I'd worked for the company before for a period of eight years, but--at the time of the interview--had been working elsewhere for almost ten years. I was fairly happy where I was, but was open to new employment opportunities. My salary at that company when I went to interview with Lockheed Martin was about $96,000. I put out the feelers to one of my friends, a Lockheed Martin optical engineer I'd met when I first worked there.
He sent me an e-mail message one day and indicated (his words) that "the ferrous material is at high temperature," which translated to "the iron was hot" if I was interested in going back to work for the company. Another optical engineer had been running a hedge fund part-time and opted to quit his full-time job at Lockheed Martin. My friend supplied me with contact information for the hiring manager, which was someone I had worked with in the past. That man had me go to a corporate website where I entered, in essence, my life history. After that, nothing much happened for a few weeks, at which point I was brought in for a panel interview.
Had I not worked for the company before, I might have been fooled by the interview location. You see, the location at which I used to work (and at which I would be working if I took the job [which I did]) was a massive manufacturing plant built in the late 50s or early 60s. Some work areas were rather dilapidated when I left while some were remodeled. Since I'd been away for a decade, I had no idea how anything looked over there. The interview location was a mile away from the manufacturing plant location in a Lockheed Martin "branch" office. It was replete with all new furniture, designer lighting, an Internet cafe for while-you-wait browsing, free beverages, etc. An interviewee fresh out of college might be impressed by this window dressing. I, however, was not fooled by the facade.
I waited a good 20 minutes before my panel of three interviewers showed up and I knew all three of them. One was the friend who hooked me up with the opportunity; one was the last person I had worked for before leaving; and one was another employee I was acquainted with from my previous tour of duty at Lockheed Martin.
Since I knew everyone and they were familiar with my skill set, capabilities and work ethic, generally speaking, the interview process was relaxed. We compared various design tools, what was going on at Lockheed Martin, what sort of things I did at my current employer, why I was looking to leave, was I interested in management, was Lockheed a better place than it used to be, etc.
Towards the end of the interview, the three interviewers left, apparently to discuss my viability as an future Lockheed Martin employee and, possibly, to see if they needed to ask me anything else. They then came back in, said "thanks; good to see you" and dispersed. My friend stayed behind and said that they unanimously agreed to recommend me (to the Powers That Be) for rehiring.
And that was that. I waited a few weeks more and then got a call from a human resources hiring representative, who informed me that he would like to make me an offer (that I could refuse). This now takes us to the negotiation phase.
