Declined security clearance

Zep23

I applied for an engineering year placement at a large defence and space company in the UK. Two weeks later I had an interview with two hiring managers and before that I was asked to bring in my passport, as well as fill out numerous forms for SC vetting. The day after my interview I received a job offer from them. A week after that, I received a phone call stating that my security clearance had been declined due to "export control reasons" related to a brief mention of my country of birth. They refused to add any further explanation in any corresponding emails.

This all happened smack bang in the middle of my third year exams at university and felt like crap. I just want to know if anyone here has any experience in employment law/recruitment for defence/space firms, to let me know if this would be the case for any and all firms that would require security clearance. Space engineering is an industry I'm passionate about and this would be a huge bummer.

Thanks

Thomas_The_Tank_Top

Harsh eh? One of life's ups & downs.

HM Government says no. Move along.

If you are not even getting SC, I wouldn't bother. Thems the rules I'm afraid.

One of the next stage clearances, you are not even told why you failed.

paddyrg

There's no point appealing, asking or worrying about it, there's nothing you can do to change it. Clearance is a black box, and they have some incredible investigatory powers - it may even be related to something one of your parents did that they never even told you about, don't take it personally.

Instead, breathe a sigh of relief. I've had engineer friends find it really difficult leaving clearance-level work. They can't give a good interview, their CV's are empty. They literally cannot refer to any of the work they've done, or customers they've done it for. They can't even tell the interviewer who they can call in order to get their clearance level raised in order to be able to ask the questions! Enjoy the freedom of the civil world, there are plenty of jobs for skilled engineers, and engineers shift sectors commonly. I started out in manufacturing, then rail, then software, now entertainment!

Tiddlywinks

The standards for SC (and other vetting levels) are standardised across all agencies... it's not employer specific.

So, essentially, you are very unlikely to pass SC with any other employer either. I know this isn't what you want to hear but at least you've found out early in your career.

Perhaps consider working in Europe or Asia where their recruitment security requirements may be different.

prowla

Sorry to hear about it; I think it's just a matter of dusting yourself down and moving on.

belisha-beacon

I don't know about the security clearance itself, but if the job is related to your degree then course tutors might be good people to speak to (especially if they have industry experience themselves). They should be able to give you indicators of what is needed in the sector.

If the option of space engineering as a career was a big thing pushed in the marketing materials for your university (for example, if your degree is 'Space Science' and the prospectus has a lot in it about placing people in the industry), then it might be worth complaining to the university if they didn't make it clear that there would be restrictions on some careers for foreign nationals/people with links to other countries. I worked at a university that made a big thing of its students working for airlines after they graduated. It didn't properly explain to prospective students that it was only a realistic prospect for UK students or people wanting to work elsewhere. CMA rules on consumer protection mean that anything surprising or unusual needs to be pointed out to students at the beginning, so when students made internal complaints about the problem a lot of the overseas ones did get compensation and career-planning support.