In a recent webinar with Amentum, we sat down with Darrell Eplee, Director of Talent Acquisition for Amentum’s Intel and Cyber team, and Lindy Kyzer, ClearanceJobs’ resident security clearance expert, to unpack what actually moves a cleared professional’s career forward.
The clearest signal of promotion readiness, Darrell said, is already performing above your current role: taking ownership, mentoring others, and solving problems with minimal guidance. The professionals who advance fastest also seek stretch assignments and make the case to leadership that they’re ready for more. The most common mistake holding people back, he added, is staying so heads-down on a single mission that employees miss opportunities inside their own company, including internal career sites, mobility teams, and all-hands announcements many cleared professionals never see.
On clearance upgrades, Lindy offered a reality check: a Top Secret clearance requires a new, more thorough investigation, not an automatic upgrade from Secret, and the average industry processing time is now 243 days. She also cleared up recurring confusion around SCI eligibility, since being eligible isn’t the same as being read into a program, and clearance currency, generally a two-year window, though a five-year extension for veterans has been proposed in policy.
Both guests kept circling back to one theme: mission impact. Hiring managers move quickly through resumes, often in under a minute, so cleared candidates who spell out the outcome of their work, not just their clearance level and certifications, stand out. Even classified roles can be described in terms of scope, complexity, and results without revealing specifics, with security officers able to help candidates find that line.
Their closing advice for anyone weighing a next move: update your resume to show impact, stay engaged with your own company’s opportunities, and lean on your professional network, since referrals remain one of the most reliable paths to the next role in the cleared workforce.
