[relaxing]

Many companies are indeed looking for an active clearance, because they want to start someone immediately and don’t want to take the risk of hiring someone whose clearance doesn’t come through because they smoked pot or got busted for underage drinking in college.

Some companies are willing to do this, or they might make an offer contingent on receiving a clearance, or they have an arrangement with their sponsoring agency where they can begin unclassified work while waiting on their clearance.