americanInEurope
Chubby Chaser
 
Posts: 387
Joined: Jan 2011
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RE: I'm throwing in the towel on DC, but how do I get out?
(02-08-2012 10:16 AM)Hencredible Casanova Wrote: (02-08-2012 10:09 AM)americanInEurope Wrote: (02-07-2012 08:51 PM)Freedom Wrote: (02-07-2012 02:36 PM)americanInEurope Wrote: Getting a security clearance is the best way to get out and still make good money. With a SC you can work all over the world tax free.
Don't you mean being in the military? Clearance doesn't automatically allow you to get jobs all over since most (usajobs.gov) are in DC.
(02-08-2012 01:01 AM)pazzesco Wrote: (02-07-2012 08:51 PM)Freedom Wrote: (02-07-2012 02:36 PM)americanInEurope Wrote: Getting a security clearance is the best way to get out and still make good money. With a SC you can work all over the world tax free.
Don't you mean being in the military? Clearance doesn't automatically allow you to get jobs all over since most (usajobs.gov) are in DC.
Ya, can you expand on that americanInEurope...
If you have a security clearance, what sort of jobs overseas are available?
usajobs.gov are for civil service jobs, a.k.a "GS jobs." those are notoriously hard to get because ususally to get in you have to know someone on the inside, be a vet, be the spouse of a vet, and tailor your resume EXACTLY to the keywords that their little resume hunting software is looking for. it's pretty useless. i've been trying for years to get into that system and watched for years as dudes fresh out of the military who can't even turn on a computer landing sweet GS-12 jobs as network engineers just because the hiring manager is an old supervisor of theirs. so basically if you're applying from the outside, forget it. usajobs is the absolute LAST place to go to look for clearance jobs overseas.
no what I'm refering to are defense contracting jobs. IT jobs at big companies like Lockheed or GDIT or Raytheon or things like that, and even smaller companies that don't have a huge presence in the defense world but latch onto these huge contracts as sub-contractors and are able to send one or two workers overseas as opposed to thousands that the big guys are able to send overseas. the smaller ones are ususally more open to giving people huge pay incentives and while you're working in Europe your boss is usually in the states
GDIT's career website is a good example of the range of jobs that are available overseas. They're a good company and have got buttloads of jobs in Europe and a few in Japan and Korea. IT is probably the biggest industry right now, and looks poised to be that way for a long time. But they also have jobs in other industries. I mean if you're a fashion major or a marine biologist your field might not be what defense contractors are looking for. But you never know. Once you're over there in Korea or Kuwait or Germany or wherever, you can travel all you want. That's how I got most of my flags and travel done, based out of a country with a base.
How does one even go about getting a clearance? I never understood that.
Yo HC.
I've heard of people coming in from the outside w/o a prior clearance, but it's rare. I've been in the DoD bubble since I was 18, and all the people I work around are either ex military who got their clearances while GI's, military spouses or people that started contracting back in the day when you didn't need a clearance. One requirement is to be a US citizen, and like I said in the security clearance thread they usually frown upon a lot of foreign travel to hot spots. That and criminal activity. Credit scores ain't a problem. Drug use isn't even that much of a problem, as long as you admit to it up front. If they catch you lying about it that's not good. Man you'd be surprised how many people out there can't even come to the table with a clear criminal record. Honestly if you're in IT, the best way to do it is to just apply to clearance jobs you think you can do and if they call you up tell them you don't have a clearance but think that you can get one without any problems. I'd even put that in your resume. It's a little difficult for me to even fathom how a non-GI non DoD person would appeal to defense HR people who are a) ex military and b) looking for key things in people's resume that are DoD related. I guess they are kinda biased in that way, but not as much as the folks at usajobs. Like with anything you have to plow through to get what you want. I know right now the hot places are Stuttgart, Kuwait, and Korea (which is always hot). Those three places are BOOMING with jobs and I know for a fact they are bringing people onboard w/o clearances. The DoD has something called an interim clearance, which the defense contractors can negotiate with the DoD when they offer you the job that let's you work somewhere and touch the equipment with the understanding that you are being investigated but as of right now they haven't found any red flags. I've worked with guys like that and 90% eventually move on to get full fledged clearances. Once you have that, you can tell the job to kiss your ass if you want to and move on somewhere else lol.
So yeah, if you're looking to go to Europe and have IT skills, there's a pretty good chance at getting something in Stuttgart.
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| 02-08-2012 02:20 PM |
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