Since our Country has found itself in a war on world terrorism, many of our Government's organizations, agencies, bureaus and  services, as well as many of the private sector companies and corporations that contract with the Government to provide services, requires their employees (Governmental and Contractor) to hold required security clearance status before becoming employed or allowed to function on specified job positions.  For those already holding the required security clearance statuses, this presentation is not intended and can prove to be of no value.  However, for those many thousands of U.S. citizens who are greatly interested in becoming employed in those many employment positions that require possession of a specified high-level security clearance prior to even making any kind of application for the desired job position, or that will only tentatively hire with the understanding that the required security clearance status will eventually be forthcoming.  In this latter type situation, if the clearance is not eventually granted, then the tentative employment arrangement will end in job termination.

How then can a person, who does not presently hold a security clearance, but who wants to apply for a job that requires the possession of a security clearance, do to improve his/her situation.  Very simply, just 'take' the PSSPQ and if you obtain test results that strongly predict that you will be successful were you to be processed for a high-level security clearance, the PSSPQ's developer will issue you a certificate that communicates that you are an individual who can be strongly expected to be successful were you to be processed for a high-level security clearance.

No governmental contractor, whose employees must have been granted high-level security clearances, prior to their being allowed to work on the contracted project(s), have no interest in hring persons, no matter if they fully possess all of the needed knowledge, skills and abilities, required on the job, unless the contractor believes that they stand a very excellent chance of being fully capable of being granted the required security clearance status.  No contractor will be interested in any potential job applicant (engineer, computer scientist, mathematician, etc. etc.) who is viewed as not being a person who will be successful when the security clearance evaluation/adjudication process is completed.  How then does a contractor obtain this kind of information when first contacted by a job applicant?  Normally, an interview (or equivalent) with the job applicant provides such information.  In other words, a contractor normally must initially rely upon information that directly comes from the job applicant him/herself.   Contractors have long ago learned that such a source of personal reference information may leave a lot to be desired.  Any information regarding the suitability or unsuitability of a job applicant for ever being granted a security clearance, that has some neutrality or objectivity associated with it, is highly likely to be attended to by others, many times especially by a potential employer.

As noted in one of the above paragraphs, a 'taking' of the PSSPQ psychological test can sometimes produce results that can be interpreted as strongly predicting success, for the test taker, in eventually being granted a high-level security clearance status.  The certificate, which communicates such information, is very similiar to this shown below.  Where to obtain more information regarding the PSSPQ and how to make arrangements to be administered this test can be found at the end of this Internet presentation.  It should be especially noted that the ONLY real value of this described certificate, as well as all information derived from PSSPQ testing results, can only be deduced and understood if the person responding to PSSPQ items/questions does so in an honest and candid fashion.  Only correct and valid responding to items will produce results that can have any value to the person who is administered the PSSPQ.  Invalid responding to PSSPQ items simply produces worthless garbage, of no value to anyone.  It should be noted that the PSSPQ contains within it a LIE Scale that almost always successfully identifies those who attempt to describe themselves in unrealistic and overly favorable terms.

Note - in this above Web Site is given a number of 'links to other pages in this generalized overall Web Site, all devoted to the PSSPQ test, it's development history, technical psychometric descriptions, and utilization avenues.
 

Copyrighted by Dr. LeRoy A. Stone, 2003.  Dr. Stone's index/home page for his Web Site can be found at:  http://www.home.earthlink.net/~lastone2/home.html