While some bad unemployment news is coming out of the southwest region, there’s no need to jump to conclusions. Most of those figures are tied to the housing market and the building and construction industries. The job market for security-cleared professionals throughout the southwest is more than healthy. In fact, nearly 60 percent of security-cleared professionals received an increase in compensation in the past year, according to ClearanceJobs 2010 Compensation Survey.
Arizona, with 361 days of sunshine per year, also offers a great job forecast. The climate, open spaces and open skies are tailored well to the needs of the state’s two major military installations; Fort Huachuca, home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center, and Davis Monthan Air Force Base, which serves primarily as an air combat command. The state’s defense activity continues to draw new businesses and job opportunities for those with a clearance. This trend is equally matched by the high-tech industry which is also faring very well in the state. In fact, the American Electronics Association ranks Arizona fourth in the nation for semiconductor employment.
Phoenix
New construction and new jobs abound. The city is putting in a state-of-the-art rail system at a cost of more than $1 billion, and Phoenix continues to be a hub for aerospace, bioscience and technology driven businesses. It is now one of the top 10 metro areas for aerospace and defense manufacturing.
More than 300 aerospace-related companies are based in Phoenix and its surrounding suburbs. Honeywell, Orbital Science, General Dynamics and Boeing are big employers of security-cleared workers, as is Arizona State University, which collaborates closely with industry contractors and NASA. Other high-tech businesses include Intel, Oracle, JDA Software and Suntron, all of which look for security-cleared job seekers, particularly those with skills and training in electronics, nanotechnology and integrated software solutions. Another sector that keeps its eyes open for security-cleared professionals is the bioscience industry, which has grown more than 20 percent in less than a decade.
“On ClearanceJobs.com, we see continual need for security-cleared candidates in a very broad range of disciplines for the greater Phoenix area, including Tempe and Scottsdale. Everything from information technology and engineering, to finance and program management are typical open positions. The fact that most of the open jobs only require a Secret clearance means more opportunity for a wider audience wanting to take advantage of the Arizona defense boom.”
Defense-related businesses continue to be lured to the Phoenix area, both for the jobs and the quality of life. It has a reasonable cost of living and a median income of more than $50,000. It’s also one of the youngest cities in America, with the average age being a ripe 33 years old.
Tucson
Like Phoenix, Tucson houses hundreds of aerospace and aviation-related contractors; Bombardier Aerospace, Global Aircraft Solutions and Universal Avionics Systems, to name a few. It’s also home to Paragon Space Development Corporation, one of the top engineering companies in the nation. In this sector, engineers and project managers are highest in demand. The city also counts around 1,200 high-tech companies employing some 50,000 people doing business in the areas of computers, software, Internet services and systems integration.
Tucson’s biggest employers include Raytheon, with more than 11,000 employees, the University of Arizona with more than 10,000, and state agencies, which employ more than 9,000. Security-cleared job seekers are in great demand in everything from administrative, logistics, operation and management careers, to those trained in research and development and emerging technologies.
Many of the area’s defense contractor giants are continuing an industry-wide trend of partnering with smaller, specialized contractors, a trend that directly affects the area’s job market. For example, in June 2009, BAE Systems acquired Tucson’s Advanced Ceramics Research. This partnership furthers new possibilities in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Tucson still has a relatively small population. The city proper has just over half a million residents. Desert resorts dot the landscape, as do golf courses and affordable houses, with the median home price in 2009 at $156,000. The economy is strong and the salaries are good. For example, product managers and experienced software engineers can earn above $80,000. And six-figure incomes are common for security-cleared personnel in senior-level positions.
Colorado Springs
Cold, mountain air still draws winter sports enthusiasts, but it’s also been a target region for the military and defense community. Along with the U.S. Air Force Academy, the city hosts NORAD, Schriever Air Force Base and Peterson Air Force Base. Together, they account for about 20 percent of the area’s workforce. Fort Carson, the Army’s third-largest military installation, is also just south of Colorado Springs. Due to the nature of the military activity in the state, defense contractors have relocated in droves.
The hottest fields for security-cleared personnel are currently in homeland security and aerospace. Defense dollars have continued to flow into the state, increasing the job market for cleared personnel more than twice the previous year’s rate.
“Given our aerospace and defense industry, so many of the businesses in the Colorado Springs, Pike’s Peak region are interested in retired members of the military, and those who are separating, because of their skills and the fact they have some level of clearance,” said Brian Binn, President, Military Affairs Division, Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce. “If these companies can tap into that talent and also avoid the expense and the long wait to get someone cleared, it’s a win-win.”
Recent partnerships between defense agencies and Colorado Springs businesses have opened up new opportunities for engineers, researchers and developers, and project and program managers. For example, the Office of Naval Research is working with Colorado Engineering, while the Defense Supply Center has partnered with AMI Industries and Air Force Materiel Command is collaborating with Lockheed Martin. Smaller businesses are benefitting as well, with the opening of the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, which is dedicated to helping small businesses make their way into new contract opportunities.
The Colorado Springs Economic Development Corporation, which works to draw new business enterprises and job seekers to the region, reports that as of 2009, there are 27 Fortune 500 companies based in Colorado Springs. They put the labor force within an hour’s drive at 3.2 million workers, and tout the city as a place where “the skies are blue, the mountains are green and the financial statements are always black.”
Dallas/Fort Worth
While Texas serves as home base for a number of major military installations in all branches of the service, none are situated in the heart of North Texas. Still, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex holds good job prospects for security cleared professionals throughout Garland, McKinney, Richardson and several dozen other cities and towns. The draw for the region centers on the high-tech industry. In fact, the Metroplex has the largest cluster of high-tech workers in the state – about 43 percent. This prompted Forbes to cite the area as one of the most productive regions in the country.
As a technology and telecommunications hub, the Metroplex is home to giants like Southwestern Bell, Nortel and Ericsson. Other industries with opportunities include American Airlines, the area’s largest employer, with more than 26,000 employees. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics follows, with more than 15,000 employees. Also represented here – Verizon, Electronic Data Systems Corp., Raytheon, Bell Helicopter Textron, Northrop Grumman and L-3 Communications.
The city of Dallas reports that jobs highest in demand in 2009 and expected for 2010 include enterprise architecture professionals, systems engineers, software engineers and information systems security administrators. Other good prospects are in program management, technical writing and contract negotiation.
Cleared job seekers at all levels can expect the job market easy to maneuver, as employers often value the clearance more than the skills.
“We regularly see employers willing to train someone with the right clearance but an incomplete skillset, rather than hire someone with the level of skills desired, but no clearance,” states Evan Lesser, founder and director of ClearanceJobs.com. “From a timing perspective, an active clearance can be more valuable to an employer with existing government contracts that need to be fulfilled.”
Along with the healthy job market, another lure for prospective employees remains the quality of life in and around Dallas. The cost of living is much lower than the national average, and housing slumps didn’t affect the region to the extent they affected much of the country. Thus, it has one of the least expensive housing markets in the nation. A 2,000 square foot home in McKinney (map) can be purchased for about $160,000, and in north Dallas for about $250,000.
As for salaries, IT project managers can command between $70,000 and $95,000 depending on skill level, salaries about equal to those of aerospace engineers. Software engineers earn between $80,000 and $90,000 on average, while engineer managers command six-figure incomes.
It’s the numbers that put the southwest region in the lead, when it comes to the best of the ups and downs – a low cost of living, lower than average housing prices and high salaries.
