Claim the determination, not more than you have
In federal terms, a security clearance is a determination that you are eligible for access to classified information—it is not a possession you carry around. Full access also requires a signed nondisclosure agreement and a current need-to-know, and only a sponsoring employer can grant those. That is why the word “active” deserves care: it is used for someone who currently has access or holds a sensitive position, so it can overstate your situation once a job ends.
Write the level and the state of your eligibility as they appear in your record, and date the adjudication. Include the investigation date when you have it, because a favorably adjudicated investigation completed recently can be reused, and a cleared recruiter screens for that. The common mistake is stacking labels—advertising Top Secret and Secret as if they were two separate credentials, when a Top Secret determination already covers Secret work.
Put the line where a screener will find it
There is no federal rule about resume layout, but there is a working convention: put a clearance line on page one, either in the contact block or in its own short Clearance section under your summary, and then restate the level under the job entries where the clearance was required. ClearedJobs.Net recommends using two of those placements—the header gets you matched to the requisition, and the per-job note shows the access was actually used.
Keep the wording identical everywhere it appears so a reader never has to reconcile two versions of one credential. List only the highest level you hold rather than several at once. Where a job posting names a required level, state your own level plainly against it and write what your record says rather than translating it into the posting’s shorthand; a line that misses the record is worse than a plain one that matches.
Say what you did, not what you saw
You may state your clearance level, that you completed a background investigation or polygraph, the dates involved, and a general description of the work. You should not disclose classified details, the names of projects, missions, programs, tools, or locations, or the names of supervisors. Indeed is explicit that those specifics are off-limits even when the clearance itself is appropriate to mention.
For a lapsed clearance, say so plainly rather than calling it active; losing access at the end of a contract is not the same as losing it for cause. For an interim clearance, label it interim and date it. A concrete next step is to write one clearance line, copy it into your contact block or Clearance section and the relevant job entries, and check it against your own records before you apply.
Sources consulted
This guide is an original synthesis of the following career guidance. Read the source material for its full context.