Georgia technical recruiting and hiring rules
Georgia's cleared market is Augusta, where Fort Eisenhower is home to the Army Cyber Center of Excellence, the Signal School and the Cyber NCO Academy, and the Georgia Cyber Center downtown offers a cyber range and training in partnership with Augusta University and Augusta Technical College.
The Savannah River Site lies just across the river in South Carolina. Requisitions run from Secret for signal and network work to TS/SCI for the cyber and intelligence programs.
Georgia's hiring rules are settled by statute more than most states'. The rules below are current at the time of writing, each with its source.
Hiring rules in Georgia that matter to employers
Summaries are general information current at the time of writing and are no substitute for counsel.
- Pay transparency in job postings
- Georgia has no statewide pay transparency or salary range disclosure law; the Society for Human Resource Management's state-by-state list shows only a local Atlanta rule.
- Salary history
- Georgia has no statewide salary history ban. In Atlanta, city agencies have not asked for salary history on employment applications since February 18, 2019, a rule that binds the city as an employer rather than private employers.
- Fair-chance hiring
- In February 2015 the Governor removed questions about criminal history from state employment applications by executive order, allowing inquiries only after the initial application stage and with exceptions for sensitive positions; the order does not apply to private employers. The National Employment Law Project lists Georgia as having adopted a statewide policy in 2015.
- Non-compete agreements
- Georgia's Restrictive Covenants Act permits enforcement of a covenant restricting competition so long as it is reasonable in time, geographic area and scope of prohibited activities. For employees, a restraint of two years or less measured from the end of the relationship is presumed reasonable and a longer one is presumed unreasonable, and a court may modify an unreasonable restraint and grant only the relief reasonably necessary.
- At-will employment
- O.C.G.A. Section 34-7-1 provides that an indefinite hiring may be terminated at will by either party.
- E-Verify
- O.C.G.A. Section 36-60-6 requires every private employer with more than ten employees to register with and use the federal work authorization program, and requires applicants for a business license or occupational tax certificate to show that they are authorized to use it or that the section does not apply to them.
Metro markets in Georgia
Georgia's metro page covers Augusta and Fort Eisenhower.
Industries hiring in Georgia
Specialties in demand in Georgia
Questions about hiring in Georgia
Does Georgia's ban-the-box order affect a contractor hiring at Fort Eisenhower?
The 2015 executive order applies to state employment applications and does not bind private employers, so a contractor may ask about criminal history on its own application, subject to federal law and its own policy. The clearance process, which is federal, asks its own questions on the SF-86.
What clearance levels do Augusta requisitions carry?
Secret for signal, network and systems work supporting the Cyber Center of Excellence and the Signal School, and TS/SCI, often with a polygraph, for the cyber and intelligence programs on the installation. The Augusta page names the organizations that shape the market.