If there’s one “not bad” thing that’s come out of the war, it’s the business opportunities that it’s created. Defense contractors and private security firms are making the bulk of the money, but the up-shot on that is that, if you possess the skills required to work for these companies, or to start a company of your own, you, too, can earn big bucks.
The large number of multi-million dollar defense contracts being awarded to businesses nationwide has created a great demand for engineers, IT professionals, computer programmers, project managers linguists, interpreters and contract administrators. The need to manage those contracts, and the other political, operational, tactical and strategic aspects of the war, has created public sector demand, leading federal and state government agencies to hire thousands of workers with backgrounds similar to those listed above.
The good news doesn’t stop there! Defense industry jobs pay very well, better than similar jobs in other industries.
And now for the cherry on top! A new survey by Dice’s ClearanceJobs.com revealed that defense industry professionals who are granted security clearance (basically, the government’s permission to have access to documents it considers “secret”, “top secret” or “confidential”), earn as much as 22% ($19,138, on average) more than those who work outside the defense industry without a security clearance.
The higher the security clearance, the bigger your paycheck. In fact, workers with the highest security clearance–”Top Secret”–earn an average annual salary of $76,414. Workers with “Secret” clearance earn an average of $65,425, and workers with the lowest level clearance (”Confidential”) earn $64,375.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average white-collar worker (non-sales positions) earns $51,147, while the average security-cleared workers polled on ClearanceJobs.com earns $72,803.
So, how does one get security clearance?
Unfortunately, it’s not a license or certification that is freely available to the public; you’ll need to first secure a job with a defense contractor or government agency. Then, submit to having your professional and personal life deeply probed–criminal background checks, tax records, work history, medical records, friends and family relationships, even a polygraph.
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