Government Jobs with Security Clearance: Agencies or Contractors?

Good news for those looking to get in on government jobs! There's plenty of them, and with good salaries, working for either government agencies or government contractors. If you're qualified, well trained and hold a security clearance, the question to ask yourself is, do I choose an agency or a contractor?

Agency or Contractor?
Before you even start researching one or the other, decide what it would take for your job satisfaction. Figure out your salary needs, what positions you can hold with the skills you have, where you'd like to live and what your professional goals are. Once you know that, it's time to look into the benefits of each one to see what matches your job satisfaction.

Agencies
The federal government is the largest employer in the United States, with several agencies hiring new employees. However, the way an agency operates can be completely different from another agency. For instance, Agency A may have a different pay scale than Agency B, but Agency B has a higher amount of professional jobs. Other agencies may have a higher amount of satisfied employees.

A 2007 federal employee survey by the Partnership for Public Services showed that the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission), EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and DVA (Department of Veterans Affairs) had the highest scores for skill and job matches. The highest ratings for leadership went to the NRC, NASA and the State Department, while the FDIC, NRC, and Securities and Exchange Commission received the highest marks for pay and benefits.

Government Pay Scale
What the pay is for government jobs all depends on grade levels and geography. Obviously, those places with higher costs of living also have higher pay. For instance, a GS-14 might earn $145,000 in Las Angeles, but earn $10,000 less at the same grade in Phoenix.

Contractors
The government is also the biggest buyer in the nation, and the needed products range from computer chips to instant milk. If you might buy it as a consumer, chances are the government does too, only in bigger amounts. In fact, it's been forecasted by market analyzers that the government's budget for information technology will be as high as $17 billion by February of next year. This means that government contractors will find a large amount of jobs, good starting salaries and promotion potential.

Contractor Pay Scale
If you aren't working on your own and are part of a government contracting business, pay scale all depends on the company. However, salaries for government contractors tend to be higher than those for government jobs, and aren't stuck to grade levels.

Contractor benefits are more competitive that civil servant benefits, if, for no other reason than that there's more competition for your skills. In addition, contractors pay high dollar for employees with security clearance; they have to meet government security mandates or lose their funding.

Whether you choose contracting or civil servant government jobs all depends on what your needs are. However, contractors are making easy changes to government jobs and vice verse. Starting in one, doesn't mean you have to stay there – go for job satisfaction!

Written by Sabre Consulting, Copyright 2008, All rights reserved. To find out more about government jobs come visit us at http://sabrect.com.