Recruitment and Retention in the IC
An article published Tuesday, May 1, by Government Executive discusses some of the human resource challenges facing Intelligence Community (IC) managers, including the need for security clearance reforms.
Today’s competitive job market is defined not by the institution, but by the free agent. The [IC] has become a place where the millennials learn spying tradecraft, obtain a coveted top-level security clearance and then bolt to contractors for heftier paychecks….[I]t could become the career path of choice – break into the private sector via the government.
It is noteworthy that a former CIA officer was hired and cleared by the agency despite impending financial and other personal difficulties that, arguably, could have been foreseen.
The path to parenthood had been difficult and expensive – they blew through much of their savings on fertility treatments. [The officer] questioned whether he could support his family on an entry-level salary and pay for a home in the Washington area, all while pushing 40. “I sat down and did the numbers and scared the hell out of myself,” he says.