Hampton Roads Highlighted as "Best Region" on East Coast for Defense Jobs

by Tranette Ledford, a free lance journalist and regular contributor to Army Times and other news and defense industry publications. The article was written on behalf of ClearanceJobs.com.

Metropolitan Washington, D.C. serves as the proverbial home base for defense jobs. But, with the private sector, research labs, universities, and government contractors factored in, the playing field gets even bigger all the time. Opportunities extend throughout Northern Virginia's suburbs and down about a three hour drive to the Hampton Roads area.

Southeast Virginia
When it comes to security clearances and the job market, all roads lead to Hampton Roads — and extend outward like spokes along Virginia's southeast coast line. Cleared candidates looking for second careers may want to learn more about ‘Pentagon South,' the moniker for the growing hub of military installations and related businesses. The job market runs from Williamsburg through to Virginia Beach. All told, Southeast Virginia is seeing large growth of security clearance job opportunities.

"In June, the Small Business Administration ranked the Hampton Roads region number one for the highest percentage of high impact firms," said Missy Schmidt, marketing director, Defense and Homeland Security Consortium. "Next to D.C., we have the highest concentration of defense and homeland security jobs. Our ports provide a huge ship-building business and they continually hire security-cleared personnel, from welders to maintenance to supervisors.

"Southeast Virginia is arguably the ship-building capital of the USA, so jobs in the area follow suit. We see an ongoing need for systems engineers with naval backgrounds, welders, radar and IR techs and a host of IT jobs. There are requirements for security guards, training staff and plenty of contract administrators and proposal writers in Norfolk and the surrounding area." – Evan Lesser, Director, ClearanceJobs.com

With several dozen military facilities in the region, cities like Suffolk are welcoming some major players. Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics both have operations due to Suffolk's strategic proximity to U.S. Joint Forces Command.

"The growth is non-stop," said Schmidt. "This is a great place to work and a great place to live. We've got everything from the opera to monster truck shows. It's also affordable."

With a whopping three quarters of the area's growth based on defense contracts, transitioning service members with an active clearance have tremendous job prospects. Looking for a region where defense and homeland security permeates daily life? Then Hampton Roads and the surrounding areas are ready for you.

For the complete Gazelles Report, click HERE.