Career/Vocational counseling that takes place in high schools, colleges/universities, employment offices, as well as with private-practice counselors, most often is actively involved with aptitude, interest, skills testing, in coordination with consideration of required educational and  legally required attainments.  One matter that, with an increasing number of counselees, in recent years is calling for greater attention and response.  This matter is that of governmentally required security clearance status being associated with an increasing number of government employment positions, both in the civilian and military spheres.  This same also applies, in ever increasing numbers, to the civilian government-contract companies and corporations. 

     In the military, which is becoming more and more scientific/technical in its operations, is requiring larger and larger percentages of its man- and woman-power to be processed for what can be considered to be high-level security clearance statuses.  The 'sensitive' government agencies and bureaus (i.e., the many intelligence, law/order, and other federal organizations), in the past couple of years have again gained increased attention and support in our country.  These changes have resulted in larger workforces; most or all (with some agencies) of these workforces are required to have been granted high-level security clearances.  The private sector consisting of governmental contractor commercial organizations, since '9/11, has been growing most rapidly with respect to workforces; many of which are required to fill most of their employment positions with occupationally qualified persons who also hold required/specified security clearances.

     The subject or topic of security clearance status, in the past, has just about never been discussed as a major focus of any advisement/counseling attention in most of the more frequently utilized career/vocational counseling establishments.  The raison d'être for this Web Site presentation is to present a tool, which presently exists, that can greatly facilitate the discussion of the matter of security clearance status when considering or studying career/vocational choice and selection.
 

     Shortly after the start of the Cold War, in mid-20th century, and continuing up until the fall of the Soviet Union, a field-of-study major that was offered by many USA universities was that of Russian Studies.  Students all over the USA, in such a major, studied four years of the Russian language along with many classes devoted to Russian focused history, sociology, psychology, political science, etc.  A large number of these students were aware that when they graduated their greatest hope was to obtain employment in one of their country's defense/intelligence agencies, bureaus, and departments.  Outside of government involved employment there was not much of a demand for fluent Russian linguists who also knew a good deal about the Soviet Union.

     What was 'sad' was that a large majority of these Russian Studies students, during their undergraduate years, were never advised or counseled with respect to the fact that, in order to adequately qualify for the granting of the absolutely required security clearance status, one must have a personal history that might include a number of various type misbehaviors.  As a results, many such students, after receiving their bachelors (or higher) degrees, found themselves being refused employment by their country's defense/intelligence/security agencies because of fairly recent (i.e., during the past couple of years) misbehaviors or the like.  What a waste!  Had they been made fully aware, when they were starting college with a major in Russian Studies, that the granting of security clearance status was an absolute required component demanded by just about all potential employers of graduates of Russian Studies programs - then many would have more carefully governed their behaviors accordingly.

     Something similar today is operating with respect to a number of different vocational careers.  The government is now even more concerned with attracting highly trained young graduates to federal employment that is associated with the successful granting of advanced-level security clearances.  Those who are presently majoring in foreign languages, computer and informational science, engineering (especially, electrical), mathematics, operational research, etc. stand a pretty fair chance of being recruited for federal employment (that involves the possession of a security clearance) upon graduation.

     For those who have read and digested the several above paragraphs, be they professional career/vocational advisors/counselors or students in one of the fields mentioned in the immediately previous paragraph, and if they have some agreement with this presentation's message, then it is strongly suggested that they take a look at the following Internet pages whose titles and addresses are as follows:

       Title:  Don't Gamble with Your Future Career:  Use of the Personnel
       Security Standards Psychological Questionnaire (PSSPQ) Can, with a 
       95% Accuracy Rate, Protect You from Vocational Disaster
      http://www.home.earthlink.net/~lastone2/careergamble.html

       Title:  Might I be Eligible for a Security Clearance a Couple of Years 
       from Now?
       http://www.home.earthlink.net/~lastone2/psspqforfuturestatus.html
 

     The PSSPQ (Personnel Security Standards Psychological Questionnaire), which is mentioned above is a quickly administered (i.e., only 72 multiple-choice items) that was developed by Dr. LeRoy A. Stone, is the only scientifically-based instrument or procedure that exists that accurately can predict whether an individual will or will not be successful in eventually being granted a high-level security clearance were he/she to be processed for same.
 It has no competitors - it is the only test devised for it's developed purpose.

     Dr. Stone, the developer of the PSSPQ, holds his Ph.D. (earned in 1962) in Counseling Psychology and in 1987 was granted, by the American Board of Professional Psychology, his Diplomate in Forensic Psychology.  In 1997 he retired, after almost 25 years of federal service, from the USA's largest intelligence agency; for his last ten years he was this agency's Chief Research Psychologist.

     His PSSPQ is scored so that 12 different scale scores are produced (which are expressed as standard scores having a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10) along with a number of other psychometric scorings.  Most consider the most important scoring to the the discriminant function
prediction score; this particular measure can be interpreted as the prediction determination for success/failure to be granted high-level security clearance status.  Validation and cross-validation research has repeated shown that this discriminant function scoring produces predictions that are no lower than about 95% correct. 

     Much more information about the PSSPQ exists on the Internet.  For those interested in learning more about the PSSPQ, they are invited to inspect and study the PSSPQ's index/home pages, which can be found at:

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~lastone2/psspq.html

     Description of Dr. Stone's professional credentials can be found that his index/home page, which can be found at:

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~lastone2/home.html
 

Remember - Consideration of Security Clearance Should be a Component Part of Career/Vocational Counseling!

     If psychological testing for aptitude, interest, intellect, skills, etc. are normal and usual component aspects of career/vocational counseling, why then not include psychometric testing regarding the likelihood that the subject individual (i.e., client) might be able to successfully be granted a security clearance if and when so process for such?  The PSSPQ is very well suited for such focused psychological testing.  In fact, it is the ONLY such psychometric tool, designed for this purpose, that has ever been successfully constructed.