What to say on a recruiter phone screen

Three questions on a recruiter's first call need more than a quick answer: what you want to earn, whether your clearance is still good, and when you can start. Each one has rules behind it.

If you're getting out and applying for civilian jobs, your first real conversation with most companies will be a recruiter's phone call. In the Labor Department's transition workshop, a phone screen can be unscheduled and as short as 10 minutes. The recruiter checks your basic qualifications, clears up questions about your application and confirms you're still interested, so the company can build a shortlist.

Pay-history, clearance and start-date questions have rules behind them. State and city laws limit pay questions. DoD sets clearance-eligibility rules. Ethics and leave rules govern work during terminal leave.

The table covers the 18 states, DC and five cities checked for this guide. Other cities and counties may have their own rules. Where a cell says "In force," the law is on the books but the page we checked didn't give the day it began.

The ethics rule that starts with the first call

The Air Force ethics office says officers and enlisted members may job-hunt while serving, but the recruiter's call starts an ethics rule. Under the federal rules, you've begun "seeking employment" once you answer a company's recruiter with anything other than a no, or start discussing a job, even if pay never comes up. Asking for a job application doesn't count, and neither does posting a profile on a networking site. The status ends when either side says no, or two months after you send an unsolicited résumé and hear nothing back.

From that point, you can't take part in official matters that you know would directly affect that company's finances. DoD's ethics office calls recusal simple: don't do any work on the task. It also suggests telling your ethics official or supervisor in writing.

The federal rule's own definition includes officers but not enlisted members. DoD's Joint Ethics Regulation applies the same rules to enlisted members anyway, and separately bars them from working official matters involving a company they're negotiating with. If you file the public OGE 278e financial disclosure, you also have to notify your ethics office within three business days of starting to negotiate.

What to say when they ask about pay

Recruiters ask about pay in two ways, and the law treats them differently. Your pay history is what you earn now or earned before. Your pay expectation is what you want from this job.

In the places in the table, an employer generally can't seek your pay history. DC bars screening you on your pay history, including by requiring it as a condition of an interview, and bars asking your past employers for it. New Jersey bars screening you on it or requiring it to meet a minimum or maximum. California, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington let an employer confirm history you volunteer, or use it to support a higher offer. Illinois and Oregon say an employer may not use it even if you offer it.

Expectations are a different question. California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, Vermont, New York City and Philadelphia say in writing that a recruiter may ask what you want to earn. Asking is part of a recruiter's job, so have a range ready. Philadelphia adds one limit: an employer shouldn't ask whether your expectation is tied to your current or past pay.

The Labor Department's transition workshop gives four ways to answer: put off the pay discussion, turn the question back by asking for the job's range, give a range, or give a range tied to total compensation. If you give a range, it warns that the employer may pick the low end, so keep your real target close to your bottom number. Its own sample ranges are $5,000 wide, such as $75,000 to $80,000.

You may not have to guess. Where the table shows a posting rule that's in effect, a job posting from an employer of the size shown must include a range. Where the job isn't posted, some states still give you a right to it. California requires it from any employer on request, and Nevada once you've finished an interview. In Connecticut and Maryland, an employer that hasn't posted the job has to give the range on request or before pay is discussed. New York's, Illinois's and Connecticut's rules also reach remote jobs that report to a supervisor or office in those states. We didn't check other states' rules for remote jobs.

Federal jobs work differently. Under a rule effective April 1, 2024, with full agency compliance required by October 1, 2024, an agency setting a new employee's pay can't consider salary history or a competing job offer. When it starts you above the first step of the grade, the reason has to be your qualifications or the agency's special need.

What your military pay is worth

Know what your current pay is worth before you name a range. Federal law defines regular military compensation, or RMC, as four things: basic pay, the basic allowance for housing (BAH), the basic allowance for subsistence (BAS), and the federal tax advantage you get because those allowances aren't taxed. So a civilian salary equal to your basic pay plus BAH and BAS still leaves you behind.

RMC leaves out TRICARE, retirement and special pays, so it isn't your total compensation. DoD publishes an official RMC calculator. It asks for your grade, years of service, tax filing status and family size, and for a ZIP code if you get BAH.

How to describe your clearance

Recruiters may ask whether your clearance is "active" or "current." The DoD rules we checked don't define either word as a clearance status, so answer in plain terms. Eligibility is the government's decision that you can be trusted with classified information. Access is what you're given for a job. It ends when you no longer need it, so by the time you separate. The SF 86 itself says an administrative termination of a clearance isn't a revocation.

DoD's personnel security manual, which applies across DoD, sets a 24-month rule. It covers people retired or separated for no more than 24 months who had an investigation favorably adjudicated within the previous 5 years, counted from the date the investigation closed. They're granted eligibility again if nothing suggests they no longer meet the standards, they certify on an SF 86C that nothing relevant has changed, and a records check turns up nothing unfavorable. If the SF 86C shows derogatory information, a command may require a new background investigation. If the last decision was a revocation, denial or suspension, the case is adjudicated again. The manual dates from 2017, with a 2020 change; our clearance guide covers what has changed since.

So on the call, say four things. Give your level and, if you know it, when your last investigation was completed. Say that your access has ended, or will end by your separation date. And say that the company's security officer can verify your eligibility, which security staff check in DISS, DoD's clearance system. Your nondisclosure agreement lasts for life, so programs and classified details stay off the call.

If a cleared company needs you to have access from your first day, it can submit your clearance request before you start, but only after a written offer that you've accepted in writing. That offer has to say you'll start within 45 days of being granted eligibility.

Your start date and terminal leave

Terminal leave is ordinary chargeable leave taken at the very end of your service, so you don't lose it. You're still on active duty until your separation or retirement date, which falls at the end of the leave. You can't start it until you have your orders and have finished all administrative processing. So a start date during terminal leave falls between your last day of out-processing and your separation date.

Members on authorized leave get full pay and allowances, so your military pay continues through terminal leave, alongside any civilian pay. You keep active-duty benefits too, and your family stays on TRICARE Prime, Prime Remote or Select.

A private-sector or contractor job

Army legal guidance from 2020 and the Department of the Air Force's ethics office in January 2025 both say you may work for a company during terminal leave, as off-duty employment. The Army adds "so long as there is no conflict of interest." The Air Force ethics office says you generally need permission, and the scope varies by organization. At a minimum, every Air Force and Space Force organization requires financial disclosure filers to submit DAF Form 3902, including on terminal leave. Under DoD's Joint Ethics Regulation, officials can require you to report outside work in advance. Your organization's head or your supervisor can prohibit it over a conflict of interest, readiness or security.

In the Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, ask your command's ethics official what approval you need. Leaving any DoD branch, you can also ask that official for a written opinion on how the post-government employment restrictions apply to you. It's due within 30 days of a complete request, and you can share it with the company. That opinion isn't the approval for off-duty work, which has no deadline in the sources we checked.

DoD's supplemental ethics rule adds a step for financial disclosure filers (OGE Form 450 or 278e). They need approval before paid work for what the rule calls a "prohibited source."

Officers have one more limit. Two criminal statutes, 18 U.S.C. 203 and 205, bar an officer on terminal leave from representing the new employer to the federal government. The Air Force ethics office says an officer can still work for a contractor, but only "behind the scenes," at the company's offices or elsewhere away from the government workplace, until the separation date. The Army's 2020 briefing adds that officers can't work in a federal workplace then.

Those statutes don't apply to enlisted members. If you're enlisted, confirm your local off-duty rules with your command's ethics official. Regular officers should also check with an ethics official before taking a state or local government job during terminal leave, because a separate law limits officers holding civil office.

Permissive TDY isn't terminal leave. Army legal guidance says no authority lets you work for a company during PTDY.

A federal civilian job

If you're separating under honorable conditions, a federal law lets you take a federal civilian job while you're on terminal leave. You're paid for the job on top of your military pay, and you earn annual leave in the new job. OPM's FedsHireVets answer is a plain yes. The law covers federal, U.S. territory and DC government jobs, not state or local ones.

You can also apply with veterans' preference before you have a DD-214. Agencies accept a certification that you expect to be discharged under honorable conditions within 120 days of submitting it. Our veterans' preference guide covers the details.

If you're retiring

For a DoD civilian job, including a nonappropriated-fund job, 5 U.S.C. 3326 restricts appointments during the 180 days after retirement. That section lists two exceptions. The appointment is authorized in advance (the law says by "the Secretary concerned or his designee"), or the job's minimum pay rate has been raised under the special-rate law, 5 U.S.C. 5305. Ask the hiring office's HR staff who approves the waiver. Jobs at other federal agencies have no 180-day wait. Some older OPM and DoD pages still list a third exception for a national emergency. Congress removed it in 2016.

Terminal leave does not count toward the 180-day period. Before accepting a DoD start date during terminal leave pending retirement, have the hiring office confirm the applicable appointment authority and any waiver in writing. Your federal salary won't reduce your military retired pay; that rule was repealed back to October 1, 1999.

Questions you don't have to answer

Employers covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, those with 15 or more employees, generally can't ask disability-related questions until after a conditional job offer. The EEOC says they can't ask when, where or how you were injured, even if your disability is obvious, and you don't have to disclose a medical condition in an interview. A question about being a "disabled veteran" is allowed for affirmative action, with written notice that answering is voluntary and confidential.

Federal contractors with 50 or more employees and a contract of $200,000 or more must invite applicants to say whether they're a protected veteran. The invitation has to state that answering is voluntary and that refusing won't subject you to adverse treatment. Under USERRA, no employer can refuse to hire you because you're in the Guard or Reserve or have an obligation to serve in the future.

Your discharge is a different case. The Labor Department's TAP workshop lists military discharge among topics that should be avoided in interviews, along with age, disability and credit rating. None of the federal laws or EEOC pages we checked bars the question. DOL's suggested responses include answering if you don't mind, or asking how the question applies to the job.

Your opening, and three questions to ask

A short opening that names the job, the two or three requirements in the posting you meet, and your available date covers most of what the recruiter is checking.

Example (fictional): a Marine infantry corporal could open with, "I'm applying for the warehouse role. I've checked equipment against issue records and trained new team members." Use only duties you performed.

Save time for three questions of your own, each tied to a rule above.

• What's the pay range for this role? If it isn't in the posting, California, Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island give you a right to it on request or before pay is discussed.
• Does the job need a clearance, and will you sponsor it? A cleared company can submit your paperwork before day one only after you accept a written offer, so the answer tells you when the clock starts.
• Where will I work, and can I start during my terminal leave? Officers can't do contractor work in a federal workplace until the separation date. If you're enlisted, check your local off-duty rules with your ethics official.

One example, start to finish

Example (fictional) Darnell Ortiz is a 33-year-old Air Force technical sergeant (E-6) who works on Air Force network and IT systems. He's leaving at the end of his enlistment after 12 years. His separation date is Wednesday, March 31, 2027, and his terminal leave runs from Monday, February 15, through that date. He holds a Secret clearance, and his last investigation was completed in 2023. In January, a recruiter for a defense contractor in northern Virginia schedules a call about a network administrator job. The posting lists $78,000 to $92,000, as Virginia law has required since July 1, 2026.

Before the call, he confirms his unit has no dealings with the company, so there's no official work to step away from. On January 11, the day before the call, he sends his base ethics official a complete request for a written opinion on how the post-government employment rules apply to him. Separately, he asks what approval he needs for off-duty work during terminal leave. Counting 30 days, the opinion is due by February 10, five days before his leave starts.

He opens by naming the network administrator job, the two certifications the posting asks for that he holds, and his start date. When the recruiter asks what he's looking for, he says $85,000 to $90,000, with $85,000, his real target, at the bottom, as DOL advises. He doesn't bring up his military pay, and in Virginia the recruiter can't seek it.

On his clearance, he says: "I hold a Secret clearance through the Air Force. My last investigation was completed in 2023. My access ends when I no longer need it for Air Force duties, by March 31 at the latest, and your security officer can verify my eligibility."

On his start date, he says he can begin February 22, during terminal leave, once his approval for off-duty work is in place, and that his separation date is March 31. As an enlisted member, he isn't covered by the officer-only statutes on representing the company, and his ethics question covers his local off-duty rules. His Air Force pay and allowances continue through March 31 alongside his new salary, and his family stays on TRICARE until then.

His three questions: where offers usually land in the posted range, whether the company will sponsor his clearance and when the paperwork would start, and whether a February 22 start during terminal leave works for the team.

This is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Before you start a job on terminal leave, ask your command's ethics official what approval you need. If you're leaving a DoD branch, you can also ask that official for a written opinion on post-government employment restrictions, due within 30 days of a complete request. Once you have a cleared job offer, the company's facility security officer is the person who checks your eligibility. For USERRA questions, ESGR provides free help to service members and employers, including referral to an ombudsman for mediation, at 800-336-4590, option 1.