CI (Counter Intelligence)

How Long Does it Take? 1. Ever had clearance? 2. Active or Inactive, 3. Higher level clearance needed?

Time to process • New = 2 months – 1 year • Transferring Active = a few days • Inactive (under 2 years) = a few days • Inactive (over 2 years) = same as New • Higher level clearance = same as New

Interim Clearance Interim Determination will be granted in a short timeframe depending on individual ‘ s background.

Potential issues • Traveled, lived, worked extensively outside US • Immediate family born in non-US friendly country • Financial, credit or background issues

What is Volt’s Process • What the Branch does • What the FSO does

When discussing Security Clearance positions with clients and candidates Must be US Citizen

No Cost to Branch

Step 1 – Qualifying the Order Ask the right questions • What level clearance is required? • Must it be Active to start? • Can they start with an Interim clearance? • Can they start with lower level active clearance? For SCI or SAP, notify FSO

Step 2 – Posting the Position Post where the right candidates will be looking • IRT postings automatically go to VoltMilitary.com and Military Spouse Employment Program (MSEP) websites (Your job here)

Advertising Positions that Require a Secret or Top Secret Clearance CAN include: • Type of clearance required – either Secret or Top Secret • "Applicants selected must be able to obtain and maintain a (Secret/Top Secret) clearance for access to classified information." CAN’T include: • Specific type of background check required (NAC, SSBI, SCI, Lifestyle Poly, etc.)

You cannot post specific background check details in any Volt posting EVER

Step 3 – Recruiting and Qualifying VoltTrack Filters on Security Clearance Keywords: “active security clearance: yes”

What keywords do you like to use for recruiting Security Clearance candidates?

Add to your resume-focused search strings for web search (inurl:~resume| intitle:~resume) + skill keywords + clearance terminology (inurl:~resume| intitle:~resume) AND (C++ AND Developer AND SQL) AND (“Top Secret” OR TS/SCI OR TS/SAP) (inurl:~resume| intitle:~resume) AND (C++ AND Developer AND SQL) AND (“Top Secret” OR TS/SCI OR TS/SAP) -jobs -careers

Search Engine Search Target Examples Baseline String Top Secret (“top secret” OR Ts/SCI OR TS/SSBI OR SBI OR TSSCI OR TSSSBI) Note: There is a software program called Top Secret that may come up if you use “top secret” Active Secret clearance (“active secret” OR “active security clearance: yes”) Active Top Secret “active t op secret” AND “active security clearance: yes” clearance Types of investigations NAC OR NACLAC OR SSBI OR poly or polygraph [Avoid recruiters & (skills and clearance keywords) AND NOT (recruiter OR recruiting sourcers]  OR hr OR executive) Top secret (ts-level also (top secret OR ts/sci OR ts/ssbi OR “ ts level”) works in LinkedIn) Use this statement in (intitle:~resume | inurl:~resume ) (followed by skill and front of your search string clearance keywords) -jobs -careers to pick out resumes. Eliminate job postings by adding -jobs and -careers Top secret (ts-level also (top secret OR ts/sci OR ts/ssbi OR “ ts level”) works in Google)

Qualifying the Candidate CAN’T ask: Are you a US citizen? CAN ask: “This position requires you to obtain a security clearance, which requires you to be a U.S. citizen – do you qualify?” “What level of clearance do you currently have?” “Is your clearance active?”

Don’t know termination date = Contact FSO Reluctant to discuss details = Contact FSO

Step 4 – Extending the offer • Confirm the offer and set the start date • Offer wording: “Contingent on obtaining a security clearance” • Email acceptance is ok

Setting the Start Date Currently Active or recently expired = few days Start Date for New or higher level clearance = 3 weeks

Step 5 – Turn over to FSO Recruiter fills out Security Needed Form Candidate fills out background paperwork • Secret = 7 years • Top Secret = 10 years • Provides proof of citizenship and fingerprint card

What the FSO does The FSO will: • Handle all communication with DSS and candidate • Coordinate the Briefing Docs and VAR’s (Visit Authorization Letter) • May ask the branch for assistance, but will coordinate the process

Branch Follow Up Employee clearance questions = Contact the FSO Terminations = Contact the FSO

For more information: Highways: Volt Guide > Security Clearances Diana Buthmann dbuthmann@volt.com Alesa Trager atrager@volt.com Lori Morin lmorin@volt.com Sharie Winek swinek@volt.com