• Fedaykin (unregistered)

    It's pretty common to interview for a job with a contractor or government doing classified work and not be told anything about what you would actually be doing until well past after your first day because of the security checks. Sometimes this takes months.

    Generally your better run contractors will take that opportunity to have you do something useful, like further your education in the field. Poorly run contractors do things like make you do janitorial work or something.

    This is why most contractors try to hire only people who already have security clearance.

  • (cs) in reply to Thunder
    Thunder:
    Charles400:
    (In my best Home Simpson voice)

    Hmmm... Power supplies.

    Dude, sucky Homer voice. Here, let me show you how it's done:

    Hmmm... Power supplies.

    Way better.

    Dear PC Maven, The power supplies on my computer are making a humming noise in a Simpsons accent. Is this bad?

    Dear Do Not Disclose, Indeed it is. Run, do not walk, to the keyboard, and immediately press ctl-alt-bzzzzt. crackle

  • (cs) in reply to Code Dependent
    Code Dependent:
    North Bus:
    It was a truck. Just a pickup truck with a bike rack and some camouflage paint. Just a truck.
    Truckin' Like the do-dah man Once told me, "You've got to play your hand; Sometimes your cards ain't worth a dime If you dont lay 'em down."
    North Bus:
    I made my way out of the building with little fanfare, and caught my flight home the next morning.
    Sometimes the light's all shining on me; Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me What a long, strange trip its been.
    That's odd.

    I don't remember Jerry being code dependent.

  • Peter (unregistered)

    Two days isn't quick for them to tell you that you haven't got the job. I once got back from an interview (2 hours by train) to find a rejection e-mail waiting for me.

  • (cs) in reply to cf18
    cf18:
    TRWTF is you have a phone number but no email address on a digital resume.

    Actually, there's another WTF there. I included my phone number and e-mail address with the resume, but the guy who called me had apparently lost the e-mail address somewhere along the way.

    shrug

  • (cs) in reply to krupa
    krupa:
    jtl:
    Whaleman:
    where's the WTF??? He didn't get to see top secret "things"? Wow, didn't expect THAT coming...

    Or was it being interviewed for a position not exactly in his field? Also not very shocking...

    Possibly a 3 hour tour of hallways and pickup trucks? And that they clearly just signed on any resume they got given the crowd of applicants? Seems like they did very little to try and interest him in the company.

    Also that they paid to fly him there (and presumably put him up in a hotel) for such a superficial tour/interview. Most companies at least do a phone interview or two before ponying up airfare.

    Exactly. I mean... my resume is not that outstanding that anyone should ever jump that high upon reading it. Add to that the lack of any technical interviewing (we discussed my thesis for maybe a whole two minutes because I insisted on it... the interviewer didn't seem quite so interested) and you get a fairly comprehensive WTF.

    And everyone is correct. There is no punchline. It's anti-climactic.

    Why?

    Well, so was the actual experience.

  • MZ (unregistered) in reply to schaefer

    Oh believe me, we wouldn't be that interested in Ohio. Lotsa trucks here, pick-up trucks, semi-trucks...particularly ones with no tires, sitting rusted in front lawns. Show us an expensive car and we'll be awestruck :-p

  • (cs) in reply to MZ
    MZ:
    Oh believe me, we wouldn't be that interested in Ohio. Lotsa trucks here, pick-up trucks, semi-trucks...particularly ones with no tires, sitting rusted in front lawns. Show us an expensive car and we'll be awestruck :-p
    Sounds like "Lifestyles of the Wretched and Famished".
  • (cs) in reply to real_aardvark
    real_aardvark:
    I don't remember Jerry being code dependent.
    Codeine, perhaps?
  • (cs) in reply to MZ
    MZ:
    Oh believe me, we wouldn't be that interested in Ohio. Lotsa trucks here, pick-up trucks, semi-trucks...particularly ones with no tires, sitting rusted in front lawns. Show us an expensive car and we'll be awestruck :-p
    Yeah. I'm originally from Ohio. That fact only enhanced the overall feeling of anti-climax.
  • Max (unregistered) in reply to Coincoin
    Coincoin:
    Despite all the non disclosure agreements I signed when going for interviews, I've never seen, or heard anything worth not-disclosing.

    Secrets projects are usually well hidden, so that visitors can visit without having to be eliminated after their visit.

    When I graduated from University I applied to an unnamed Government body for an engineering position (British Government; I'm Scottish). I DID see and hear things worth not-disclosing; I was actually put under the Official Secrets Act before they gave me a tour of the facility and interviewed me the second time (the first interview was done without the OSA having been signed).

    Entry to the site required full ID scan, armed escort and background check. It was pretty damn fun :)

    Max

  • Sam (unregistered) in reply to Max
    Max:
    When I graduated from University I applied to an unnamed Government body for an engineering position (British Government; I'm Scottish). I DID see and hear things worth not-disclosing; I was actually put under the Official Secrets Act before they gave me a tour of the facility and interviewed me the second time (the first interview was done without the OSA having been signed).

    Entry to the site required full ID scan, armed escort and background check. It was pretty damn fun :)

    Max

    Details and pictures or you're lying.

  • DarkAges (unregistered) in reply to David Emery

    Blue lights? You had blue lights? We'd have KILLED for blue lights! We had people hollering up and down the hall, "UNCLEARED!!!" (which we, of course, heard as "UNCLEAN!!!!"

  • sf (unregistered) in reply to DarkAges
    DarkAges:
    Blue lights? You had blue lights? We'd have KILLED for blue lights! We had people hollering up and down the hall, "UNCLEARED!!!" (which we, of course, heard as "UNCLEAN!!!!"
    Unclean indeed. Where I worked we did have lights. They were called the leper lights.
  • Izzy (unregistered) in reply to Sam
    Sam:
    Max:
    When I graduated from University I applied to an unnamed Government body for an engineering position (British Government; I'm Scottish). I DID see and hear things worth not-disclosing; I was actually put under the Official Secrets Act before they gave me a tour of the facility and interviewed me the second time (the first interview was done without the OSA having been signed).

    Entry to the site required full ID scan, armed escort and background check. It was pretty damn fun :)

    Max

    Details and pictures or you're lying.

    You could look at this picture: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=839428

  • JIm Jones (unregistered)

    I dunno, those big defense contractors can be really scary!

    RD http://useurl.us/12m

  • (cs)

    'North Bus', your kind is just what the world needs. Young, well-educated, skilled in technological applications and ignorant as to what you are actually participating in, what kind of an industry you are supporting and to what use the end products of your work will likely be put. All it takes is for a 'defense contractor' to satisfy your inner Tom Clancy fan.

    I hope the next weapons factory will show you some Really Big Guns before your interview, so you can join them with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Way to go, my American friend.

  • (cs) in reply to mtu
    mtu:
    'North Bus', your kind is just what the world needs. Young, well-educated, skilled in technological applications and ignorant as to what you are actually participating in, what kind of an industry you are supporting and to what use the end products of your work will likely be put. All it takes is for a 'defense contractor' to satisfy your inner Tom Clancy fan.

    I hope the next weapons factory will show you some Really Big Guns before your interview, so you can join them with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Way to go, my American friend.

    Huh?

    Y'know, to be honest, I could care less about the tour. I finally took a job from a consumer electronics company who didn't even bother with a tour; just a day full of talking to people who work there, which was a wonderful way to learn what the company is really about.

    This company failed not because they didn't show me cool missiles, but because they failed to give me any interest whatsoever in the actual company. Nobody talked me through their roles in 'x', or showed me how proud they were to be doing 'y', or even made me feel as though someday I could do 'z'. Instead, they tried (and failed) to appeal to what you are talking about. They tried to throw about some big language about guns and missiles and radar and such, and hope that I would jump at the chance to join them. But, nationalistic bigotry aside, that's really not how it works.

  • Olltrish (unregistered) in reply to North Bus
    North Bus:
    I could care less

    The Real WTF for this story.

  • (cs) in reply to Olltrish
    Olltrish:
    North Bus:
    I could care less

    The Real WTF for this story.

    Yeah... I've never understood that idiom, either... but as long as it can be used to convey a thought, I'll use the words as a tool.

  • (cs) in reply to North Bus
    North Bus:
    This company failed not because they didn't show me cool missiles, but because they failed to give me any interest whatsoever in the actual company. Nobody talked me through their roles in 'x', or showed me how proud they were to be doing 'y', or even made me feel as though someday I could do 'z'.

    You see - you could apply this sentence of yours to a company producing shoes, toys, lamps or weapons. You seem to never have wasted a second thought on the fact that among all the things you could participate in producing, weapons are responsible for the greatest suffering on a global scale. To you, it was just a job that could have been cool but wasn't, so now you're making consumer electronics. I denounce this indifference of yours.

  • Maks Verver (unregistered) in reply to North Bus
    North Bus:
    My resume is not *that* outstanding that anyone should ever jump that high upon reading it. Add to that the lack of any technical interviewing (we discussed my thesis for maybe a whole two minutes because I insisted on it... the interviewer didn't seem quite so interested) and you get a fairly comprehensive WTF.
    Just speculating here, but maybe if they are really doing top-secret work, they wanted to conceal the type of position open for hire, so they invite a bunch of people with random backgrounds and don't tell anyone what the position is or what requirements they are looking for. That would explain why the go to the trouble of having you over, but seem uninterested in the interview.
  • (cs) in reply to Sam
    Sam:
    Max:
    When I graduated from University I applied to an unnamed Government body for an engineering position (British Government; I'm Scottish). I DID see and hear things worth not-disclosing; I was actually put under the Official Secrets Act before they gave me a tour of the facility and interviewed me the second time (the first interview was done without the OSA having been signed).

    Entry to the site required full ID scan, armed escort and background check. It was pretty damn fun :)

    Max

    Details and pictures or you're lying.

    O ye of little faith. This is Britain, where they force you to sign up to the OSA for no reason at all (I seem to recall that Section Two is the catch-all). And if you haven't signed up to it, you're still presumed to be under its aegis, and the courts can deal with you accordingly. It's the nearest thing we have to a written constitution in these parts.

    We haven't quite gotten around to "full ID scan, armed escort and background check" before bathroom breaks, but we're working on it. I fully expect to see potty-enabled CCTV in a year or so, combined with "green" taxes if your effluent indicates anything that might compromise a carbon-neutral, plastic-free lifestyle.

    You really don't need the pictures. In fact, we're British. You don't even want to see the pictures.

  • (cs) in reply to North Bus
    North Bus:
    Olltrish:
    North Bus:
    I could care less

    The Real WTF for this story.

    Yeah... I've never understood that idiom, either... but as long as it can be used to convey a thought, I'll use the words as a tool.

    It's perfectly decent Yiddish, with a fairly obvious ironic meaning. Consult Leo Rosten, "The Joys of Yiddish," for further elucidation.

    Alternatively, ignore trolls. The words "American" and "Military-Industrial Complex," taken in conjunction, appear to send their feeble little minds into a frenzy, for some reason. Not that you mentioned the Military-Industrial Complex. And not that they'd recognise an Eisenhower if they tripped over one in the streets.

    Must stop now, as I'm beginning to sound like a KenW clone...

  • (cs) in reply to Franz Kafka
    Franz Kafka:
    Markp:
    The entire trip and visit was a charade; a test to see if North Bus could be trusted with sensitive information.

    By sharing your story, North Bus, with thousands of readers, you have proved that you cannot be trusted.

    Sorry, you won't get the job.

    Like anybody would hesitate to share info that was of no particular value - at least dummy up something sexy so the guy thinks it might be classified/confidential.

    Anybody who had been notified that sharing classified information can be accompanied by a very lengthy prison sentence probably would hesitate. If you demonstrate to the investigators giving you clearance that YOU decide what's worth sharing--that is, what's classified and what's just "classified"--you can bet your ass you won't be getting a clearance.

  • Theodore (unregistered)

    So, North Bus meets a Truck?

  • Steve (unregistered) in reply to David Emery
    David Emery:
    All-in-all, it sounds a lot more informative than the interview I went on at No Such Agency, where you walked around with an escort who talked to blinking boxes.
    I can attest to the truth of that.

    I did a small consulting job, installing some software on a then state-of-the-art IBM mainframe for No Such Agency back in the early 1980s at the so-called FANX (for "Friendship Annex") near BWI Airport.

    I was led through a maze of rooms filled with hastily covered test equipment (oddly enough, the fronts were covered but the backs were clearly visible, allowing me to figure out more or less what they were up to). Even though I had a security clearance, it wasn't the right flavor and, thus, I got the flashing blue light treatment (except I seem to recall them as yellow).

    I also consulted for Lawrence Livermore Labs and until I got my clearance there, every time I went to the mens room, someone would have to post a sawhorse with a flashing yellow light outside the door, indicating an unclean person was inside taking a whizz.

    Quite amusing since neither of the projects were classified in any way and to my knowledge, I've never seen or heard anything which could be remotely considered a secret in all the time I've had clearances.

    Happily, those days are long past.

  • John (unregistered) in reply to Steve

    I hate to be a kill-joy, but while the procedures for keeping classified data classified can seem rather silly at times, they're necessary and usually have a good reason behind them. Accidental disclosures do happen even with procedures in place and it's all too easy to forget how to hand information properly when you're focused on doing your work.

    As for the front-covered only test equipment, the type of equipment was probably not classified, but the data they might contain or display most likely was.

  • (cs) in reply to North Bus
    North Bus:
    Olltrish:
    North Bus:
    I could care less

    The Real WTF for this story.

    Yeah... I've never understood that idiom, either... but as long as it can be used to convey a thought, I'll use the words as a tool.

    That's because you're using it incorrectly. There is no idiom, the saying is simply "I couldn't care less," as in, "There's no possible way I could care any less about that thing, because the amount I care about it is 0."

  • (cs) in reply to Sutherlands
    Sutherlands:
    North Bus:
    Olltrish:
    North Bus:
    I could care less

    The Real WTF for this story.

    Yeah... I've never understood that idiom, either... but as long as it can be used to convey a thought, I'll use the words as a tool.

    That's because you're using it incorrectly. There is no idiom, the saying is simply "I couldn't care less," as in, "There's no possible way I could care any less about that thing, because the amount I care about it is 0."

    That's the logical expression that I understand, but the Midwestern idiom "I could care less" means the exact same thing. ... or at least in Ohio.

  • (cs) in reply to North Bus
    North Bus:
    Sutherlands:
    North Bus:
    Olltrish:
    North Bus:
    I could care less

    The Real WTF for this story.

    Yeah... I've never understood that idiom, either... but as long as it can be used to convey a thought, I'll use the words as a tool.

    That's because you're using it incorrectly. There is no idiom, the saying is simply "I couldn't care less," as in, "There's no possible way I could care any less about that thing, because the amount I care about it is 0."

    That's the logical expression that I understand, but the Midwestern idiom "I could care less" means the exact same thing. ... or at least in Ohio.

    Right. It's because people are being careless.

    http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/care.html

  • Karmakaze (unregistered)

    Wait...

    You WALKED for THREE HOURS through hallways, and you weren't impressed by the approximately SIX MILES of hallways you walked through? (3 hours at a leisurely 2 MPH walking pace)

    Or have you maybe left a little something out?

    Sounds more like a case of sour grapes than a WTF to me.

  • Vollhorst (unregistered) in reply to Karmakaze
    Karmakaze:
    Wait...

    You WALKED for THREE HOURS through hallways, and you weren't impressed by the approximately SIX MILES of hallways you walked through? (3 hours at a leisurely 2 MPH walking pace)

    Or have you maybe left a little something out?

    The sightseeing?

    "On your left you see a door. It is a huge door. With a handle. On your right, please turn to your right, yes right there. There is a window. No, we don't have Linux here, only windows." and so on.

    That takes some time.

  • (cs) in reply to Sutherlands
    Sutherlands:
    North Bus:
    Sutherlands:
    North Bus:
    Olltrish:
    North Bus:
    I could care less

    The Real WTF for this story.

    Yeah... I've never understood that idiom, either... but as long as it can be used to convey a thought, I'll use the words as a tool.

    That's because you're using it incorrectly. There is no idiom, the saying is simply "I couldn't care less," as in, "There's no possible way I could care any less about that thing, because the amount I care about it is 0."

    That's the logical expression that I understand, but the Midwestern idiom "I could care less" means the exact same thing. ... or at least in Ohio.

    Right. It's because people are being careless.

    http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/care.html

    Yeah, right. Not Yiddish at all. Now try saying it in a Brooklyn accent, and see if you get the point.

    For the implied meaning, try adding "... but I've got better things to worry about, so, unlike you, I don't care at all" at the end.

    Mid-Western? Ya think?

  • (cs) in reply to John
    John:
    As for the front-covered only test equipment, the type of equipment was probably not classified, but the data they might contain or display most likely was.

    I've had some interesting times dealing with classified data, even as a developer. Say you're dealing with some value X, and the value of X is classified. Your code can never out-and-out say X=12 (say), so you have to resort to tricks.. X=4*3, perhaps, or X=2, and every time you use X in your code you have to remember to multiply it by 6.

  • Eric (unregistered)

    I once took a phone screen call from a fortune500 company who shall not be named (but whose logo looks like a meatball)... I took the cold call and, usually trying to keep all options open, answered some questions.

    To my surprise, an offer arrived via FedEX that saturday, complete with moving package. That level of desperation or incompetence should be a clue...

    If you get a job offer without ever having met anyone at the company, run away! (no I didn't take the offer).

  • J (unregistered)

    I guess they do make them as gullible as you.

  • Karmakaze (unregistered) in reply to Vollhorst
    Vollhorst:
    Karmakaze:
    Wait...

    You WALKED for THREE HOURS through hallways, and you weren't impressed by the approximately SIX MILES of hallways you walked through? (3 hours at a leisurely 2 MPH walking pace)

    Or have you maybe left a little something out?

    The sightseeing?

    "On your left you see a door. It is a huge door. With a handle. On your right, please turn to your right, yes right there. There is a window. No, we don't have Linux here, only windows." and so on.

    That takes some time.

    But that is what I'm saying... One sentence per door would not add THAT much time, unless there is a hell of a lot of doors, or a hell of a lot more than one sentence. In fact I could probably read this entire post out loud in less than 10 seconds, even without rushing.

    So it just seems to me we are not being told the whole story, either that or there is a little exaggeration going on in the timings.

  • dag (unregistered)

    Clearly they sent agents to check out the applicants home while they were on the tour...

  • (cs) in reply to North Bus
    North Bus:
    cf18:
    TRWTF is you have a phone number but no email address on a digital resume.

    Actually, there's another WTF there. I included my phone number and e-mail address with the resume, but the guy who called me had apparently lost the e-mail address somewhere along the way.

    shrug

    No TRWTF is that some moron finds it hard to believe that the human resources department would lose someones email.

  • (cs) in reply to Karmakaze
    Karmakaze:
    But that is what I'm saying... One sentence per door would not add THAT much time, unless there is a hell of a lot of doors, or a hell of a lot more than one sentence. In fact I could probably read this entire post out loud in less than 10 seconds, even without rushing.

    So it just seems to me we are not being told the whole story, either that or there is a little exaggeration going on in the timings.

    Yes, we are not being told the complete story, it is almost as if it has been edited down to the relevant bits - unbelievable. I demand that he rewrite the story, starting with what he had for breakfast, and continue from there, without missing anything out this time!

  • Flyingfsck (unregistered)

    Well, no it wasn't just a truck. I can tell you all about that truck, but then I'll have to shoot you...

  • Guntank (unregistered)

    One wonders what happens next if you did get the "job offer". My bet is on 'Advance-Fee Scam' if NB still proved he was desperate and attentive enough to still want the 'job' after all that.

    "You got the job, but we need to expedite your Security Clearance and Background Check before we can have you. Please send us $400 via Western Union ASAP so we can process your clearance in a hurry."

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