[jmpman]

Nah, I was smarter than that. I already had multiple offers, and had no intention of working for a government contractor. I mostly wanted to see how this recruiter would react to my flippant statement. If he had vehemently defended his company, it would have implied that the whole government contracting wasn’t quite as disfunctional as I’d experienced. His reaction basically confirmed my suspicions. It was a “don’t talk too loud about what we all know is going on”, along with a “how dare you unmask us”. Sure, it was also a “holy hell, you can’t talk to recruiters like that”.

But, no black suits with billy clubs.

And, I’m not suggesting that anything was out of norm for any of these government contractors. They’re delivering a very specialized service with immense regulations. There are very few companies which can produce the same product, so the competition is low and the feedback loop in procurement cycles is much longer.