Got hired just from phone interview

[DrPizza]

I've been offered jobs over the phone without an interview. I had posted my resume on some clearinghouse for teachers in either NC or SC (or both, I don't remember.) <Southern accent> "Hello, Mr. Pizza? We've reviewed your resume and would like to hire you to be a math teacher in our district. You can start next Monday, we'll pay your moving expenses." </Southern accent.>

But, there was a huge shortage of math teachers down there back then. Shortage of workers to work at a large defense company for very good pay? In this economy?? Wow, congrats OP.

 

[JEDI]

Ok, so I applied to a large defense company and went through the normal phone screening and then a phone interview. After the phone interview, I received an offer for 67k/year. I decided to accept it based on the fact that it's 2x what I make now and a huge step up for my career. I've been told that I will be going through a security clearance later.

I didn't even get a chance to meet the people I will be working with or even the exact site I will be working at. All I know is that a recruiter did the hiring and that it's in an area 4 hours away from where I live. Has anyone gotten a job just from a phone interview? Or is this normal for very large companies/defense companies.

my 1st job was like it. govt contractor. they needed bodies to fill slots for the contract they just won.

my resume and phone interview proved i met their requirements for hiring, which was i had a pulse, and i understood english.

it was litterally less than 5 minutes. i put a tv dinner in the microwave when the fone rang. the interview was over b4 the microwave was done.

oh well, it was good for $80k/yr
sys admin, WinNT

 

[ravana]

Same here. Got hired after a phone interview for my current gig. At most it was a 10 minute call.

 

[Gibson486]

I got hired from a phone interview on my 2nd coop. It was, by far, the best job I ever had.

 

[Aikouka]

Cool. Congrats! I've applied to a couple of LM positions (they do have tons posted) but most all require a clearance which I'm sure is given preference to those who have one than to wait for 3-6 months for someone to get one.

I don't think they'd really care unless they want you to start the classified stuff immediately. You usually get "pre-approved" for that stuff early enough (it's referred to as "Initial Secret", etc), but there are some restrictions on the initial variant.

I'm surprised your previous employer never had you get a clearance. I got one when I worked at mine and I never even touched a classified document, sat in a classified meeting or anything of that sort in my entire 3 years there.

What area are you looking into LM at? If you're still in STNY, I wouldn't really want to stick around there much. God knows if they're going to lay off another set of people (Round 4 or 5).

I don't have much experience, just a little over 16 months. The Masters probably helped. The job didn't require a clearance, just the ability to get one. I am assuming that's just the basic U.S. citizen requirement.

Same here. Any technical questions were very broad and general. Nothing specific and there were maybe 3-4 of them. The guy who did the interview was a SE manager/recruiter.

I'd say the masters helped if anything. The requirements to become a level 2 were usually 3 years of experience or a masters.

I don't think I've ever been to a defense contractor interview that had terribly specific questions. They might be interested in if you've used a specific language and if so, how have you used it.

There was one that setup an in-person interview with me over 900 miles away and they never even spoke to me .

 

[JD50]

"security clearances" is very vague. What level clearance are we talking about here? There's not really a basic requirement, it just depends on if you can pass the background investigation(s) and polygraph(s) (if necessary) and that all depends on the level of clearance.

BTW, once you get your clearance you're going to be pretty underpaid for an experienced programmer, be ready to jump ship after a year or two and get another nice raise. Unless the clearance is something lame like Secret.

Edit - Just saw that you said that you have your masterstoo... yea, if you get a decent clearance you'll wanna get out of there in about 2 years, you'll be VERY underpaid.

 

[JEDI]

what questions do they ask you on a govt polygraph test?

 

[JD50]

what questions do they ask you on a govt polygraph test?

Take one and find out. No one that's passed a polygraph is going to tell you.

 

[rcpratt]

I never had an interview at all when I got my first internship, or when I started working there full time. Obviously they didn't need an interview since they already knew me for when I started full time, but I was pretty surprised that I was never interviewed for the internship. Unless the two minute phone conversation with an HR chick was their idea of an interview.

 

[VinylxScratches]

THey probably had to fill the spot fast?

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Must have been some amazing phone sex.

 

[invidia]

I've been offered jobs over the phone without an interview. I had posted my resume on some clearinghouse for teachers in either NC or SC (or both, I don't remember.) <Southern accent> "Hello, Mr. Pizza? We've reviewed your resume and would like to hire you to be a math teacher in our district. You can start next Monday, we'll pay your moving expenses." </Southern accent.>

But, there was a huge shortage of math teachers down there back then. Shortage of workers to work at a large defense company for very good pay? In this economy?? Wow, congrats OP.

Thanks. From what I read, Lockheed is going to lose over 100k workers over the next 10 years due to retirement. And that's not on top of people quitting and moving on.

THey probably had to fill the spot fast?

I believe so. The whole thing took less than 3 months (from apply date to entire hiring process). Which I found to be much less than most jobs I've applied.

"security clearances" is very vague. What level clearance are we talking about here? There's not really a basic requirement, it just depends on if you can pass the background investigation(s) and polygraph(s) (if necessary) and that all depends on the level of clearance.

BTW, once you get your clearance you're going to be pretty underpaid for an experienced programmer, be ready to jump ship after a year or two and get another nice raise. Unless the clearance is something lame like Secret.

Edit - Just saw that you said that you have your masterstoo... yea, if you get a decent clearance you'll wanna get out of there in about 2 years, you'll be VERY underpaid.

They never mention what security clearance nor do I needed one to start working.

 

[JD50]

They never mention what security clearance nor do I needed one to start working.

Did they say what agency you'd be working for?

 

[Bignate603]

Personally, I would have asked to go their facility and meet people that you'd be working with before you made a decision. After I got an offer on the job I'm currently at I requested an opportunity to meet other people before I had to give them my answer. I felt this was a completely reasonable request and they didn't take offense to it.

 

[Bignate603]

Thanks. From what I read, Lockheed is going to lose over 100k workers over the next 10 years due to retirement. And that's not on top of people quitting and moving on.

Losing 100k is probably an exaggeration of the problem, they've only got 135k employees. However, in aerospace and defense the population is aging considerably. They hired a huge amount of people during the cold war era, and then after that ended and defense budgets shrank the companies really cut back on hiring. I work at another aerospace company and the average age for an engineer is over 55. I was able to play my cards right and I ended up working with a senior engineer that is retiring in October. After he leaves I'll be taking over most of his work. They're already scared that I'll leave and they won't have anyone familiar with the work that he does. I got a 12% raise even though they technically have a freeze on all raises.

 

[polarmystery]

Losing 100k is probably an exaggeration of the problem, they've only got 135k employees. However, in aerospace and defense the population is aging considerably. They hired a huge amount of people during the cold war era, and then after that ended and defense budgets shrank the companies really cut back on hiring. I work at another aerospace company and the average age for an engineer is over 55. I was able to play my cards right and I ended up working with a senior engineer that is retiring in October. After he leaves I'll be taking over most of his work. They're already scared that I'll leave and they won't have anyone familiar with the work that he does. I got a 12% raise even though they technically have a freeze on all raises.

This man is correct. I too, also work at a Defense and Aerospace contracting firm and there is a HUGE age gap right now -and- over 60% of the people in my department could retire any day. I even have some friends who want to retire if they could.

In 10 years time, a lot of DoD Contract firms are going to lose a lot of employees.

 

[invidia]

Did they say what agency you'd be working for?

In the business unit in the IS&GS Defense department and for the Air Force.

 

[Aikouka]

In the business unit in the IS&GS Defense department and for the Air Force.

IS&GS... are you working out of the DC/surrounding offices then? I was looking into transferring into some of their programs, but quite a few required Top Secret or even TS/SCI clearances. Lockheed's not a bad company to work for.

I work for a different company now and I actually miss a few of the ways Lockheed does things. Like their infinite sick time .

 

[JS80]

Congrats.

Fair warning. I know a handful of people that worked at defense co's, none lasted more than 2 years.

 

[Aikouka]

Congrats.

Fair warning. I know a handful of people that worked at defense co's, none lasted more than 2 years.

I think it depends on your program... some of them can run you rather ragged. You won't get paid for overtime as I don't think I ever met anyone that wasn't non-exempt. When I worked there, they expected 10% overtime minimum every week regardless of whether your work was on or ahead of schedule. If not, they would say, "go help someone else!" Even if trying to get up to speed and capable of helping someone else just wasted their time.

Keep this in mind... you don't get paid for working overtime in Defense... but the defense contractor gets paid for every hour you work .

 

[gorcorps]

Good luck... I have a couple friends who recently quit Lockheed because they couldn't stand it.

 

[JS80]

Good luck... I have a couple friends who recently quit Lockheed because they couldn't stand it.

^^ I'm sure it's the same story.

 

[Aikouka]

Good luck... I have a couple friends who recently quit Lockheed because they couldn't stand it.

Are you referring to the Denver branch? That may be related to the whole Orion downsizing/cancellation. I know a few people that got laid off from where I worked that headed out to Colorado and I have no idea if they managed to escape a second termination .

 

[JS80]

I think it depends on your program... some of them can run you rather ragged. You won't get paid for overtime as I don't think I ever met anyone that wasn't non-exempt. When I worked there, they expected 10% overtime minimum every week regardless of whether your work was on or ahead of schedule. If not, they would say, "go help someone else!" Even if trying to get up to speed and capable of helping someone else just wasted their time.

Keep this in mind... you don't get paid for working overtime in Defense... but the defense contractor gets paid for every hour you work .

I'm not talking about being overworked, but that the positions aren't meant to provide a progressive career.

 

[Aikouka]

I'm not talking about being overworked, but that the positions aren't meant to provide a progressive career.

Uhh Lockheed has plenty of ways to progress in your career... it's their own fault for not being able to find ways.

EDIT:

Biggest hint... chances are that the way you progress isn't within your own program! This is probably going to hold true for almost any defense contractor. Lockheed does have specific career paths though.