That sounds like just a security clearance procedure. When I took my job working for the federal government, part of the security clearance involved the FBI interviewing neighbors and others. No visits to my home - - - no reason to do that, since I was [-]grilled[/-] interviewed by the FBI for an hour or so at work. No big deal, at least to me. The guy who interviewed me was just a kid in his early 20's, wet behind the ears IMO and I did not feel at all intimidated.
It was part of the selection process. They may have been filtering out people who would not qualify for clearances, though.
Over the years I have known and w*rked with probably two or three dozen x-EDSers -- and probably some more that I am not aware are x-EDSers. You don't have to look far to find one around here. As a group, they did stand out as better employees.
I heard the same things from all of them.
Perot did things in the 60's and 70's that an employer could never get away with today.
- The interview process.
- Required suits and white shirts for men, suits or dresses and heels for women. (May have been modeled after the IBM dress code in that era.) Some that operated machinery were allowed to work in their shirtsleeves but had to tuck their tie in the shirt opening.
- Prohibited employees from disclosing compensation.
- Absolutely no facial hair on men.
- Coat and tie required in company cafeteria (IIRC free steak every Thursday).
- IIRC cohabitating outside of marriage was either discouraged or prohibited. This might have been the reason for the in-home interview.
I know this must all sound unbelievable, but it happened up through the 70's.
And a similar theme among most of the x-EDSers: "Anything to get out of there." They did have a major retention problem. People would hire on to get the training (which was excellent) and then leave. That happened until EDS made their employees agree to reimburse the company a pre-determined amount for the training if they did not stay for an agreed length of time after receiving the training.
Perot preferred x-military applicants.
From:
Presidential Candidate H. Ross Perot - The Dark Side
"At the same time, the relationship he creates is one where Perot is all-powerful, and bestows his generosities from on high. He works people extremely hard for little money, and subjects them to instrusive scrutiny, including private investigators, wiretaps, drug tests and lie detector tests.
In this regard, he bears a striking resemblance to Ralph Nader, of all people, who also inspires great loyalty, pushes himself at least as hard as he pushes his employees, burns people out for little money, and seems to feel he has a right to monitor and control their lives.
For example, discussing salaries has been an immediate firing offense from the first days at EDS, Perot's company. The company dress code, up into the 1970s, required white shirts only for men (he considered blue shirts effeminate), no pants or flats for women, and no "mod looks," as the contract put it. But the intrusion went much further.
EDS tapped phones and used detectives to investigate its own employees, . . ."
Apologies for going on a tangent.