2026 Cleared Recruiting Trends, New Report Notes FS Poly Hires at 100+ Days

Every year, the ClearanceJobs Cleared Recruiting Survey provides a snapshot of what's really happening inside the cleared hiring market. But behind every chart and percentage are recruiters navigating an increasingly complex mix of technology, compensation pressures, hard-to-fill roles, and changing candidate expectations. In a recent podcast conversation, we sat down with Jill Hamilton, who manages the Cleared Recruiting Survey, to go behind the numbers and discuss what stood out in the 2026 results. Jill has a really interesting perspective on this because she's not just looking at the final report—she's managing the survey that actually produces all of this data. So she gets to see what recruiters are saying, how those answers change year over year, and some things that surprise her along the way. One of the biggest stories is AI. Seventy-two percent of recruiters have now used AI in the recruiting process, yet confidence in AI's ability to match the right candidate to the right role remains mixed. The takeaway? AI may be becoming a standard recruiting tool, but human judgment isn't going anywhere. Compensation is another major shift. Higher compensation is now the leading reason candidates turn down offers, surpassing competing job offers. Meanwhile, employers are facing rising hiring costs and becoming more conservative with sign-on bonuses. And more candidates don't necessarily mean easier hiring. The report found that TS/SCI with Full Scope Polygraph positions average roughly 69 days to fill, illustrating just how difficult specialized cleared hiring remains. The conversation with Jill goes beyond individual statistics to explore what these trends mean for recruiters—and what hiring teams should be watching as they prepare for 2027. If there's one message from this year's data, it's that cleared recruiting continues to evolve. Technology and data are playing larger roles, but relationships, recruiter expertise, and understanding what cleared candidates actually want remain at the center of successful hiring.