The first time I interviewed, I received an appointment to speak with the recruiter. Discussed the position and pay, and a phone interview was set up with a panel of the security managers. Things seemed to go well, so an in-person interview was set up with the security and investigations managers. Lots of questions about security procedures, experience in implementing them, and personal accomplishments were asked. Things felt like they had gone great in both interviews, then received an automated email that I was not selected and they were considering other candidates. It was a punch in the gut after everything seemed to be going so great. The recruiter took the time to reach out and tell me to apply again when the opportunity came which was really appreciated. I sent a thank you e-mail to the managers I had met thanking them for the opportunity to interview. The only response I got was from the investigations manager.
Applied other times throughout the year and never got contacted. A couple years later I applied again and got contacted by a recruiter. We discussed the position. I carefully gave a range of where my salary was and that my current office was embracing telework and hybrid schedules even for security (during Covid, and moving forward), but I was very cautious to say that I was very willing to consider lower pay and would be willing to work in office.
Again, I was sent a generic "moving forward with other candidates" email. I contacted the recruiter and thanked for the opportunity and asked if there was anything I could improve on to gain consideration in the future. Didn't get a response.
It's understandable that the pay is less competitive than for cleared support positions in other parts of LA, but never got the chance to discuss or negotiate in the interview process, even when expressing a willingness to be flexible.
JPL seems like a great place to work with a great research environment, but for security, the application process feels like the typical generic cold corporate approach.