Security Clearance Careers Podcast

Kanika Tolver is a renowned career coach, author, and speaker known for her innovative and empowering approach to career transformation. With a background in technology and a passion for helping individuals achieve their professional dreams, she has become a leading voice in the realm of career development - or career rehab.In this episode of the security clearance careers podcast, we discuss her journey to federal employment, her experience in the security clearance process, benefits of the federal goverment, and how to increase your earning potential in GovTech.

Carmen Medina is a distinguished figure in the U.S. intelligence community, known for her innovative thinking and transformative impact. Her career in the IC spanned over three decades, during which she challenged conventional practices and advocated for critical changes that have left a lasting legacy. She joins the podcast to talk about being a Latina woman at a time when the agency hallways were filled with men.

The Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) offers a rare dose of transparency around the security clearance process. Contractors have their opportunity to have their case heard before a judge, and those cases are even written up and posted on the DOHA website. For a couple of security clearance geeks, those cases can be highly entertaining. Sean and Lindy discuss a few of the more memorable DOHA cases they've come across.

This week's episode of the Security Clearance Careers Podcast highlights some of our top read news stories: National Security Agency (NSA) hiring, getting a job at Booz Allen Hamilton, side hustles that won't impact your clearance, and extracirriculars that will. 

Insider trading refers to the buying or selling of a publicly-traded company's stock by someone who has non-public, material information about that company. This kind of trading can be legal or illegal depending on when the insider makes the trade. It is important to understand the nuances and implications of insider trading, both from a legal and an ethical standpoint.If you have a security clearance, you could have implications if you get asked questions about your investments that you haven’t reported. We don’t see many people talking about this in the security clearance space, but Lindy Kyzer and Sean Bigley discuss the movement within the defense and aerospace sectors amidst mergers and acquisitions.

Symone Beez is an influencer who has been working in the GovTech space for a while - started in the security clearance process even before turning 21. Aside from content, Symone does virtual workshops and decided it's time to go bigger than ever - introducing GovTechCon. A three-day career expo and conference for the government technology (GovTech) sector.

The clearance eligibility guidelines are the same, but the way clearances are granted and how suitability is addressed can change significantly between federal agencies. We often talk about the security clearance process as the broad DoD road affecting more than 95 percent of applicants - the red pill, as it were - and the blue pill, which represents the narrow path of Intelligence Community clearances and suitability determinations, where special access programs are much more likely to require a polygraph and have more stringent application of the criteria.

Congress is currently looking to make it easier for prior marijuana users to get jobs with the federal government, but marijuana topics are nothing new over at ClearanceJobs and drug-related articles continue to trend on the site. Sean Bigley and Lindy Kyzer discuss why marijuana use remains a hot topic and why clearance holders still need to 'just say no.'