Getting hired at Lockheed Martin

Hello all!

I am currently applying for Administrative and HR positions at LM in Palmdale, CA. I have a couple of questions for you recruiters and HR staff out there...

1) How long does LM normally post a job for before they close the position and review resumes? It seems like jobs are posted for at least a couple of weeks before the position closes and recruiters call the candidates they are most interested in interviewing.

2) If my resume makes it through pre-screening, how will I know? Does my status change at the LM website? I have never made it through pre-screening before, but one job in particular (an HR Assistant position) is one that I do expect to hear from, as the description mirrors the job I just left a couple of months ago (I did not leave by choice, my spouse had to relocate for his job).

3) If I am selected for an interview, how long does the entire process take? I have an active security clearance, so that should not be an issue as far as pre-employment paperwork would go.

4) Should I call the local office to check on the status of my application? Some places encourage that, as it shows serious interest in the position, but I know other offices would rather be left alone.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance :-)

I hate to bring you bad news but there have been massive lay offs at Lockheed Martin due to so many cut backs on military spending and on contacts. Google Lockheed Martin layoffs and the outlook is grim. Good luck.

I know about the layoffs, but why the heck would they advertise positions that are not currently available?

Maybe they forgot to remove the job posting. But I do know there has been tons of people let go in the past six months. LM is America's biggest defense contractor and with the budget crisis in Washington, bye bye LM jobs.

No, the jobs I have applied for were just posted between 21-Sept. and 08-Oct.
I understand that the budget is grim, but the current appropriations are still in affect for LM, therefore there is some money available for hiring employees if the company needs them.

Don't forget that companies like Lockheed like to stockpile applications to create an applicant repository for future openings. So just because a job is listed doesn't always mean they are hiring for it.

I appreciate the responses, but I am still looking for an answer to my original questions. Yes, I understand the need to stockpile applications, but in the meantime, I would like some information on the hiring process so I can determine whether the position is being hired for now, or if the position is being posted to collect applications for future openings. Thanks.

Hopefully a LM employee will chime in but with all the layoffs I'm sure a current LM employee has preference to any open jobs compared to any non LM employees / applicant.

Again, thank you for your input, but please, if you don't have an answer to the question, just don't respond. I am well aware, as a former HR Assistant, how jobs are allocated and what happens when a contract is not renewed. Thank you.

For the record, the last post is not meant to be nasty. I can see how it could be read that way, but I truly did not mean it to be ugly. I am frustrated because I can't seem to get a straight answer about LM's hiring process. Any answers to my questions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again for your input.

I know for a fact the company I work for will post jobs and for the sake of following company policy from HR, not to mention 'transparancy' in their search for the person that will be hired. They do interviews for a position that the candidate has already been selected but they are hush-hush about it for a few weeks until all the non chosen candidates have interviewed.

George, do you know how it works if someone is being considered for an interview?

George said: I know for a fact the company I work for will post jobs and for the sake of following company policy from HR, not to mention 'transparancy' in their search for the person that will be hired. They do interviews for a position that the candidate has already been selected but they are hush-hush about it for a few weeks until all the non chosen candidates have interviewed.

The last employer I worked for would post job openings just for policy sake, but many if not most of the jobs were already spoken for internally. So, basically people would spend tons of time enduring the lengthy application process for nothing.

I know it's commonplace to post job positions for policy purposes. I really just want to know how I know if I am being considered for an interview. Any information regarding that question would be greatly helpful.

I work for a division of LM and yes they have been hiring a small number of people since the mass layoffs. The people they hire so far have been people who were let go during the layoffs. Also when they lay off they have been trying to place you a job inside LM but at a different facility which relates to some of the REQ's out there. That's who you are competing with for the jobs. Most of the times a Req is posted they already have someone in mind for the job. That being said if someone more qualified or better suited comes along that job is given to the better person. There are politics at play. Get to know someone who works for LM and make sure they shop your name around. Good luck!

Thank you for the insight Christian. I know there have been some major layoffs, which stinks. I've also heard that they are planning on hiring mechanics for a new project, which hopefully also means that they will be hiring more support staff (fingers crossed!). I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I don't know anyone that works at this plant, as I just moved to the area 4 months ago.