TDS Interview

I sat across the small stuffy, overly bright room from an attractive blonde woman who is one of the supervisors at a company called TDS. She told me that they really liked my resume and my previous job experience at Bill and Dave's. Guess it carried alot of weight with them. As we talked she frequently thumbed through pages of my resume and application. We were off to a good start. She was pleasant and enthusiastic towards me. I had alot of questions about what it was exactly that they did at this company. Up until this point no one would really talk about it so the mystery grew and so did my curiocity. The manager told me that there were two main operations here, one is commercial application micro electronics and the other strictly dealt with military products that were also micro devices. She happened to be the supervisor running the military side of the house. If she was to offer me a job here I would be working in what they call the "Closed Area" and that I would have to get a Department of Defense (DoD) clearance from the Government before I would even be allowed to work on the products. Apparently it's all classified and the clearance I would need might take up to three months to obtain. Whoa.

Our conversation continued along the lines of what I did in nearly two years of employment at Bill and Dave's company, why I left, and what I was looking for in a new job. I yapped on and on about all the different things I worked on when I was still there and how I ended up working way out of my original job scope. I took on alot more responsibilities than the average factory peasant and did OK with it all. I told her my main goal was trying to find a company that did work I found to be interesting and that was stable enough that I could retire from. In the short term I was looking for a place I could become part of a team and make significant contributions. I went into detail about how limited things turned out to be at Bill and Dave's company and how it seemed they really didn't care about any of their employees anymore. She was somewhat surprised at my statements. Bill and Dave's company is huge and many people have heard rumors of how great it is to be employed there. No one really believes me when I tell them how truly fucked up it is these days. It's more temporary workers than anything else and very hire-and-fire. That's not what it was supposed to be all about according to Bill and Dave's book...

The manager informed me that I would have to go through a rigorous physical at an occupational health clinic and also get a drug test. Sheesh, no surprise there on the drug test. That seems to be the latest corporate fad now. Drug test the shit out of people and only then offer them a permanent job. Whatever. The drug testing isn't an issue. What could be an issue though is the nature of the military work. She went on to say that I would have to spend some time considering moral and ethical issues if they were to hire me. That's when things started to hit home that she was very serious about their classified work. I would have to think about whether or not I could work on things that would potentially take alot of human lives. I have never been in a situation like this before. During the interview I didn't really know what to say in response other than a simple "I'd think about it". Something told me I had better consider what the consequences could be working on products that kill people.

Things were sounding to me more and more like a solid job offer without her actually saying it.

I was grilled separately by a couple of other product supervisors and managers after the nice blonde lady left the room. In total I was interviewing for a few hours with their people for a variety of open job positions. I kept thinking about the military work the whole time though. The secrecy of it completely captured my attention and imagination. The commercial work each supervisor told me about after that didn't seem like it mattered. I was definetly interested in the military gig.

Everything went exceptionally well. As I was leaving the building their Human Resources people said they would be in touch with me in a few days. Another positive sign in my opinion. In the meantime I am going to quietly think about if I am cool working on deadly products, whatever they may turn out to be. I wonder if I should discuss it with Jennifer too? I suppose if she finds out and has a problem with it that could mean big trouble at home. Of course if I don't say a damn thing about what I might be doing she will probably never know. Hmmmm. Another dilemma.