They will not let you submit an application of you do not have an active clearance. The system will ask to tick the box to progress

I worked for one of the big defense contractors and like half the people my boss hired were from his church. Many went on to get clearances.

In the past, DoD contractors and maybe FFRDCs would hire and put the employee on a job or contract that didn’t require a clearance until the clearance process ended. There are so many contractors and government employees who already have clearances out of work right now that they can probably just hire them instead.

In a normal year, one might apply for and accept a government job that requires one as a way to start. Then one either stays, laterals within the government, or switches to contractor. This is not a normal year. Hiring freezes many places.

You need to have a job that requires you to have one then you get one. You can then switch jobs and keep your clearance. But you can't just say you want a security clearance randomly.

You need to find a company to sponsor you but it can be years depending on the clearance so there may be no job by the time you get it.

They always prefer someone to have the clearance because it can take a year or more to get it.

You need to find a place that will wait for you to get a clearance and then after you just keep it

I see many job Ads for my skill set that require active security clearance. Though I am eligible to get security clearance, I don't have one. Reading more about getting security clearance leads to chicken and egg problem. If you have a job offer, the employer will apply for clearance. But employer posts job Ads requiring candidates with security clearance.

Anybody has any leads on this?